Parallels

Peter Brookes comments on what is necessary to improve the situation in Iraq, and points to making changes in the reconstruction effort:

Just last week, in Senate hearings on Iraqi reconstruction and stabilization, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said: "If Iraqis perceive that their daily lives are improving, they are more likely to take risks to oppose insurgents and restrain factional groups that seek to fragment the country."

Lugar is right: While many factors likely doom the insurgents' cause, their bloody campaign gains from the absence of marked progress in improving the lives of everyday Iraqis — especially the Sunnis.

The insurgency remains significant — but near-hopeless. It has failed to develop any clear ideology beyond spilling blood and twisting metal. None of its groups proposes anything resembling a positive agenda for Iraq's future.

At the moment, the insurgents offer Iraqis either: a) an authoritarian Saddamist jackboot once again set squarely on their collective Sunni/Shia/Kurdish necks, or b) the imposition of al Qaeda's repressive Islamist sharia law. What kind of choice is that?

Unfortunately, the good guys — that's us — face the same sort of dilemma. We've done a solid job of providing the Iraqis with a positive vision for their political future and improving security for most Iraqis — but haven't done as well in convincing the average Iraqi that the prospects for his economic future are bright.

My sources in Iraq say that the greatest danger is that we're losing the active support of the common Iraqi, especially the Sunnis. Without economic development, this swing group could become wholly passive toward — or actively support — the insurgency, allowing the Saddamist dead-enders and al Qaeda killers to prosper.

He specifically calls on the administration to get deadbeat donors to pay up, increase high visibility projects, and to publicize plans and results. Lots of money has gone towards Iraqi reconstruction efforts, but if the Iraqis don't know about it, don't see tangible results, or those reconstruction efforts aren't communicated in the US media back to taxpayers here at home, the reconstruction effort looks even worse than it is.

And this is where the parallels come in.

We're facing similar problems along the Gulf Coast with cleanup continuing in wide swaths of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Lots of money has gone towards Gulf Coast reconstruction efforts, but if the residents don't know about it, don't see tangible results, or those reconstruction efforts aren't communicated, the reconstruction effort looks even worse than it is.

New Orleans still has large areas that have yet to get debris cleared away. Many in the affected areas are pissed off at the slow pace of cleanup, let alone rebuilding. People are told that they could return to some areas, but now can't get electrical hookups because there aren't enough inspectors to verify that the power systems are up to code. Debris is piled up all over the place and hasn't been removed - increasing the possibility of disease and malaise among those returning.

It's a daunting project, and there's still plenty of blame to go around, but the government at all levels needs to do more to communicate what has been done so far and what's next - they need a clear timeline of how to proceed.

And FEMA needs to streamline its processes to make sure that displaced residents are able to get into trailers if needed, and back into proper housing at the earliest possible date. It's crazy that there are still hundreds, if not thousands, of trailers that are awaiting placement in communities because of red tape. And FEMA should be working with local municipalities to make sure that the trailers and homeowners can get electrical hookups as quickly as possible - making sure that the properties are inspected.

A buyout plan is in the works for homeowners flooded out by Katrina:

The program, which New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has cheekily titled the "Failed Levees Homeowner Recovery Program," is the most detailed blueprint for making homeowners whole since the apparent death of legislation by U.S. Rep. Richard Baker that would have allowed owners of flood-ravaged homes to recoup 60 percent of their equity.

The new plan, surprisingly, would be more generous than Baker's in some cases, although probably not in the case of high-priced homes or homes with large mortgages. The grants, whether for buyouts or renovations, would be capped at $150,000, while the Baker legislation would have settled the mortgages of homeowners who sold, regardless of the size of the mortgage. Under the new proposal, those with mortgages well above $150,000 might be more apt to use the money to renovate and continue paying their mortgage, rather than take the buyout.

This doesn't mean much unless the White House and Congress signs off on the plan, and there are still details to be worked out.

There's also the question of dealing with the debris - which is a tangible, pervasive, and overwhelming presence in many areas. The state and local authorities must do a better job clearing the debris, and the contractors who were called into help have to do a better job.

At the same time, there are issues with some properties that were red-tagged for demolition but have been stayed because of legal action - that slows down the demolition and cleanup. And there's the continuing debate over where and how homes in the worst flooded areas should be rebuilt, if at all.

But the most rediculous item has to be the continuing battle in Louisiana over the consolidation of the individual levee boards. Gov. Blanco's latest attempt to consolidate the boards was thwarted when the State Senate watered down that bill. One of the reasons that there were problems with the levees was that there wasn't a comprehensive approach to flood control - each levee board did things their own way. They want to maintain that kind of independence, and consolidation eliminates patronage and graft. Some of the parishes don't want that to end, and so fought the consolidation efforts.

