Bush Left Poor Unprotected

The tragedy wrought on New Orleans and the larger region struck by Hurricane Katrina will play out for years. But Katrina also opened raw wounds about a government htat has long placed priority on protection of the private sector over an increasingly vulnerable public. That is the real sory of the 1 million people left stranded by the killer hurricane. These people, who are a minor fraction of all those who have fallen below the poverty level in the United States of America, did not have the means to evacuate the city before it was struck. They couldn't afford transportation out of a city that produces 230,000 barrels a day of Gulf crude oil. And four years, and billions of tax dollars after Sept. 11, 2001, the new Department of Homeland Security was unprepared to help them. The tragedy of 0-11, pales in comparison to this act-of-God. But 9-11 gave the Bush administration its opportunity to secure Iraqi oil, thus assuring "our" way-of-life for a generation or two. But war for oil is a waste because of all Earth's oil will be depleted by 2050, according to some U.S. Geological Survey observations. Implementation of oil-conservation and alternative-energy policies immediately after 9-11, would have softened Katrina's blow.

CHARLES ANDRADE

Galloway

Letter printed in AC Press, September 16, 2005

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