Thread: How New Orleans Was Lost

http://www. vdare. com/roberts/ 050831_neworleans.htm

August 31, 2005
How New Orleans Was Lost

By Paul Craig Roberts

Chalk up the city of New Orleans as a cost of Bush’s Iraq war.

There were not enough helicopters to repair the breeched levees and rescue people trapped by rising water. Nor are there enough Louisiana National Guards available to help with rescue efforts and to patrol against looting.

The situation is the same in Mississippi.

The National Guard and helicopters are off on a fool's mission in Iraq.

The National Guard is in Iraq because fanatical neoconservatives in the Bush administration were determined to invade the Middle East and because the incompetent Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld refused to listen to the generals, who told him there were not enough regular troops available to do the job.

After the invasion, the arrogant Rumsfeld found out that the generals were right. The National Guard was called up to fill in the gaping gaps.

Now the Guardsmen, trapped in the Iraqi quagmire, are watching on TV the families they left behind trapped by rising waters and wondering if the floating bodies are family members. None know where their dislocated families are, but, shades of Fallujah, they do see their destroyed homes.

The mayor of New Orleans was counting on helicopters to put in place massive sandbags to repair the levee. However, someone called the few helicopters away to rescue people from rooftops. The rising water overwhelmed the massive pumping stations, and New Orleans disappeared under deep water.

What a terrible casualty of the Iraqi warâ€â€

The World Trade Towers count as little compared to the loss of New Orleans.

I grieve over the loss of my favorite American city...having been a survivor of many other huge foreign cities I considered N O to be one of the most interesting and exciting cities in the world.

What a loss!

RR

There may have been a Failure of Civil Engineering Prevention for New Orleans and the Recent Katrina Hurricane Disaster. I have watched the flooded city in CNN.

I say that because I say a Documentary about Tsunamis and New Orleans was pointed out as a very dangerous case. That was two months before the Katrina Hurricane.

This was an announced disaster.

According to the Documentary the probability of New Orleans suffering a Flooding disaster was very high. The City was vulnerable to Sea Disasters.

So there was a Failure of Engineering Prevention. Not enough water pumps, dikes or banks of contention. Perhaps dams were very vulnerable in Lousiana or water disposal to the sea was very slow.

The Netherlands is a country with a long story of fighting the sea and I imagine that pumping the water at fast speed to the sea is one key element of the solution.

New Orleans will soon be working again and the necessary Civil Engineering Projects of Water Contention and Disposal will be built.

Latin America is vulnerable to many disasters including Tsunamis, Hurricanes and Earthquakes so we should look carefully to what New Orleans is going to do to repair the damage and prevent new catastrophes.

In Colombia we had a volcano that killed 25,000 people and it could have been easily prevented. Some vulcanoligists warned of the danger.


Vicente Duque

It doesn't make sense to me to rebuild the city back in an area that is below sea level. You can't rebuild historical buildings. They are gone. Everything is gone.

I think they should pump out the water and clean up the mess and then let the water back in. Give it back to nature.

Originally Posted by RoadRunner

The World Trade Towers count as little compared to the loss of New Orleans.

I grieve over the loss of my favorite American city...having been a survivor of many other huge foreign cities I considered N O to be one of the most interesting and exciting cities in the world.

What a loss!

RR

all those historical landmarks gone --- they can never be replaced and that was New Orleans ...

the Defense Dept., Pentagon and BRAC are wanting to close bases and we don't have enough guardsmen to defend the gulf coast

Come on cheer up !

New Orleans will become again the "Paris of the Caribbean Sea"

There is something extremely magic about the Caribbean, so New Orleans will be like Rome after Nero's Fire, Bigger, Better, Happier and more Colorful.

I think that the Caribbean is like the Mediterranean Sea for the Old World.

The Caribbean is the Mediterranean of the New World. Nobody can imagine the Caribbean without New Orleans.

This disaster could be an opportunity for new ideas in every respect : Civil Engineering, Architecture, Economy, Trade, Politics, New Products and Services.

But Trade is essential, and Trade will help to revitalize and revive New Orleans. Trade with the Rest of the Caribbean and the Rest of the World.

I have heard that Texas is a very prosperous State and that Dallas is becoming a New City as Powerful as New York City. Dallas is the New York of the South.

As far as I understand Houston is the most important port of Texas, but Mobile in Alabama, Gulfport in Mississippi and Miami are still powerhouses of Trade.

So this setback of New Orleans is only momentary. There are people in my town that are very much worried about their products in New Orleans Warehouses. And one of my friends is very much worried about an important customer ( and debtor ) in New Orleans.

The world is becoming very little and will shrink much more.

What is your perception of Miami ?? .... Can it grow faster than Houston or Dallas ???

What will happen ??? ... What is the future ???

I can predict this :

New Orleans is going to be soon a Wonder and a Bigger Jewel. It will be reborn sooner than expected. People form Lousiana are Funny, Friendly, Happy, Courageous and Brave.

I am located in the Southern Caribbean ( Colombia ) and I have flown to the Northern Caribbean in Cargo airplanes loaded with flowers ( shivering from the cold due to the altitude even if all the Caribbean is very hot at the moment )

It is only from two to three hours of flight. We are neighbors.



Vicente Duque