It has been heartrending to see a major American city reduced to Third World squalor. We must ask ourselves how this could happen, especially since every aspect of the disaster, down to the depth of the water in New Orleans’ streets, had been predicted in disaster modeling and drills. But then, the president said he couldn’t foresee Osama bin Laden’s attack on the World Trade Center despite intelligence reports that said otherwise.

Unfortunately, levee rebuilding projects had been cut back in the president’s budget, and expert advice for reconfiguring New Orleans’ flood defenses had been put off for lack of money.

We can thank the budget cuts necessitated by a draining war and tax cuts. The war in Iraq costs more per month than the entire budget for New Orleans’ levee reconstruction. We should worry that New Orleans’ plight might be symptomatic of our neglect of other aspects of America’s fragile infrastructure.

As the reasons for war with Iraq fall over in domino fashion, the president now says we must push on to honor the sacrifice of those who have already died. This only rings more hollow as we consider the death, destruction and misery of our neighbors in New Orleans.

After Sept. 11, the president rallied us to an endless war on terror, and that is where we are. Hurricane Katrina should rally us to a new direction to refocus on neglected domestic needs, such as aging cities and a failing health-care system, but who will lead that charge?

Steve Bien, Jay

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