>"No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"

[Frances Morey]

If ever there were grounds for impeachment, this is it!!!

>By Sidney Blumenthal
>
>In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New 
Orleans was one 
>of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But 
the Bush 
>administration cut New Orleans flood control funding 
by 44 percent 
>to pay for the Iraq war.
>
>Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, 
Hurricane Katrina has 
>left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and 
shelter and 
>hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main 
levee broken, 
>the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of 
the Gulf of 
>Mexico. But the damage wrought by the hurricane may 
not entirely be 
>the result of an act of nature.
>
>A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed 
to study how 
>New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic 
hurricane, but 
>the Bush administration ordered that the research not 
be undertaken. 
>After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress 
created the 
>Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in 
which the Corps 
>of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and 
pumping stations. 
>In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency issued a 
>report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans 
was one of the 
>three most lik! ely disasters in the U.S., including 
a terrorist 
>attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal 
funding for the 
>flood control project essentially dried up as it was 
drained into 
>the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut 
funding requested 
>by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers for 
>holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more 
than 80 
>percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this 
year (for a total 
>reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) 
forced the New 
>Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring 
freeze. The Senate 
>had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' 
levees, but it was too late.
>
>The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the 
hurricane published 
>a series on the federal funding problem, and whose 
presses are now 
>underwater, reported online: "No one can say they 
didn't see it 
>coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms 
ever, serious 
>questions are being asked about the lack of 
preparation."
>
>The Bush administration's policy of turning over 
wetlands to 
>developers almost certainly also contributed to the 
heightened level 
>of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force 
began restoring 
>lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two 
miles of wetland 
>between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a 
surge by half a 
>foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a 
policy launched 
>by his father's administration and bolstered by 
President Clinton. 
>But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the 
developers. The 
>Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental 
Protection Agency then 
>announced they could no longer protect wetlands 
unless they were 
>somehow related to interstate commerce.
>
>In response to this potential crisis, four leading 
environmental 
>groups conducted a joint expert study, concluding in 
2004 that 
>without wetlands protection New Orleans could be 
devastated by an 
>ordinary, much less a Category 4 or 5, hurricane. 
"There's no way to 
>des! cribe how mindless a policy that is when it 
comes to wetlands 
>protection," said one of the report's authors. The 
chairman of the 
>White House's Council on Environmental Quality 
dismissed the study 
>as "highly questionable," and boasted, "Everybody 
loves what we're doing."
>
>"My administration's climate change policy will be 
science based," 
>President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, 
when the 
>Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on 
global warming 
>to the United Nations reflecting its expert research, 
Bush derided 
>it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and 
excised the climate 
>change assessment from the agency's annual report. 
The next year, 
>when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report 
on the 
>Environment," stating, "Climate change has global 
consequences for 
>human health and the environment," the White House 
simply demanded 
>removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At 
the G-8 meeting 
>in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any 
common act! ion 
>on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have 
continued to 
>accumulate impressive data on the rising temperature 
of the oceans, 
>which has produced more severe hurricanes.
>
>In February 2004, 60 of the nation's leading 
scientists, including 
>20 Nobel laureates, warned in a statement, "Restoring 
Scientific 
>Integrity in Policymaking": "Successful application 
of science has 
>played a large part in the policies that have made 
the United States 
>of America the world's most powerful nation and its 
citizens 
>increasingly prosperous and healthy ... Indeed, this 
principle has 
>long been adhered to by presidents and 
administrations of both 
>parties in forming and implementing policies. The 
administration of 
>George W. Bush has, however, disregarded this 
principle ... The 
>distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan 
political ends must 
>cease." Bush completely ignored this statement.
>
>In the two weeks preceding the storm in the Gulf, the 
trumping of 
>science by ideology and experti! se by special 
interests 
>accelerated. The Federal Drug Administration 
announced that it was 
>postponing sale of the morning-after contraceptive 
pill, despite 
>overwhelming scientific evidence of its safety and 
its approval by 
>the FDA's scientific advisory board. The United 
Nations special 
>envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa accused the Bush 
administration of 
>responsibility for a condom shortage in Uganda -- the 
result of the 
>administration's evangelical Christian agenda of 
"abstinence." When 
>the chief of the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the 
Justice 
>Department was ordered by the White House to delete 
its study that 
>African-Americans and other minorities are subject to 
racial 
>profiling in police traffic stops and he refused to 
buckle under, he 
>was forced out of his job. When the Army Corps of 
Engineers' chief 
>contracting oversight analyst objected to a $7 
billion no-bid 
>contract awarded for work in Iraq to Halliburton (the 
firm at which 
>Vice President Cheney was formerly CEO), she was dem! 
oted despite 
>her superior professional ratings. At the National 
Park Service, a 
>former Cheney aide, a political appointee lacking 
professional 
>background, drew up a plan to overturn past 
environmental practices 
>and prohibit any mention of evolution while allowing 
sale of 
>religious materials through the Park Service.
>
>On the day the levees burst in New Orleans, Bush 
delivered a speech 
>in Colorado comparing the Iraq war to World War II 
and himself to 
>Franklin D. Roosevelt: "And he knew that the best way 
to bring peace 
>and stability to the region was by bringing freedom 
to Japan." Bush 
>had boarded his very own "Streetcar Named Desire."
>
>Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior 
advisor to 
>President Clinton and the author of "The Clinton 
Wars," is writing a 
>column for Salon and the Guardian of London.
>
>
>Dan Cutrer
>SOLIZ & CUTRER, pllc
>Attorneys & Counselors at Law
>Dallas & Houston
>6116 North Central, Suite 200
>Dallas, TX 75206
>dancutrer at yahoo.com
>Office: (214) 273-0311
>Fax: (214) 369-1500
>www.solizcutrer.com

