Why the levee broke
AlterNet
by Will Bunch
09/01/05
Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq. ... New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. ... When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA. ... Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain...
http://alternet.org/story/24871/
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
by Will Bunch
09/01/05
Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq. ... New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. ... When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA. ... Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain...
http://alternet.org/story/24871/
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 2. Sep, 11:15
