...more recent posts
Saturday, Apr 28, 2007
Flash Back
I'm watching the inaugural program of Bill Moyer's new series, Buying the War. Not much of the show is new information to me. (Although the "Oprah" segment is shocking due to Oprah's vitriol towards someone questioning Judith Miller's bullshit.) In May of 2003 I started putting together a large set of link to news and analysis from the pre- and post-invasion periods. These links are on a page called Trailers of Mass Destruction. There were voices raising doubts, but they were too often buried while the war mongering was page 1A above the fold.
Of special note is the work done by the Washington Bureau of Knight-Ridder (follow link and scroll down for links to some of their coverage). I read some of their work in the local Knight-Ridder outlet, and their flagship paper, the San Jose Mercury News.
The Knight-Ridder organization has been dismantled. Major stockholders decided that the parts of the company were worth more than the whole. The McClatchy Company, which was built around the Sacramento Bee, bought Knight-Ridder, and sold off portions, including the Mercury News to MediaNews Group.
To reiterate, one of the few organizations to really question the administration's propaganda campaign in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, was "parted out" like an old car because certain wealthy stockholders thought that would bring better return on investment.
New Hobby?
The Army Corps of Engineers has a web site dedicated to the Hurricane Protection System in southeast Louisiana. I'll be digging in more to learn about what they are and are not doing. I'm very concerned they are setting the bar too low. Designing for a 100 year event, and compounding that by designing with a very low safety factor leads me to conclude they are designing for failure.
Gosh, if only we could find a few billion in the military budget to do this thing right. Is there any elective military program that we could scale back in order to protect this major American city? Hmmm.
The Corps is Spinning the Pumps
The Army Corps of Engineers has published an article to explain the status of the pumps at the the outlets of the outfall canals.
(The breach of floodwalls on the 17th Street Canal and London Street Canal, "outfall canals", allowed water from Lake Ponchartrain to flood New Orleans. The major suburb of Metairie is also at risk if the west wall of the 17th Street Canal breaches. New Orleans was also flooded by breaches in the Industrial Canal, which is not being fitted with protective gates and associated pumps.)
This is the explanation for why they are publishing their version of the story:
In her memo, Garzino told corps officials that the equipment being installed was defective. She warned that the pumps would break down ``should they be tasked to run, under normal use, as would be required in the event of a hurricane.''
The pumps failed less-strenuous testing than the original contract called for, according to the memo. Originally, each of the 34 pumps was to be ``load tested'' _ made to pump water _ but that requirement for all the pumps was dropped, the memo said.
Of eight pumps that were load tested, one was turned on for a few minutes and another was run at one-third of operating pressure, the memo said. Three of the other load-tested pumps ``experienced catastrophic failure,'' Garzino wrote.
In their article, the Corps doesn't refute the claims in the memo cited by AP, but merely makes excuses for why this was the best they could do under the circumstances. The Corps claims of "Inaccurate and misleading reporting" are arguments that aren't supported anywhere in their story.
The Corps claim of "its continuing effort to remain open and transparent" doesn't hold water either. If they are so open, why are they criticized for "checking their own work" in this Time-Picayune article.
And that, in and of itself, is a big problem, said [Dr. Robert] Bea, a member of the Independent Levee Investigation Team financed by the National Science Foundation to study failures in the region's hurricane protection system.
The corps is reviewing its own work when experts independent of the agency should scrutinize it instead, said Bea, a former chief engineer for Shell Oil in New Orleans who began his career with the corps.
Bea and his colleagues, along with members of the state-fielded Team Louisiana investigators, have said the corps must open itself to true outside collaboration and review -- not just talk about doing so.
"When are these guys going to learn? This is like running into the gang of bullies who beat you up yesterday and having them say, 'Trust us today,' " Bea said. "Nineteen months after Katrina, they're still checking their own work. They should be inviting peer review and welcoming collaboration as a way of showing that they really want to move forward together."
Blame the Victim
Under the Patriot Act, Iraqi victims of kidnappings are sometimes seen as providing "material support" of terrorists, and won't be allowed to immigrate to the U.S.
