aWhat will Katrina mean for the USA?

The tragedy which hit the three southern States in the form of Cyclone Katrina will have more impact on the USA than the physical damage done in the South.

Clearly the analysis must show that the response by Federal Government was at best far too slow. In Australia an unexpected cyclone hit Darwin, a remote city, at Christmas 1974. The city was literally flattened. Within a short space of time and despite the distances involved there was movement in and out of Darwin. So there is no excuse for the tardiness of the US response. Sadly it is beginning to look as if there are questions of racism inovolved.

While American people of colour might well see the desertion of the South as a racial matter; and frankly when bodies are left in public and individuals are left without food and water it seems a fair claim; other middle class Americans might suddenly feel less safe. An idea has been destroyed in this disaster, the idea that the homes of the free and brave are sacrosanct and safety can be taken for granted.

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Suddenly neighbouring States are drawn into the disaster by having to act as hosts for misplaced 'refugees' and it seems few are happy about "recieving the worst and poorest of the South". Other States, even those far enough away not the have felt any direct effect are experienceing another, slower reaction. This one is the result of the destruction of the sacred idea of the safety of the American home. What with the huge cost of the war on Terror, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and now the recovery process will there be enough money to keep the USA free and brave? Foriegn debt is at record highs, the Chinese are knocking at the door of essential industries like oil refining and in this view there appears a new vulnerability, a new question of security.

The fall out for George Bush and his Republicans must be severe. Will Americans ever forgive this Administration for its mishandling of the crisis? Early signs indicate that this is doubtful and that after the clean-up and resettlement process has been completed attention will turn like a great searching light onto the Administration of George Bush. Leaving American citizens to die for lack of food and water will not be an easy charge to overcome. It's said that the second term of any US President is marked as 'lame duck' because there can be no third term and so bureaucracy awaits a new president and new allocation of jobs. Before long it may be that Bush's term will be viewed as closer to 'dead duck' for citizens will foget what is happening in far away deserts where the people seem to be more interested in killing one another than achieving democracy; and their fury will remain domestic as wounds from this massive disaster are slow to heal.