Sunday, April 09, 2006

Corps of Engineers, Not Katrina, to Blame

Harry Shearer (yes, that's Mr. Burns) has been one of the few public figures actually still following the New Orleans story. In the Huffington Post he wrote New Orleans. It's Official: Nobody Cares. Go read his post so his hit count increases and it looks like someone cares, but here's the bit you probably don't know.

On Wednesday in Senate testimony (under oath) the Army Corps of Engineers chief, Lieutenant General Carl A. Strock, admitted their design failures were responsible for the flooding in New Orleans. Harry Shearer calls New Orleans not a natural disaster but "the worst man-made disaster in American history". And he points out that this amazing relevation received no coverage from the media aside from this from the Times Picayune.

Apparently it's more than just the media that isn't writing about this. I tried to find the transcript of the testimony from the Senate but haven't had any luck. The Times Picayune story did't even say which sub-committee he testified to. I did find this fun fact on the Senate's web site It takes several months, or even years, for a hearing to be published. After digging a little I think he testified at the Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water on Wednesday, but I don't see a transcript.

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