At Least It Wasn't Personal
Well, I'm glad it's not just us. The deplorable failure to come to the rescue of tens of thousands stranded by the flooding of New Orleans was so awful that New Orleans was tempted to take it personally. Many spun theories that if it had been primarily white folk (procuring emergency supplies) rather than black folk (looting), federal response would have been a little more snappy. But the bumbling response to the evacuees in Lebanon shows that it wasn't personal at all, which should sort of cheer the Nolas up, at least until we realize it means that everyone is pretty much on their own.
Over at Hotline, they have a rundown of various public statements that support their case for "Beirut as New Orleans?". At MSNBC, Shuster notes,
The image of Americans, terrified and having to wait for days to be rescued, is an image that has burned the Bush administration before, namely a year ago following Hurricane Katrina.
Senator Stabenow from Michigan (am I the only one who has never heard of this lady?) also sees the similarities:
In Lebanon we have 25,000 people from America. Over 5,000 family members from Michigan who are literally trapped. ... This reminds me of watching the pictures of people sitting on rooftops in New Orleans that should have been evacuated much more quickly than they were. Six days is way too long. People are afraid and have every right to be.
And Justin Rood, over at the awesome Muckraker arm of the TPM media empire, quotes the assurances of undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns:
"We have an open line to all American citizens. We're in touch with them by Web site."
Which is all very well and good, except for Israelis bombing Beirut's infrastructure, which has wreaked havoc on the electricity and phone lines. Chertoff needs to hire this guy; his talents are wasted at State. Maybe he could oversee the accounting department and get himself some dog boots. Of course, the White House has now waived the fee (they were charging a fee!) for evacuation, so now all those kind souls who accused the Nolas of looking for handouts can direct their invective at the charity cases in Beirut.
Then we'll be sure it wasn't personal.
We can only hope that these new evacuees won't end up stranded on some metaphorical overpass without even food, water or shelter - surrounded by a rising flood of despair - while the world debates their fate.
sundry
- - - - - - - - - - -
"Us and Them,
And after all we're only ordinary men,
Me, and you,
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do"
Us and Them
Pink Floyd
Dark Side of the Moon
July 19, 2006 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
You must be talking 'bout Boyd's neighbors over there in Gretna. Didn't want none of that NOLA riff-raff in their nice city, so the Police Chief posted his deputies and drove them no-counts right back where they belonged.
July 19, 2006 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
In response to Ellen, Gretna residents are hardly the only bigots in metro N.O. The US as well as the rest of the world has a problem with the "us/them" mentality problem as succintly put by Pink Flyod in lyrics ages ago. I wish with all my heart that many Americans who haven't shown compassion about those living in hurricane ridden areas would change their minds about how they view Katrina's victims/survivors now that the federal govt. has again reacted poorly in response to more of its citizens in dire need of evacuation. I remain pessimistic about that sort of societal attitude changing any time soon, though, in the US. Unless Americans & especially La. citizens themselves adopt a 'never again' policy to address what went wrong with La.'s public education, crime levels, economy, housing, levees, health care system, streets, roads, & so on, only short term improvements if that will take place.
July 20, 2006 7:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Responding to Ellen
Actually I was referring to people who - having been rescued from rooftops - were brought to overpasses (which rose above the flood waters) and left stranded there without food, water or shelter. For days, some of them. I was referring to the fact that there was no follow thru, no plan of action. No "step 2". I was expressing my hope that the new evacuees (from the war zone) don't face that same kind of thing - the lack of planning and follow thru.
The Gretna thing is a totally separate issue having nothing to do with the war zone evacuees.
sundry
- - - - - - - -
"Us and Them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do"
Us and Them
Pink Floyd
Dark Side of the Moon
July 21, 2006 12:14 AM | Reply | Permalink