The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina may not be entirely the result of an act of nature. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. The Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated the levees and pumping stations. In 2001, when George Bush became president, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely potential disasters—after a terrorist attack on New York City (and a San Francisco earthquake). But in 2004, the Bush administration cut the Corps of Engineers' budget request for beefing up the levees that protect the city by more than 80%. By the beginning of this year, additional cuts forced the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate debated adding funds for fixing levees, but it was too late. Last year, the US Army Corps of Engineers proposed a study on how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration nixed the idea.

As looting and gunfire erupt in New Orleans, the authorities are shifting their attention from a humanitarian mission to what is starting to look like counter-insurgency. "They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."

In his Aug. 30 speech overwhelmingly focusing on his World War II analogy, Bush did let slip this one telling line at North Island Naval Air Station:

"If Zarqawi and bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks; they'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions; they could recruit more terrorists by claiming an historic victory over the United States and our coalition." (White House transcript.)

Cindy Sheehan and her entourage have left Crawford, TX, as Bush ended his vacation a few days early in response to the disaster in New Orleans. She is taking her act on the road with a "Bring Them Home Now Tour" which will culminate in an anti-war march in Washington DC Sept. 24. (AP, Aug. 31)

With nine major refineries closed and many oil rigs or platforms reported missing in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurrice Katrina, the US government has decided to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves to help offset production cuts. Oil prices fell back following the White House's announcement, to $68.94 from a high of $70.85 a barrel.

US Energy Department Secretary Samuel Bodman said the decision to open up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was made last night. "In a word, it is going to be done," he said. "We will be tapping the supply." The Strategic Reserves total almost 700 million barrels of crude oil, stored in five underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says Hurricane Katrina probably killed hundreds and "most likely, thousands" of residents. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and others dead on roofs and in attics, Nagin told the AP. Over 20,000 refugees, mostly in the Superdome sports stadium, are to be taken by 500 buses to the Astrodome in Houston 328 miles away, officials now say. It may be weeks before people are allowed to return, they said.

Warmer sea-surface temperatures caused by climate change could boost the frequency and potency of hurricanes, and that may be what we are now witnessing following the wave of ferocious Atlantic storms in recent years. A paper published last month in the journal Nature by meteorologist Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluded that the destructive power of hurricanes increased 50% over the last half century, and that a rise in surface temperatures linked to global warming was at least partly responsible.

"People are beginning to seriously wonder whether there is a [global warming] signal there," said Emanuel. "I think you are going to see a lot more of a focus on this in coming years."

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is devastated. Eighty percent of the city is submerged and the water is expected to keep rising for days due to levee breaks. The death toll of 60 could be just the beginning. Thousands are stranded in hospitals, prisons, nursing homes and the storm-damaged Superdome, where four deaths are already reported (two displaced hospital patients and one accident). The power is out throughout the metropolitan area, and the tap water is fouled, threatening a public health crisis. Rescuers in boats and helicopters are scrambling to pluck hundreds of survivors from trees and rooftops. Ruptured gas lines are burning in some areas, and buildings in others. Interstate 10 is destroyed, and only one road provides access to the city. (Newsday, LAT, AP, Aug. 31)