It takes a disaster of Biblical proportions to get me out of blogging-retirement, but here I am. Thanks to Preston for allowing me to use his space here. Some other time I might explain my absence to those who care to hear it, but in the meantime, I have had some thoughts on Katrina. (This may have been said elsewhere a hundred times already, but I wouldn’t know; I got rid of cable eight months ago and get my news in five minute bursts these days.)

One of the first things that struck me, seeing the horror in New Orleans, was that the terrorists must be slapping themselves on the forehead, saying “Damn! Why didn’t WE think of that?” Granted, last I checked, al Qaeda could not control the weather. But they could fairly easily blow up a levy or two, I imagine. That alone would have been enough to bring the city to its knees. The current chaos has all the ingredients apocalyptic fascists love: massive casualties, disease, starvation, complete destruction of infrastructure, disintegration of law and order, incapacitation of government, and the unimaginable despair of several million Americans.

To my knowledge, New Orleans has never been thought of as an A-List terror target the way New York, DC, LA, or Chicago is. Yet the damage done to the city now looks to be having very serious effects on the oil supply and economy of the entire country (and by extension, the world). What effect would a massive disaster in Atlanta or Detroit have on the nation as a whole? An attack on Memphis could hobble the nation’s shipping and distribution systems, for example. I can’t help but think that the terrorists are taking notes from Katrina.

On the other hand, this may be the greatest post-9/11 training that the Department of Homeland Security could have, short of another terrorist attack. The problems that must be occurring in the coordination of government and first responders will surely be invaluable in avoiding similar problems in the future. The real-life experience that National Guardsmen, police, Army engineers, and others are getting on the ground in Louisiana and Mississippi is the kind of training that only a real crisis can give. The doctors, nurses, EMTs, firefighters, and civil servants in that area will be, before this is over, hardened veterans. In the coming months we will likely learn of bureaucratic fumbles and logistical errors that cost lives, and while this is no solace to those suffering now, future lives may be saved thanks to what we learn now. While the terrorists are no doubt studying New Orleans, we are, too.

I have little comment on the looting. I for one do not know what I would do if I lost everything I owned, with no prospect of ever having anything again, trapped in a scene from a Bruegel painting, starving, thirsty, with submerged buildings aflame, and alligators feeding on corpses floating down Bourbon Street. In the coming days, when all who can be rescued have been, then looting will move up higher on the list of priorities. There’s been enough death in New Orleans this week.

Until next time (whenever that may be), this is Johnny Walker Red, signing off.

UPDATE:


Received this via e-mail from JWR:

I wholeheartedly concur – PTH.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 31st, 2005 at 11:56 pm and is filed under News & Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.