I wanted to use a better headline, but someone beat me to it.
When I read the details of how New Orleans has fared — and I’ve read little else this past week — I keep thinking of the Kursk or Beslan, and how they were bunged by the new Russian state.
I have taken in so much information on when the city and state realized the potential magnitude of the disaster and how unaware the federal authorities remained until it was too late for many. This just doesn’t seem possible for a disaster like this to happen to the 4th largest seaport in the world, a major US city, an international tourist destination, and one of the most unique of American cities.
Is this the response we should have expected from our Department of Homeland Security in the four years since 9/11 “changed everything?”
I don’t feel safer.
[composed and posted with ecto]