Katrina and Iraq

With the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in full swing it has been pointed out by many that many lives would have been saved and many traumatic experiences of the chaotic aftermath would have been avoided had the full resources of the Louisiana National Guard and other US military outfits been available. It is hard to deny the fact that the citizens of Louisiana would have been much better off had the helicopters in Iraq been available for the rescue effort and had the National Guard been available to maintain peace and order in the city. Many have also pointed to the lack of Federal response, with even a growing number of Republicans denouncing the Bush Administration for not reacting quickly and failing to anticipate the disaster.

Related to the Administrations short comings on the disaster relief are new stones being thrown at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Bush Administration’s widely known favoritism towards its friends and contributors is biting them again. The Washington Post reports: “Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “ (full article here).

The media is intensely focused on the disaster relief effort, and with as large a task as this country and the residents of hurricane afflicted areas have ahead of them the attention is largely positive. However, in amongst the relief coverage there is still a war being fought in Iraq. We need to keep this in mind while all the headlines read Katrina. I mention this because today the BBC published a discrete report about a US bombing raid carried out last night in Iraq. The small Iraqi town of Talafar, said to be an insurgent strong hold, is currently under siege. (full article here) With so much coverage focused on Hurricane Katrina, information about the raid is extremely limited. Today my thoughts are not only with the Katrina survivors and their families but also with the civilians of Talafar fleeing their homes and in all probability dying in the crossfire.

Posted at Friday, September 09, 2005
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