9-12-05, 11:07 am
Three holocausts in four years with a balance of over 20,000 dead, billions of dollars in allocations for the crusade against terrorism and the failing war effort in Iraq, is what George W. Bush has to show in 57 months as President.
A reader of the Los Angeles Times hit the bull´s-eye recently referring to the United State´s real plight, when he said in a letter to the editor that the only natural disaster of that nation is Bush himself.
The current President has faced the greatest disasters in several decades and perhaps in US history during one term and nine months at the White House. For the three events he has full responsibility, although he may not recognize it.
Take the attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon headquarters in Washington for instance. There were dozens of alerts from intelligence sources that warned about plans in that direction.
Immediately after the collapse of the towers, the first to be ushered swiftly and quietly out of the country were the family of Bin Laden and other Saudi friends of the White House, tagged as suspects in the attack.
Even before George W. Bush took oath as President in January, 2001 he had already decided he would finish what his father supposedly left undone in the Gulf War, the occupation of Iraq, overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the control of Iraqi oil.
Under the pretext that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, an allegation proven wrong shortly after the invasion of the Middle Eastern nation, Bush gained what he needed most, support at home and among his closest allies.
Thirty months and thousands of casualties later, the highest being the number of dead Iraqi civilians, the occupying coalition led by the United States has admitted to its inability to control the domestic resistance.
Millions of US citizens, according to critical media reports, have begun to connect the war on Iraq, the 'national security' masquerade, the deep cuts in the budgets for social programs, the increase in unemployment, tax cuts for the rich and the failure to plan preventive measures to lessen the impact of a killer hurricane like Katrina.
Scientists had warned four years ago that a catastrophe was waiting to happen in New Orleans, attending to failing levees built to protect that southern city from rising waters. Precisely this year, the budget requested by the state of Louisiana for their repair was drastically cut.
Now corpses of a yet-to-be counted death toll are floating around the streets of New Orleans and other cities along the Gulf coast and the Mississippi delta. Together with the loss of around 10,000 lives, the economic impact is incalculable.
Only to quote one figure, the ports of New Orleans and nearby Lake Charles handle 60 percent of all grain exports of the United States. At a time when corn and other commodities are waiting to be harvested in the Middle Western states, there are also Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama´s own agricultural losses to be considered.
Amid harsh criticism for his lack of leadership, President Bush sent Congress a request for $51.8 billion in additional hurricane relief yesterday, raising Katrina's cost to the federal government to $62.3 billion so far, easily a record for domestic disaster relief.
Already analysts fear a fourth disaster, offset until now by an uncertain recovery coming from the military industrial complex. The economy might fall into recession, spurred by astronomical budget and trade deficits, further eroding the financial support of its main European and Asian allies.
From Prensa Latina
