Baghdad on the Mississippi

Groups of armed men roam the city at will, looting and seizing additional weapons. Baghdad? No: New Orleans. Still, the National Guard is doing what it can to control the problem. New Orleans? No: Baghdad. What is the National Guard doing in Iraq, when it should be helping us at home? Now, we are told, some units of the Guard are finally on the way to southern Louisiana—-too little and too late.

The Department of Homeland Security has miserably failed. It is no excuse to say that the problem stemmed from a natural disaster, as the effects are the same. Bereft of a plan, the Army Corps of Engineers failed to close the breaches in the levees. Again, this ought to have been foreseen. If the New Orleans situation were the result of a terrorist attack, we would give very poor marks to our government. So why are we not giving it poor marks?

As New Orleans drowned, Bush lingered in Crawford playing his guitar and recalling another imperial figure. Finally, he cut short his vacation by two days, deigning to pass over the city in Air Force One.

In the Gulf, oil supplies and refining are crippled. This is a problem that has loomed for years, but instead of taking action to reduce consumption, the Bush administration has continued to encourage purchase of wasteful SUVs.

It's time that a real movement be set on course to impeach this incompetent, lying bozo.