De Facto Execution of American Citizens

Perhaps Mr. Broussard is right. I was commenting over at Moxie Grrrl, and as it sometimes happens, I got to thinking my comment would make a good post. Here it is:

You know, I saw the Chertoff deflection a number of times - "there will be plenty of time for an after action analysis...blah, blah, blah." The trouble is, while Rove et al. are very good and smudging generally upstanding citizens with outright fabrications, I don't think they will be able to handle the sheer volume of critics that will be forthcoming when the real tally of dead bodies start adding up. Let's think about this a bit.

First, there are the hard number of folks we know were killed immediately by Katrina. That number was maybe on the order of hundreds or so.

Then, there are the post storm deaths due to lack of response (via starvation, dehydration, lack of meds etc...)that will hang over the heads of those "officials" who basically fell down on the job or were too busy recreating, making political statements, or entertaining friends rather than drop everything and come to the aid of some very poor folks. That number will trump the other number and word out of NOLA is that it will be on the order of thousands, not hundreds.

Where the W, Rove and Co will try to dance around is that bigger number. They are going to try and place blame, very much in a political way, on those other than themselves or on the force of nature.

The truth of the matter is this: We knew Katrina was coming. Preparations could have been made at a variety of levels. The plan, if there was one, was poorly executed and instead, some genuinely innocent AMERICANS were effectively, de facto executed - which is why the video Moxie points out in earlier posts of Mr. Broussard (sp?) is ever so powerful. This shit will stick, hard and fast to this Administration no matter how much political thrashing and wiggling about they try - mainly, because there is not one iota of wiggle room left for these leaches.

On another angle, I'm wondering - are the post-Katrina deaths the moral equivalent of "friendly fire" tragedies that hit our troops in some forgotten desert? Maybe so.

There is no way that the W, Rove and Co can smudge a man (or woman, or grandmother, or other survivor who calls a spade a spade) who took it upon himself to rebuild the levee the ACoE were not able to reinforce before the hit. And if they do, and I would like to see them try, we will be ready to call their bluffs.

Incidentally, let's all not get distracted about the Plame situation. We await some answers in that matter as well.