Did Iraq Destroy New Orleans?

Every day the news from Louisiana seems to get worse. Survivors are still without water, medical help, food and most of all security. The scourge of rape, murder, and looting continues much to my horror. As we all watch helplessly I keep asking myself one question. What is the federal government doing? The general sense is that things are moving too slowly. The preparedness of the federal government has been shown to be what it is: lacking. Clearly the Department of Homeland Security is not expecting kudos for the way this has been handled.

What if the flooding of New Orleans had been due to a terrorist attack on the levees? Is this the kind of response billions of dollars have been spent on? As this Slate article notes, Homeland Security has failed its first test. A lot more work and a lot more answers need to be forthcoming over the next few weeks.

Despite my hesitance in criticizing and playing the "blame game," I feel compelled to say that the lack of resources—namely financial and in personnel—seems to be directly related to the war effort in Iraq. As this Village Voice article notes, most, if not all of the states hit badly by Katarina had been requesting increases in funding for flood prevention and disaster relief. Unfortunately, the Bush administration had cut these funds and diverted them to other ends.

Bush was not expected to prevent Katarina, but his decisions have ultimately contributed to the mismanagement of this relief effort and may have made Katrina worse.