Flood control projects have to go forward at an accelerated pace in order to beat the June 1 start to the hurricane season. One project, dealing with the area flooded by the 17th Street failures, requires condemnation of properties to install flood gates to protect the area surrounding the failures that occurred during and after Katrina. Yet, even this project is a temporary fix.

Breaks in the 17th Street and London Avenue canals led to catastrophic flooding in New Orleans and parts of East Jefferson in the Old Metairie-Old Jefferson area and, in fact, the canals are now considered so unstable that the corps is building temporary floodgates to keep out storm surges that would put higher levels of water against the walls.

More than $100 million is being spent to build the floodgate projects and equip them with diesel-powered auxiliary pumps.

Only at the 17th Street Canal will construction require taking private property. At the other two, as well as on the Orleans side of the 17th Street Canal, local and state agencies already control all the property needed.

Corps and Bush administration officials have said the long-term solution to floodwall failures may ultimately be the construction of new pump stations at the lake to permanently stop storm surges from ever again rushing up the outfall canals and into densely populated neighborhoods.

But because pump station construction hasn't been authorized or approved by Congress, the floodgates are being built as an interim fix.

Over in Mississippi, groups are taking to replanting stands of trees that were destroyed by Katrina's storm surge and winds.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which is avidly watched in our house, is also working on projects along the Gulf Coast, but the situation is so overwhelming that they couldn't decide on a single homeowner. They're working on a series of projects:

Preston Sharp, a designer with ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," said during a press conference Sunday there is no way the show would be able to pick just one family out of so many deserving people. He said the show really wanted to help in a way that would benefit all the Katrina-ravaged communities. Two projects are under way that Sharp and his show hope will help the Coast move on to a brighter future.
Crews are rebuilding the Coastal Family Health Center, a nonprofit clinic at the corner of Division and Elmer streets that was flooded during Katrina. "Extreme" designer Paul DiMeo is heading that project.

A Katrina memorial also is being built in the northeast corner of Biloxi's Town Green with the help of local architect Dennis Cowart, mosaic artist Elizabeth Veglia and contractor Roy Anderson Corp. The monument will be inscribed with storm victims' names. If more victims are identified later, their names also will be added, Sharp said.

UPDATE:
Chertoff has announced that FEMA will be overhauled. Perhaps a keelhauling should be the first step. Chertoff should shoulder some of the blame for FEMA's failure as the overall head of DHS, and he was the guy to which Michael Brown reported. The changes include:

~Tracking trucks carrying food, water, ice, blankets and other emergency supplies by satellite to ensure they arrive at disaster sites quickly and with enough equipment.
~Sending FEMA employees to emergency shelters and other temporary housing venues to register victims for aid, instead of relying on victims to register by phone or the Internet.
~Creating a database of already-approved private contracting firms from disaster regions to remove debris and provide services faster.
~Creating “reconnaissance teams” to report disaster conditions to Homeland Security and FEMA operation centers within hours, and improving communication channels to ensure the information quickly gets to the president and Cabinet-level officials.
~Hiring up to 1,500 new full-time employees as year-round coordinators.

Some of these suggested changes sound appropriate, but I'm not convinced that the problems exposed by FEMAs failures can be solved by simply hiring more people or creating recon teams. This isn't about making sure that trucks carrying materials are tracked. It's making sure that equipment and relief supplies are available and able to move in a given time frame.

It's about making sure that FEMA and the state and local officials are on the same page - that everyone knows the playbook and emergency response plans - and everyone adheres to the plans or at least works together if things are done on the fly.

A database of companies that can provide certain services is certainly a good idea, but is it really any different than going into the phone book or calling open bids for contracts? Companies in the database can still have problems, and using the phonebook to serve as a guide for the provision of services isn't much better.

These changes sound like throwing more money and people at a bureaucracy that hasn't worked as well as it should have.

And the rush to get money into the hands of Katrina refugees wasn't all that successful either - unless you count widespread fraud and misappropriation successful:

On Monday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was to continue its own investigation into the storm response by examining potentially widespread abuse in federal emergency cash assistance programs for disaster victims.

Up to 900,000 of 2.5 million applicants received aid based on duplicate or invalid Social Security numbers, or false addresses and names, congressional investigators found.

“Everything that we have found ... confirms exactly the indictment of the House Republicans,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, that committee’s top Democrat, said Sunday. “It’s shocking and it is unsettling.”

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