Perspective
Bad news from the Army Corps of Engineers on the levee front, and not just around New Orleans:
Here's the kicker:
Or about 9 1/2 hours of the Iraq War. Every time something necessary goes unfunded, we need to remind ourselves how much we're spending on a war of choice, every single day. I've said this dozens of times, so once more won't hurt. The model we need to be thinking of when we talk about the war in Iraq is not Vietnam, it's the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. And look how poorly that turned out, for all parties.
Across America, earthen flood levees protect big cities and small towns, wealthy suburbs and rich farmland. But the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that oversees levees, lacks an inventory of thousands of them and has no idea of their condition, the corps' chief levee expert told The Associated Press.
The uncertainty, amid an unusually wet spring that has already caused significant flooding across many states, is creating worry even within the corps.
"We have to get our arms around this issue and understand how many levees there are in the country, who's watching over them, what populations and properties are behind them," Eric Halpin, the corps' special assistant for dam and levee safety, said in an interview last month. "What is the risk posed to the public?"
Critics are troubled that the government doesn't know the answer.
Here's the kicker:
Some of what was found was troubling. For example, corps levees in Missouri and Illinois that are supposed to protect against a 500-year flood fall short of even 100-year protection, said Col. Lewis Setliff III, commander of the corps district in St. Louis. Getting those nine levees up to standard would cost an estimated $200 million.
Or about 9 1/2 hours of the Iraq War. Every time something necessary goes unfunded, we need to remind ourselves how much we're spending on a war of choice, every single day. I've said this dozens of times, so once more won't hurt. The model we need to be thinking of when we talk about the war in Iraq is not Vietnam, it's the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. And look how poorly that turned out, for all parties.
Labels: Bush administration, Iraq
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
3 Comments:
Why those levees were in perfect condition in 2003.
By
Locomotive Breath, at 5:48 PM
I wonder which levees are in red states and which ones are in blue states?
Letting Karl Rove run the federal guvamint for so many years was probably a really, really bad idea.
Why Loki, Iraq was in perfect condition in Feb 2003!
(insert bird here)
By
Tony, at 8:37 PM
Iraq was in terrible condition in 2003. Saddam had spent 20 years neglecting it while spending money on his army. In 2003 we made a point of not destroying any more of it than we had to while getting rid of Saddam at the same time. It would have been far easier to simply bomb the crap out of the place, declare victory, and go home.
Meanwhile, Presidents and Congresses of both parties have neglected those levees for decades. Barry knows this but his BDS has gotten the better of him again.
By
Locomotive Breath, at 5:27 PM
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