Newsletter
Numéro
29
Robert S.
Rivkin(*)
A
POST-HURRICANE SPEECH THAT BUSH WON’T MAKE
Words like “death,” “chaos,” “anarchy,” “squalor”, “incompetence” and “national disgrace” -- which were among the most descriptive and emotive ones uttered last week by thousands of people -- were omitted from the President’s speech.
So, I am offering here a straightforward address to the nation that President Bush could give next Saturday. If actually delivered, this speech could go a long way towards resuscitating his shattered credibility as a leader:
My fellow Americans. First, I want to apologize to you, and
particularly to the citizens of
I confess that last week, I tried to excuse our neglect by claiming that “I didn’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” Also, I’m aware that my Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, has claimed that this was an “ultra-catastrophe” (a hurricane plus a flood); and that nobody could have reasonably predicted that both would happen at the same time. We were both wrong.
My Administration will
no longer
try to shift blame to others nor to an
“uncooperative” Mother Nature.
Years ago, experts tried to warn the Army Corps of engineers
that a
category 4 or 5 hurricane would likely overwhelm the levees and flood
most of
“The
storm
hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly
storm
surge into
My fellow Americans, that was published in the October 2004 edition of the National Geographic. Similar warnings were published years before. So you see, my comments, as well as those of Secretary Chertoff , were misleading. We should have and could have done more than we did to prepare the government to respond to this hurricane as it bore down on the Gulf coast.
What actually happened
was almost
exactly what the scientists predicted.
Hurricane Katrina ripped through the coasts of
The result was that by Friday, September 2nd, when substantial aid finally began to arrive, many people -- mainly the elderly and seriously ill -- had perished. This did not have to happen.
I will say that I had no idea just how incompetent my director of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), Michael D. Brown, actually was. I now know, and I have just fired him and will replace him with experts who know what they are doing.
We must look to the
future. So far as I am aware, nobody in
the Federal
Government has yet told you – straight out -- the
enormity of the tasks which confront us as a nation.
I will do that now. We must
not only repair the physical damage
to the
Last week, experts predicted that the cost of rebuilding the destroyed areas would be $25 billion. Then, others raised the predictions to as much as $100 billion. Let me tell you right now that the losses resulting from this national nightmare will almost certainly total half a trillion dollars in the next five or six years. Maybe more. Included in that number are the costs not only of rebuilding, but of relocating hundreds of thousands of people, not in temporary shelters like the Astrodome, but in homes – at least for the medium term – by which I mean six months to three years.
This astoundingly large group of displaced American citizens must be housed. It is the Federal Government’s obligation to find them housing -- as soon as possible, so that their continued suffering – being forced to live communally in sports stadiums -- is not prolonged. It must be done so they can have privacy. So they can have dignity. So they can have hope for the future.
Therefore, I am
instructing the
Secretary of Defense to provide a list of domestic military bases where
empty
and under-utilized barracks, apartments
and houses are located. For
those
refugees who want to be housed in federal military housing, we should
provide
not only housing, but educational facilities, medical care and the
possibility
of finding new jobs. For others, the
government should provide funds to help integrate these American
citizens into
other communities throughout the
Insurance companies, private industry, charitable and religious organizations will of course all pitch in to help make life livable again for our fellow citizens. But they cannot provide the guidance, the infrastructure and the financial muscle. In a crisis as huge as this one, that is the obligation of the Government -- any government.
Therefore, I am submitting legislation to Congress to make this happen. It will be expensive. It will necessitate an increase in the tax burden, especially for those Americans who are better off than others. But, in the long run, it will be worth it by enhancing cohesiveness, equality and justice in our society. And it will enhance our prosperity as well.
I realize that I am urging a new approach towards disaster relief and reconstruction; and that this noble project may not generate profits for private contractors that earlier projects have done. I realize that this approach may surprise and disappoint, some who, like myself, have long embraced the concept of “the less government, the better.”
Philosophically, that still appeals to me. But we must be pragmatic. Monumental catastrophes require extraordinary flexibility. Fixed ideological positions must be abandoned. We are a country in crisis. We cannot afford to exacerbate racial divisions. We need to pull together. We cannot neglect those most desperately in need. Everyone needs to share the burdens.
For those who may find this new approach difficult – get used to it.
Thank you, and God
Bless
___________
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