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Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
This is correct, and as I've opined elsewhere the fundamental problem is we've tried to sustain a city in a river delta. It just doesn't work, at least not long term.
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What, so they deserve to suffer and die? It's a handy-dandy way of solving the problem of having a city on a river delta?
I agree that state/local gov't bears responsibility, but what the hell do we have the national guard and FEMA for if not to handle, you know, emergencies?
How is it possible that the head of FEMA and of Homeland Security in general were making statements that they didn't know until Thursday morning that conditions at the Superdome were so bad, and that by Thursday night they were taking steps to fix the problems? WE fucking knew on Wednesday that it was bad, and could only get worse because sanitary problems, lack of food, and lack of water weren't really going to magically fix themselves.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/kat...nse/index.html How could they not know that the hospitals were in really bad shape?
I do actually think it's entirely possible that they were telling the truth when they said that everything was under control, as far as they knew there were no corpses, evacuations of the hospitals were nearly finished, etc. Just like I think it's entirely possible (or, hell, probable) that Bush really didn't know that the yellowcake blah blah was most likely bullshit. But what kind of organizational culture produces that result? They are not following the "good news should travel fast, but bad news should travel faster up the line" rule. I have worked with people like this, who are at a (relatively, because I'm not THAT cool) high level and don't want to hear about problems. So their underlings learn to tell them when things go well, but suppress information about things that are going badly unless and until the underlings figure out there's no way to avoid it. It does not produce efficient, effective results.
ETA I don't think Bush is to blame for the fact that NO got flooded. He's also not to blame for the fuckups, but possibly as the top guy, he should have immediately intervened (and maybe he tried) as soon as it became obvious that people were trapped and getting upset -- and that was all over the damn TV, for fuck's sake. And if he wants to be the top guy, he has to accept blame for the shit his organization does and doesn't do. You all are like the partner who tells clients it's the paralegal's fault.
