What if it had been a terrorist attack?

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Published on Sunday, 04 September 2005 17:00

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The destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001 had a huge impact on the political landscape of North America. It gave us the Department of Homeland Security, yellow, orange, and red threat levels, the National Response Plan, and the Patriot Act.

The damage that these measures have done to civil liberties is not today's topic. Instead, I'll pose this question: do you feel safer?

You shouldn't. Hurricane Katrina has done far more property damage than the 9/11 attacks did. When they finish counting the bodies, Hurricane Katrina will have caused the loss of a larger number of lives.

There hasn't been a terrorist action in history that has caused the same level of destruction, although and attack on a nuclear power station or the detonation of a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb would be in the same ballpark.

My point is, four years after the World Trade Center attack, the Bush administration has a real domestic emergency to deal with. His administration has been incompetent to deal with it, and the legislation and additional bureaucracies set up in 2001, 2002, and 2004 have not helped the situation.

I was prompted to write this by an article that I found on the TPM Cafe site. The title is Criminal Negligence and Katrina?, and it was written by Larry Johnson, an expert in counter-terrorism and forensic auditing. It's worthwhile reading, and there's a lot of good comments posted, as well.

You can help Hurricane Katrina victims by contributing to the United Negro College Fund.

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