Tuesday, September 06, 2005

No good News Orleans

Tell me 10,000 dead is just one of those press overshots. It defies belief. Katrina's wrath is going to out-slaughter September 11.

And Guardian's Gary Younge reminds us that looters ain't looters: Iraqis who stole after the fall of Saddam were just swept up in the excitement of freedom, according to Rumsfeld.

Nic White's joined the Right to say we shouldn't be using this as an excuse to go after Bush before the waters clear. Maybe he's correct:
"These troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded," said the Democrat governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and I expect they will."
Le Blanco shoots le negres, that's something for the party of JFK to ponder.

Barista has collated a striking collection of photos from the disaster zone.

5 comments:

Apples said...

Something is seriously messed up when the best option is 'shoot to kill.'

And as for those conspiracy theorists and God-fearers, this was a NATURAL DISASTER. Yes, it's terrible, but does it really require an explanation? Christ.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Ms Blanco did not intend malice to come across. Rather, it was a natural overreaction for a politician who only a day before was blubbering helplessly into the microphones. Her advisors almost certainly told her she had to seem tough, or prepare for electoral defeat at the polls.

Troops were sent into every other effected state immediately, and order was assured. That isn't a matter of chance. It is merely the wise precaution of insuring the authorities' ability to rescue those who need it.

Blanco and the NO Mayor didn't do that. They (realistically) did nothing. Worst of all, they left entire bus depots unused. I've lived in the states. No rail networks. Those buses (500+ of them) were the only immediately available means by which 30,000 people could have been taken out of the city every trip, had they been mobilized before the hurricane, when Bush was calling Blanco, urging her to force evacuation. She didn't. She froze while her legislature argued that to give relief co-ordination efforts over to the feds would "erode state sovereignty".

Too bad for those who died.

Anonymous said...

the news coming out of new orleans has been horrible .. i wish we were living in a better time .. but, alas, as i head off to morocco, i'll see what that's gonna be like living in a culture that's on the verge of moving from 'developing' to 'developed' nation.

i'll try to send you a postcard before i leave states-side.

Armagnac Esq said...

I look forward to it...

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