New Orleans; Lessons From Hezbollah

Felicity Arbuthnot

There was a tragic irony to America's National Day of Remembrance a year on from hurricane Katrina. George and Laura Bush in St Louis Cathedral, a minute's silence, names of thirty two of the dead read out (out of a thousand, how were they chosen, what did the relatives of the omitted nine hundred and sixty eight feel?) vigils, prayers and the President promising that a year from now the city would rise in a 'golden age of entrepreneurialism.' The people of New Orleans (half now scattered across America) would be forgiven for wondering when the words and prayers would be replaced by deeds. The most powerful country in the world, it seems, is very good at destruction but even in its own back yard, less than useless at reconstruction. With much of New Orleans looking more like parts of Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine, compare Bush's prayers to his cited 'terrorist', Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah's actions...

continua / continued