Friend of a Friend

I have a friend of a friend who lived in New Orleans. Her and her boyfriend had left before Katrina, and went to stay with her mom in Houston. I've been reading her LiveJournal on a daily lately. She's been filling it with article after article on things happening over there.

She posted one, that amazed me, but somehow didn't. Here is a brief summary of the points.

• After a flood killed 6 people in 1995, the army corps of engineers, through the Southeast Louisiana flood control project, began renovating levees and pump control stations in NOLA. The funding dried up in 2003 due to the war in Iraq.
• In 2004 the Bush Administration cut back the funding for New Orleans district of the Army Corp of Engineers for holding back Lake Pontchartrain by over 80%.
• In 1990, a federal task force began restoring wetlands near NOLA. (Every two miles of wetlands decreases storm surge by a foot.) In 2003, the Bush administration reversed this trend, and allowed developers to develop on wetlands. In response, four leading environmental groups did studies on what could happen with the loss of those wetlands. The Bush administration felt that study was "highly questionable" and continued allowing wetland development.

Experts had seen the potential for destruction coming for years, but it was ignored. The funding to try and protect a city of 500,000 was cut because of the War in Iraq. See how much safer we are now, thanks to that war.