Editor,
In John Steiner's letter in Thursday's Daily Lobo, he uses four examples of failures that he attributes to the Bush administration: knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist plans, failure to evacuate people from New Orleans, failure to handle post-Katrina New Orleans properly, and a loss of pensions due to criminal wrongdoing by a number of corporate officers.
Unfortunately, Steiner's hatred of Bush is causing him to lose sight of reality. Bush was only briefed on the threat of aircraft hijackings on Aug. 6, 2001, and once in a presidential daily brief.
With regard to the failures to evacuate people in New Orleans, Steiner clearly does not understand the roles of federal, state and local governments when facing this kind of disaster. The failure to evacuate the people of New Orleans was Mayor Ray Nagin's fault. He had the resources available in the form of 600 school buses that he could have used to get the people out. He chose not to do so for economic reasons. Gov. Blanco did not ask for federal assistance for almost 48 hours after the hurricane hit, because she did not want to appear unprepared in the media. By the way, Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are both Democrats.
Other than Coast Guard rescue activities, the federal government has no direct role in a natural disaster within the borders of a state unless asked by the governor of the state. FEMA did position equipment and supplies ahead of time in order to be ready for any disaster.
Were there systemic failures? Sure. Katrina caused damage well beyond what was anticipated. No one expected the breached levees.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The federal government has responded with medical assistance, funding to rebuild the levees to pre-Katrina levels and transitory assistance for people displaced by the disaster. The debris piles in the Ninth Ward are a result of residents' reluctance to have their houses bulldozed. There are court fights underway right now preventing the city from cleaning the area. It is not a problem with the federal government.
When Steiner complains about Bush's "cronies," I assume he is talking about Enron, WorldCom and other corporate scandals. It is true that Bush knew Ken Lay, but other than that, there is no connection between the Bush administration and any of the other defendants in any of those trials. By the way, the criminal activities that led to the downfall of these companies all started when Clinton was in office. Where was Clinton? Probably preoccupied in the Oval Office.
It appears that Steiner's view is that everything that goes wrong in the world is Bush's fault. He rants that the failures of FEMA and the federal government are malicious acts by the Bush administration. He offers no proof, just an emotional tirade. I suggest you consider his opinion at your own risk.
Dave Bergeron
Daily Lobo reader