At issue here is whether the rapist/kidnapper is a member of a U.S. government-documented terrorist group. Even ransom can constitute "material support" of terrorists. But if money is given "under duress" to a group that is not on either of the two State Department lists of foreign terrorist groups, the "material support" restriction can be waived.
Mercury News
Chickenhawk Salad on Wonderbread, with a side of Cheetos
When the troops are withdrawn from Iraq, the wingnuts will blame this fiasco on the people who said it was going to be a fiasco in the first place. And they will blame it on people caught up in George's folly. We've already seen examples of wingnuts blaming the Iraqi people. Here's a wingnut on the Cheetos-stained Vanguard, ready, willing and able to place blame on the troops and their families.
I just heard a leftist who claimed to be the wife of a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq on C-SPAN. I doubt that she was really connected to any service-member...but...
She said, "We're tired."
[Snip]
Our troops are tired of war...it's only natural. Our people are tired of the war as well. But that does not mean we should just lay down and hand murderous islamist thugs a victory.
Monday, Apr 23, 2007
Engineering Disaster Redux
What the hell is wrong with the Corps of Engineers?
Canal pilings come up short
Shorter Corps:
[Edited to reduce the fuck-count. I have a very low tolerance for bad engineering, particularly when lives are at stake. See comments for more details on the "designed to fail" mentality of the Corps.]
Saturday, Apr 21, 2007
I got your so-called liberal bias right here.
In response to a letter about the Corps fucking up the new pumps ...
To: mark
Subject: Responding to your message
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:35:19 -0700
Dear Mr. Magee:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. I appreciate hearing from you on this vital matter.
As Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, I conducted a Committee field hearing in New Orleans on February 26, 2007. The Committee has jurisdiction over issues that are critical to the successful rebuilding of New Orleans and the entire affected region, including hurricane protection and wetlands restoration, and I felt that it was important for us to see firsthand the devastation caused by the storm. Although we saw many signs of hope, we also saw troubling reminders of the ways our government has failed to assist the victims of this disaster and the tremendous amount of work that still needs to be done.
I want you to know that I am doing everything I can to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and to ensure that our people are protected from any future disasters. My committee recently approved the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which would authorize projects to help restore Louisiana 's natural hurricane protection system - the wetlands.
In addition, the EPW Committee has oversight of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for federal levees and flood control projects. I take this responsibility very seriously and am working to ensure that any problems with the Corps are resolved quickly and in a bipartisan manner.
Please know that I will keep working to ensure that WRDA passes Congress and is signed into law, and I will continue to support legislation that seeks to provide assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Again, thank you for writing to me. Please feel free to contact me again about any issue of importance to you.
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
Please visit my website at http://boxer.senate.gov
Monday, Apr 09, 2007
When you've lost the hard core ...
While walking the 2.1 dogs, we had a few minute's chat with the son of a neighbor. He's regular Army, special ops. (My comment to him: "That's hard core.") He's been to Afghanistan and Iraq. He doesn't want to go back, but his next deployment might be Afghanistan. He wants the war to be over.
Heh.
The nation owes a debt of gratitude to Sen. John McCain for pointing out that we are not getting a true picture of what is happening in Iraq (Page 3A, April 3). He has demonstrated how we can protect Iraqi citizens in Baghdad and beyond: Provide each Iraqi with body armor and 100 American soldiers to escort them. It probably will not be necessary to have Black Hawk helicopters backing up the troops.
Frank Crosby
Morgan Hill
from the Merc
Friday, Apr 06, 2007
Message of Hope
The "burn rate" on the Iraq war is $9 billion a month. The Iraqis are in despair. Three million are refugees or have fled the country. The ill-equipped Iraqi police and army suffered 49,000 casualties in the last 14 months. There is no security in most of the country under the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
[big snip]
The American people have walked away from support of this war. The Army is beginning to show signs of great strain. Many units are now on their third combat tour, and the tours routinely are being extended. Recruiting standards are being lowered. Our equipment is shot. By the beginning of the coming year, we will be forced to downsize our deployment to Iraq or the Army will begin to unravel.
Barry R. McCaffrey (retired general)
Oh, wait, I skipped over this part.
U.S. troops continue to show determination, discipline and courage.
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