Posted on 09/06/2005 8:59:07 AM PDT by Natty Bumppo@frontier.net
Another Near Myth
My Two Cents on the post-Katrina Blame-Storming
By David J. Aland 6 September 2005
Confronted with the inexplicable, we seek answers. It is a fundamental characteristic of humanity to seek understanding, but when answers are not forthcoming, we tend to make ‘em up. The ancients created vast bodies of mythology, and even in our modern era we are not above doing the same. In the aftermath of Katrina, it should therefore not surprise us that many myths have already sprung up. Katrina was a storm of near-mythic proportion, a 9-11 sized event inflicted upon our nation. Few believed the storm would be so devastating, and from the residents, to the media, to all the authorities, the sucker punch hit hard. Now, even before we fully appreciate the scale of the disaster, we have begun to explain the inexplicable by creating myths -- so let’s address a few.
We should have planned better for this worst-case scenario. We never expected the worst-case scenario would happen here, but it did. The richest country on earth is not exempt from natural disasters. Our vast resources, modern infrastructure, and the historically unprecedented safety of our lives did not make us immune from this catastrophe. But we actually, never plan for the worst - because a true worst-case scenario is essentially so bad that there are no right answers. Furthermore, planning and preparing for disaster on that scale is so prohibitively expensive that it is rarely ever done, or at least done well.
This was a near-miss. This one has already been debunked, but it effected everything that followed. Disaster response, particularly in New Orleans, was delayed by the collective sigh of relief when the storm missed the Big Easy. But there is no such thing as a near-miss with a storm this big. The devastation along the coastline demonstrates this pointedly. Yet, all too many spent the first few hours after the storm underestimating the impact of the storm – even one news-anchor on Bourbon Street, opined that “the party will be starting soon.” Katrina fooled everyone.
No one anticipated the civil breakdown and lawlessness. Why not? New Orleans is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the U.S., with murder rates routinely exceeding New York and Washington DC. Last year, police officers fired over 700 blank rounds all over New Orleans as part of a study, and not a single incident was actually reported. The infrastructure of civilization was stripped away, and when civilization recedes, the rats come out. It has nothing to do with race, class, or any other demographics. In a majority African-American area, the majority of the victims will be African-American. Nature smites at random.
The response could have been faster. The political in-fighting, the collective underestimation of the storm, and the limited infrastructure made certain the response would be delayed. Most of the coastline is serviced by limited roads and bridges, most of which were blocked or destroyed. As the lead singer for the Mississippi-based rock band, “Three Doors Down” pointed out Friday, it’s hard to help when there’s no way in. For the same reason, throwing more troops at the problem (including, as some have suggested, the ones that are engaged in Iraq) would have improved nothing until the disaster areas could be accessed and assessed. Everyone got caught hesitating, waiting for more information, and it hurt us.
The President was on vacation and not in charge. Presidents are never really on vacation, and they are always in charge -- but so are state governors, and Presidents, by law, defer to them. If the state authorities on the Gulf Coast, who have long experience with hurricanes, were caught short, nothing could have made the President more prescient.
Someone is to blame. Great loss, fear and suffering are a powerful formula for anger, which changes the desire for answers to a desire for scapegoats. Therefore, the blame-storming is not necessarily unexpected, but that doesn’t make it any more useful. A record storm caught us by surprise, and we mistakenly thought we’d dodged the bullet. There will be a time for assessments, for Congressional hearings, and the usual finger-pointing, but not now.
First, we must deal with the immediate needs. Later, we can indulge in the necessary answer-seeking in a more sober time when we are less prone to falling for fiction and more ready to hear and accept facts.
David J. Aland is a retired Naval Officer with a graduate degree in National Security Affairs from the U. S. Naval War College.
Unless we get to blame the right people. Don't look for the MSM to help with THAT.
Please source and link to this. Otherwise, it's just another vanity post, no matter how good the writing is.
SAVE THE BUSES, NOT THE PEOPLE
The decision by NOLA local government (Mayor Nagin) to save the buses instead of deploying them to evacuate the "poor", the infirm, those needing help, etc. with a category 5 hurricane approaching, has been a a major factor contributing to the chaos and has lead to many unnecessary deaths. The photos of the undeployed buses sitting in 4 feet of water close to the Superdome tells a terrible story. Why do we not see these photos on the mainstream media and why are reporters not questioning this? Someone obviously made a decision that keeping the buses safe by not deploying BEFORE the hurricane would not risk damaging them so they could be used AFTER the storm hit, to evacuate those who weren't dead (as well as keeping the tourist cash flow, if the hurricane misses.). New Orleans has NEVER deployed their buses to evacuate the "poor" and helpless before any hurricane. They gamble to save their precious buses, and now, lose lives because of it. Criminal. And everyone is blaming Bush.
Rush Live Thread on Katrina
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1478498/posts
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