WASHINGTON -- New Orleans was the destination for the high winds that two years ago struck a great American city. But the true path of destruction began in our nation's capital.
The levees broke in the Big Easy after Hurricane Katrina. But here is where the trust was broken.
Americans were not accustomed to watching their government do nothing but watch and whistle while fellow citizens worked to save themselves. Despite warnings about hurricane strength, earlier press reports about levees compromised by Army Corps decisions and academic predictions of a major disaster, the Bush administration did not respond with haste.
Its claims of never having imagined any of this were among the great lies told at the time.
It was fully complicit, starting with its decision to dispatch a bureaucrat who knew more about horses than responding to federal emergencies and disasters.
Responsibility for post-Katrina New Orleans does not lie strictly at the door of former FEMA administrator Michael Brown. He was not the only one who did a heckuva job doing nothing while people drowned in attics and crammed the Superdome.
Higher-ups also did a heckuva job doing nothing. This buck passed through Michael Chertoff's Homeland Security office but advanced to the Oval Office where it was ignored.
That powerful people in an affluent democracy did little or nothing to help the powerless in a great American city ought to be discussed long after the anniversary fades.
That the leader of the Free World has a written policy instructing apparatchiks to ensure that he is not exposed to dissidents in public spaces is baffling. This ought to shame us, if not him.
This policy explains why in New Orleans after Katrina, he avoided survivors living in dank darkness and instead addressed the nation from an illuminated and empty Jackson Square.
Unlike September 2001, when he asked to be surrounded by the people, our leader in August 2005 purposefully shunned them.
When he returned last month to New Orleans, he was embraced by the panic-stricken mayor who had cursed him during the disaster. This time our leader met with the people. But they used him just as he used them: for the photo op.
This time the public heard the happy talk and the powerful take more credit than was due them for helping Katrina victims.
As the leader of the Free World recognized the painful anniversary in New Orleans, he skipped the part about how the federal government issued toxic trailers to shelter victims and then covered it up.
Had not the press, Sierra Club and House lawmakers intervened and exposed the government's lack of accountability and disinterest in the public's right to know, more Katrina victims would be living in these toxic trailers.
The federal government not only knew of dangerous levels of potentially cancer-causing formaldehyde in FEMA trailers, but it stopped testing trailers once it did. This deceit clearly was done to contain the bad news and avoid commitment to any lifesaving correction for people in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Katrina victims were doubly vexed: first by Katrina's wrath and next by the government's neglect.
At the highest levels of our government, leaders chose to see, hear and speak none of their wrongdoing, even if it meant repairing and saving lives. It will be easier to rebuild New Orleans, believe it or not, than to regain the people's trust. The Road Home is the name of the state's trickle-down recovery program in Louisiana. But the true path to recovery begins here, at the scene of the crime. Here the evidence of deceit and neglect is beyond ample. It is damning.
Rhonda Chriss Lokeman (lokeman@kcstar.com) is a columnist for The Kansas City Star. To find out more about Rhonda Chriss Lokeman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
The levees broke in the Big Easy after Hurricane Katrina. But here is where the trust was broken.
Americans were not accustomed to watching their government do nothing but watch and whistle while fellow citizens worked to save themselves. Despite warnings about hurricane strength, earlier press reports about levees compromised by Army Corps decisions and academic predictions of a major disaster, the Bush administration did not respond with haste.
Its claims of never having imagined any of this were among the great lies told at the time.
It was fully complicit, starting with its decision to dispatch a bureaucrat who knew more about horses than responding to federal emergencies and disasters.
Responsibility for post-Katrina New Orleans does not lie strictly at the door of former FEMA administrator Michael Brown. He was not the only one who did a heckuva job doing nothing while people drowned in attics and crammed the Superdome.
Higher-ups also did a heckuva job doing nothing. This buck passed through Michael Chertoff's Homeland Security office but advanced to the Oval Office where it was ignored.
That powerful people in an affluent democracy did little or nothing to help the powerless in a great American city ought to be discussed long after the anniversary fades.
That the leader of the Free World has a written policy instructing apparatchiks to ensure that he is not exposed to dissidents in public spaces is baffling. This ought to shame us, if not him.
This policy explains why in New Orleans after Katrina, he avoided survivors living in dank darkness and instead addressed the nation from an illuminated and empty Jackson Square.
Unlike September 2001, when he asked to be surrounded by the people, our leader in August 2005 purposefully shunned them.
When he returned last month to New Orleans, he was embraced by the panic-stricken mayor who had cursed him during the disaster. This time our leader met with the people. But they used him just as he used them: for the photo op.
This time the public heard the happy talk and the powerful take more credit than was due them for helping Katrina victims.
As the leader of the Free World recognized the painful anniversary in New Orleans, he skipped the part about how the federal government issued toxic trailers to shelter victims and then covered it up.
Had not the press, Sierra Club and House lawmakers intervened and exposed the government's lack of accountability and disinterest in the public's right to know, more Katrina victims would be living in these toxic trailers.
The federal government not only knew of dangerous levels of potentially cancer-causing formaldehyde in FEMA trailers, but it stopped testing trailers once it did. This deceit clearly was done to contain the bad news and avoid commitment to any lifesaving correction for people in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Katrina victims were doubly vexed: first by Katrina's wrath and next by the government's neglect.
At the highest levels of our government, leaders chose to see, hear and speak none of their wrongdoing, even if it meant repairing and saving lives. It will be easier to rebuild New Orleans, believe it or not, than to regain the people's trust. The Road Home is the name of the state's trickle-down recovery program in Louisiana. But the true path to recovery begins here, at the scene of the crime. Here the evidence of deceit and neglect is beyond ample. It is damning.
Rhonda Chriss Lokeman (lokeman@kcstar.com) is a columnist for The Kansas City Star. To find out more about Rhonda Chriss Lokeman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.