The Daily OrangeKatrina showcases lack of progress since 9/11
By
Posted: 9/11/05, 11:44 PM EST Section: Opinion
Four years after the biggest tragedy our generation has seen, the country is yet again struggling to fix itself where the government couldn't.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, and Hendricks Chapel's afternoon of quiet reflection was particularly quiet with its scarce attendance. But while SU students' lack of symbolic action in memory of the terrorist attacks may be a little sad, the most distressing aspect is the U.S. government's lack of real action that has been highlighted by Hurricane Katrina.
In four years, the government has not advanced in an meaningful way. In response to the terrorist attacks, President Bush established another bureaucratic entity, the Department of Homeland Security. The bureaucracy, of which the Federal Emergency Management Agency is a part, is supposed to streamline national security response, but has failed in the first major test in four years. The government was slow to acknowledge the import of the storm and slow to react - it wasn't until long after New Orleans was submerged that the administration declared the hurricane an "incident of national significance."
"It obviously raises very serious, troubling questions about whether the government would be prepared if this were a terrorist attack," Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general for Homeland Security, told The Washington Post last week. "It's a devastating indictment of this department's performance four years after 9/11."
Politicians drop the words "terrorism" and "September 11" in every other speech, but that isn't helping anything. Instead, the country is stuck with an ineffectual organization, FEMA, which is part of a larger ineffectual organization, Homeland Security. Congressmen across ideological lines are not ensuring efficiency among our emergency response entities, but are throwing $8.86 million at unnecessary pork projects such as SU's Connective Corridor. Instead of building a path to downtown Syracuse, Congressional budget priorities should be shifted to rebuild roads in the Gulf Coast - that kind of money should always be available for emergency situations.
That relatively few students attended the candlelight vigil in memory of Sept. 11, 2001 might be a soothing sign that people are moving on and the wounds are healing. Vigils are a nice symbol of unity and can be helpful to deal with grief. But if Americans want to help deal with the reality of dangers of all kind that face our country, it is time to hold the government accountable.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, and Hendricks Chapel's afternoon of quiet reflection was particularly quiet with its scarce attendance. But while SU students' lack of symbolic action in memory of the terrorist attacks may be a little sad, the most distressing aspect is the U.S. government's lack of real action that has been highlighted by Hurricane Katrina.
In four years, the government has not advanced in an meaningful way. In response to the terrorist attacks, President Bush established another bureaucratic entity, the Department of Homeland Security. The bureaucracy, of which the Federal Emergency Management Agency is a part, is supposed to streamline national security response, but has failed in the first major test in four years. The government was slow to acknowledge the import of the storm and slow to react - it wasn't until long after New Orleans was submerged that the administration declared the hurricane an "incident of national significance."
"It obviously raises very serious, troubling questions about whether the government would be prepared if this were a terrorist attack," Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general for Homeland Security, told The Washington Post last week. "It's a devastating indictment of this department's performance four years after 9/11."
Politicians drop the words "terrorism" and "September 11" in every other speech, but that isn't helping anything. Instead, the country is stuck with an ineffectual organization, FEMA, which is part of a larger ineffectual organization, Homeland Security. Congressmen across ideological lines are not ensuring efficiency among our emergency response entities, but are throwing $8.86 million at unnecessary pork projects such as SU's Connective Corridor. Instead of building a path to downtown Syracuse, Congressional budget priorities should be shifted to rebuild roads in the Gulf Coast - that kind of money should always be available for emergency situations.
That relatively few students attended the candlelight vigil in memory of Sept. 11, 2001 might be a soothing sign that people are moving on and the wounds are healing. Vigils are a nice symbol of unity and can be helpful to deal with grief. But if Americans want to help deal with the reality of dangers of all kind that face our country, it is time to hold the government accountable.