>"No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"
>
>By Sidney Blumenthal
>
>In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New 
Orleans was one 
>of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But 
the Bush 
>administration cut New Orleans flood control funding 
by 44 percent 
>to pay for the Iraq war.
>
>Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, 
Hurricane Katrina has 
>left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and 
shelter and 
>hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main 
levee broken, 
>the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of 
the Gulf of 
>Mexico. But the damage wrought by the hurricane may 
not entirely be 
>the result of an act of nature.
>
>A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed 
to study how 
>New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic 
hurricane, but 
>the Bush administration ordered that the research not 
be undertaken. 
>After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress 
created the 
>Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in 
which the Corps 
>of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and 
pumping stations. 
>In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency issued a 
>report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans 
was one of the 
>three most lik! ely disasters in the U.S., including 
a terrorist 
>attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal 
funding for the 
>flood control project essentially dried up as it was 
drained into 
>the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut 
funding requested 
>by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers for 
>holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more 
than 80 
>percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this 
year (for a total 
>reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) 
forced the New 
>Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring 
freeze. The Senate 
>had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' 
levees, but it was too late.
>
>The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the 
hurricane published 
>a series on the federal funding problem, and whose 
presses are now 
>underwater, reported online: "No one can say they 
didn't see it 
>coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms 
ever, serious 
>questions are being asked about the lack of 
preparation."
>
>The Bush administration's policy of turning over 
wetlands to 
>developers almost certainly also contributed to the 
heightened level 
>of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force 
began restoring 
>lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two 
miles of wetland 
>between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a 
surge by half a 
>foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a 
policy launched 
>by his father's administration and bolstered by 
President Clinton. 
>But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the 
developers. The 
>Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental 
Protection Agency then 
>announced they could no longer protect wetlands 
unless they were 
>somehow related to interstate commerce.
>
>In response to this potential crisis, four leading 
environmental 
>groups conducted a joint expert study, concluding in 
2004 that 
>without wetlands protection New Orleans could be 
devastated by an 
>ordinary, much less a Category 4 or 5, hurricane. 
"There's no way to 
>des! cribe how mindless a policy that is when it 
comes to wetlands 
>protection," said one of the report's authors. The 
chairman of the 
>White House's Council on Environmental Quality 
dismissed the study 
>as "highly questionable," and boasted, "Everybody 
loves what we're doing."
>
>"My administration's climate change policy will be 
science based," 
>President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, 
when the 
>Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on 
global warming 
>to the United Nations reflecting its expert research, 
Bush derided 
>it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and 
excised the climate 
>change assessment from the agency's annual report. 
The next year, 
>when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report 
on the 
>Environment," stating, "Climate change has global 
consequences for 
>human health and the environment," the White House 
simply demanded 
>removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At 
the G-8 meeting 
>in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any 
common act! ion 
>on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have 
continued to 
>accumulate impressive data on the rising temperature 
of the oceans, 
>which has produced more severe hurricanes.
>
>In February 2004, 60 of the nation's leading 
scientists, including 
>20 Nobel laureates, warned in a statement, "Restoring 
Scientific 
>Integrity in Policymaking": "Successful application 
of science has 
>played a large part in the policies that have made 
the United States 
>of America the world's most powerful nation and its 
citizens 
>increasingly prosperous and healthy ... Indeed, this 
principle has 
>long been adhered to by presidents and 
administrations of both 
>parties in forming and implementing policies. The 
administration of 
>George W. Bush has, however, disregarded this 
principle ... The 
>distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan 
political ends must 
>cease." Bush completely ignored this statement.
>
>In the two weeks preceding the storm in the Gulf, the 
trumping of 
>science by ideology and experti! se by special 
interests 
>accelerated. The Federal Drug Administration 
announced that it was 
>postponing sale of the morning-after contraceptive 
pill, despite 
>overwhelming scientific evidence of its safety and 
its approval by 
>the FDA's scientific advisory board. The United 
Nations special 
>envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa accused the Bush 
administration of 
>responsibility for a condom shortage in Uganda -- the 
result of the 
>administration's evangelical Christian agenda of 
"abstinence." When 
>the chief of the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the 
Justice 
>Department was ordered by the White House to delete 
its study that 
>African-Americans and other minorities are subject to 
racial 
>profiling in police traffic stops and he refused to 
buckle under, he 
>was forced out of his job. When the Army Corps of 
Engineers' chief 
>contracting oversight analyst objected to a $7 
billion no-bid 
>contract awarded for work in Iraq to Halliburton (the 
firm at which 
>Vice President Cheney was formerly CEO), she was dem! 
oted despite 
>her superior professional ratings. At the National 
Park Service, a 
>former Cheney aide, a political appointee lacking 
professional 
>background, drew up a plan to overturn past 
environmental practices 
>and prohibit any mention of evolution while allowing 
sale of 
>religious materials through the Park Service.
>
>On the day the levees burst in New Orleans, Bush 
delivered a speech 
>in Colorado comparing the Iraq war to World War II 
and himself to 
>Franklin D. Roosevelt: "And he knew that the best way 
to bring peace 
>and stability to the region was by bringing freedom 
to Japan." Bush 
>had boarded his very own "Streetcar Named Desire."
>
>Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior 
advisor to 
>President Clinton and the author of "The Clinton 
Wars," is writing a 
>column for Salon and the Guardian of London.
>
>
>Dan Cutrer
>SOLIZ & CUTRER, pllc
>Attorneys & Counselors at Law
>Dallas & Houston
>6116 North Central, Suite 200
>Dallas, TX 75206
>dancutrer at yahoo.com
>Office: (214) 273-0311
>Fax: (214) 369-1500
>www.solizcutrer.com


 
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