Snatching Success from the Jaws of Failure (I)

"New Orleans Mogadishu" by Jay D. Dyson (09/01/2005)



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We could not avoid the information flood pertaining to Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in Louisiana and Mississippi if we wanted to, and we do not want to. From where we are, we can help only in limited ways. We think that the greatest help will come from "lessons learned," and changes implemented from lessons learned. Our concerns are being pulled irresistably from just the devastation and human suffering in the vast peri-New Orleans area to the nation: We have been dealt by reality with probably one last chance to prevent the degradation going on in the areas smashed by Hurricane Katrina before we have to deal with many, man-made Katrina-like disasters.

Yesterday, we passed a small church in the small town where we live, and on its small lawn sign was the following statement: "Success is not failure, if you learn from it." We are far enough away from the immediate emergency of that part of the Deep South to be able to start learning from it right now. Part of that learning involves some diagnostics about places like New Orleans and its preparedness, the pro-active components, and its response to disaster, the reactive components.

First, what have we gleaned about New Orleans? Why was it a waiting target? And, why was it not more ready?

Physically, New Orleans sits in a bowl, below sea level, with a HUGE lake on one side and the mighty Mississippi River on the other. Dirt walls (cf: the Dutch and the North Sea) were built to keep out both bodies of water from the city. The city began existence on or above sea level. With growth and added weight of buildings on its silt bed, along with removal of underground water, New Orleans began sinking. The mighty Mississippi River was diverted from its usual path and behaviors; the "new and improved" Mississippi River began depositing mega-tons of silt annually into the Gulf of Mexico and no longer building up what was now the city. The silt added to the delta, and New Orleans literally moved inland from its original coastal location. The dirt walls holding out Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River were built to be able to sustain Category 3 hurricanes. Multiple studies and warnings issued by reliable evaluators for years ahead of Hurricane Katrina fell on deaf ears. No improvements were made on the dike system.

That brings up a related question: Why is New Orleans POOR? New Orleans is situated on the biggest river in the nation, one that carries vast tonage from Minnesota to Lousiana. It receives ships from all nations because New Orleans is almost the most important port in America. Rail and interstate highways add to its income and outgo. Just south of New Orleans are many, huge oil refineries and oil wells. Throw in the tourist trade, and you should have the wealtiest city in the nation. You do not. Houston took away the oil trade, and Houston had pitifully less to offer compared to New Orleans. Sadly, the answer to the question of why New Orleans is poor is the same answer to the question of why Louisiana is such a poor state. The answer is CORRUPTION.

Houston took a "can do" attitude and became a vastly wealthy oil city, while New Orleans remained the pig in the mud. The city sank and everyone rolled the dice against really having a great natural disaster. As for the vast amounts of money, who knows where they went. New Orleans, as it sank, became a giant coffin.

New Orleans also became as socialist as it could. Sea-sized populations lived in "poverty," on the dole, and vast numbers of people became dependent on the government to do for them in what should have been a world center of capitalism and wealth. Thus, on the television, one after another entitlement personalities have been seen screaming in rage how no one has come to save them or do for them or provide for them. Of course, not all persons are this way, but enough are to create a montrous social crisis. These entitlement mentalities have converted New Orleans into what Jay Dyson's cartoon calls, New Mogadishu.

No matter how much help arrives, it is not enough. Utter lawlessness reigns among the entitlement crowd, reminiscent of what is happening in Iraq. Even the agents of assistance have been shot at, delaying their placement of materiel and personnel to provide needed assistance. None of the entitlement mentality crowd got out of town ahead of the storm. Their dependent personalities just waited for whatever came and for someone else to take responsibility for them. True, some responsible others did not leave for fear of what the lawless ones would do to their belongings.

The great leveler in all of this New Orleans disaster has been water. Water, seeking its own levels as liquids are wont to do, has cut power, flooded access, and taken away dry areas of sanctuary. In addition, it has become the agent of death. Even "fresh," the flood water was full of contaminants and filth. Now it carries sewage and serves as the conduit for rotting bodies. Massive disease outbreaks, of the old timey type, are just hours away. Think cholera, typhoid, and all of those diseases we read about in the history books; and, do not rule out Plague and tuberculosis. No one can boil water to kill organisms because everything is wet, and nothing will light and burn any longer.

This has been a wakeup call to America, of the order of magnitude of the events of 9-11-2001. Do not think for one minute that what is happening in Lousiana and Mississippi, and local, state, and federal responses are not being studied in Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the like.

The lessons need to be spelled out in great detail and LEARNED RIGHT NOW.

(To be continued)