Well, more than one sandbag, but the fact of the matter is that the Bush regime screwed up big time on that one. This post on Corante (the link for which I lifted from Ernie the Attorney, pretty much sums it up:
August 31, 2005
How Fast Can You Identify A Source For Really Big Helicopters?
Posted by Marty Schwimmer
After CNN reported today that helicopters were diverted from plugging the levee breach on Tuesday, in order to rescue individuals on rooftops, I wondered what is involved in securing sufficient helicopters in a national emergency. It took me two minutes of Googling to identify the Erickson Air Crane Company and obtain their email address and phone number. The Air Crane is one of the most powerful helicopters in the world (used for lifting trucks and putting out fires, for example). I emailed them today asking if anyone had contacted them about the levee. They replied immediately that while they had put out the word to government entities, and while they are a DOD-listed contractor, they had not been contacted by any Government entity as of Wednesday evening.
The levee broke on Monday night. I assume that a governor, or a general, or maybe a President would have gotten the CEO of this company (and other companies like them) on the phone and said “get over there ASAP.”
Oh, and read the following, which I found following a link on Jeneane’s blog. It’s posted here at Tom’s Improprieties:
In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.
On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: “It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.” Editor and Publisher
President Bush in 2002 fired his own Army Corps chief, former Mississippi congressman Michael Parker, after Mr. Parker backed lawmakers’ efforts to push through a number of big projects, including a $188 million proposal to build a massive flood-control pump for the lower Mississippi River. Wall St. Journal
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So, it seems appropriate here to share an email that non-blogger myrln sent to that idiot on vacation in Texas.
Dear George,
Here’s an idea for you to demonstrate your leadership qualities. Since it’s only a temporary disruption, how about, to show your solidarity, you go without food and water and live out on the White House lawn without a change of clothes and only a latrine (no showers or sinks) until every last person in Louisiana and Mississippi is fed and housed and cared for in a stable and lasting situation? Wow, what a fantastic display by the country’s leader, showing he cares, that he will endure what the citizens must endure in times of need. It would be a lasting legacy, George. You ought to give it serious thought.
If this disaster, fueled by Dumbya and crew’s ineptitude, doesn’t sandbag the political careers of those ol’ idiot boys, then too many of my fellow Americans are even dumber than I think they are.