From: Tony Williams 

John Beckett wrote:
> Tony Williams  wrote in message
> news::
>
>>If the hurricane had hit a third world country the US would have known
>>exactly how to help. Cleaning up a major city in at home appears to be a
>>bit more difficult, not least because of the local politics. This guy
>>has an interesting take:
>>
>>http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-09/03parenti.cfm
>
>
> Uh oh - I hope Gary B doesn't see that story!

Too late. I don't think he actually read it though - which is a shame,
because even though the author obviously has an agenda against Bush he
makes some valid points about the poor way the disaster has been handled.

I'm going to cop out of talking about Iraq much. My opinions in brief:
right idea, wrong justification, botched implementation.

--
Tony

> A couple of hours ago, I saw a PBS TV report (I occasionally watch a local
> station that shows the US PBS NewsHour). Two points:
>
> First, I see that serious help is finally arriving.
>
> Second, their political panel had a discussion on the disaster. I was
> amazed at how damning they were about the disaster response:
> http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/political_wrap/july-dec05/bop_9-2.html
>
> The token right-wing journalist (David Brooks) made some very interesting
> observations (as did they all). Brooks was caustic.
>
> ---A sample---
> "This is -- first of all it is a national humiliation to see bodies
> floating in a river for five days in a major American city. But second,
> you have to remember, this was really a de-legitimization of institutions.
>
> "Our institutions completely failed us and it is not as if it is the first
> in the past three years -- this follows Abu Ghraib, the failure of
> planning in Iraq, the intelligence failures, the corporate scandals, the
> media scandals."
> ---end---
>
> Sorry about mixing Iraq into the picture. This is NOT an attack on the US
> position in Iraq. The point is that even being totally in favour of that
> position, one has to be concerned about the failures such as Abu Ghraib.
>
> John
>

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