We went on two tours during our 3 1/2 days there, and it was an incredible experience. I highly recommend visiting the city if you can to support these people as they try to get their lives back in some semblance of order, and of course for the food, fun and excellent music of all types.

It is still my contention that what the Bush administration and our federal government did (or should I say, didn’t do) during Hurricane Katrina was deliberate.

All the evidence points to an attitude shift occurring in the Bush White House the moment New Orleans flooded, a shift from letting the FEMA disaster coordinator in Baton Rouge handle the federal response (he was assigned there before Katrina hit) to politicizing the devastation of New Orleans for political gain.

For instance, shortly after word started circulating that the levees had broken and New Orleans had flooded, Republicans launched a smear campaign against the Democratic Party leaders in Louisiana and New Orleans, Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin, respectively.

The real question behind what happened during Katrina is, “Why would one political party, after launching a smear campaign against the opposition, especially one involving claims of incompetence, do anything to mitigate the situation, to improve things, even save the lives of people?”

Answer: the political party behind the smear campaign wouldn’t. In fact, the party officials running the smear campaign would make certain that things got worse so their smear campaign would work better against the opposition.

Simple logic. And this is what happened during Katrina, once New Orleans flooded. While one Republican hand launched the smear campaign against Democrats in Louisiana, the other Republican hand held back any federal emergency disaster relief and personnel from making it into the Katrina-devastated areas of southern Louisiana, but especially into the flooded New Orleans.

1) The FEMA disaster coordinator at the FEMA command center in Baton Rouge was heard by a reporter grousing about how his efforts to get federal aid into New Orleans were being blocked, or the federal aid he ordered sent there was being redirected elsewhere. (I read this on a blog the day after New Orleans flooded. I believe it was posted by one of the displaced New Orleans Times-Picayune journalists who relocated to Baton Rouge after their New Orleans newspaper building flooded).

2) The USS Bataan, a U.S. Coast Guard hospital ship rode out Katrina in the Gulf, then moved to a position off the Louisiana coast and anchored, close to New Orleans, where its rescue helicopters and supplies remained either unused or underutilized.

3) U.S. military search-and-rescue helicopters based in Pensacola FL were ordered to stand-down by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Compare this to the reports by David S. Cloud in the NY Times the weekend after New Orleans flooded about a U.S. military helicopter which did make it into the flooded New Orleans. It had been on a resupply mission to a base outside New Orleans (the one the Rogers were turned away from?) and had responded to a Coast Guard distress call (from the offshore hospital ship, the USS Bataan?), flew into New Orleans and rescued over 100 people off rooftops. Upon their return to their Pensacola base, however, the helicopter pilots received reprimands. They were shocked. They were American citizens helping other American citizens, but got reprimanded. Based on David S. Cloud’s new articles, they had also been shocked to see, while heading westward from Pensacola toward New Orleans, all the activity on the ground up until when they crossed over into Louisiana, at which point there was hardly any activity on the ground nor in the air. (Conclusion: the Bush administration threw every federal asset, including the kitchen sink, at the Republican governors of Alabama and Mississippi, while Bush administration officials withheld all federal aid from reaching Louisiana and the flooded New Orleans, so their right-wing smear campaign against Democrats in Louisiana would be more effective).

4) Boaters who rushed to New Orleans after it flooded, to help with rescue efforts of their fellow citizens, were turned away at the outskirts of New Orleans.

Do you see a pattern forming? I do.

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown became a convenient scapegoat for the criminals over him in the Bush administration, just as the Baton Rouge-based FEMA disaster coordinator did.

There was nothing “incompetent” about what top Bush administration officials did (or ordered not done) during Hurricane Katrina. It…was…all…deliberate. From the launch of their partisan smear campaign to the withholding of federal disaster aid from Louisiana and New Orleans. It…was…all…deliberate!!!