Shock and Awe

I am still taken aback by the developments in New Orleans.

Katrina was my sixth hurricane. Hurricanes Ivan, Fran and Opal, however, had a much greater impact on me, personally, giving me first-hand experiences with heavy winds, excessive rain, flooding, downed trees and power outages. Fortunately for me, my experiences were no where near that which has befallen the people of lower Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

I join with many others in focusing my thoughts and prayers on the survivors who have lost so much - loved ones, family homes, cities and communitites.

I disagree with those, though, who do not believe it is time to assess what has happened, especially in New Orleans, to figure out how the impact of a such a major storm could be minimized in the future. Part of that analysis involves taking notice of things that did not happen in the past that could have helped this time around.

As reported here, it appears that the Army Corps of Engineers and Louisiana officials, among others, have been voicing concerns about the levee system around New Orleans for a while now.

My point is not to rehash the arguments in the debate that led to cuts in the proposed funding for strengthening the levees. However, I will make what should be an obvious point, but apparently isn't obvious enough.

Failures occur for two main reasons: 1) a mistake in formulating or executing a program, or 2) incomplete or erroneous knowledge about a prospective problem that affects the formulation of a program. If a failure surfaces because of cause #1, then it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge the mistake so that we can better address similar circumstances in the future.

President Bush (R-Oil Fields), upon reviewing the disaster from aloft Air Force One, made the claim that

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did appreciate a serious storm but these levees got breached and as a result much of New Orleans is flooded and now we're having to deal with it and will," he said.

As the article from the Chicago Tribune pointed out, people did anticipate the breech of the levees, at least in the abstract. Of course, no one knew in advance that Katrina would be the abstract made real to the detriment of New Orleans.

The fact that the Bush Administration was aware of the concerns in Louisiana over the levee system but characterized Katrina's damage as "unanticipated" is unconscionable and offensive.

True, nothing can be done to turn back the clock and prevent the damage. The water is under the bridge, or, shall we say, over the levee. That doesn't mean that we, as Americans, shouldn't take stock of the actions by our officials that contributed to the situation in which New Orleans finds itself today.

Sometimes resolving problems requires accountability. And accountability requires pointing fingers.