The Prime Minister today was preparing to announce a relief and rescue
package for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Yes, Australia is coming to
the aid of the US again.

There are going to be huge political blow-backs from this disaster –
and America’s inability to deal with it, at great cost to lives,
property and national pride.

For a start, will America’s commitment in Iraq be
sustainable? Certainly, the Iraq drain on the US Corp of
Engineers can be directly attributed to the devastating scope of the
disaster. While Katrina demonstrates that America has spread
itself so thin internationally, it’s unable to cope with a major
catastrophe at home. Imagine the political fallout if, instead of
a natural disaster, this had been a major terror attack?

The infrastructure meltdown alone is instructive. We’re seeing
people walking out along rail lines. Where are the trains? New Orleans
has some of the best transport links in the world; and authorities are
using buses and helicopters for the evacuation?

All those people were left behind in the evacuation because, evidently,
too few people in any level of government cared if they died – and they
know it. The shameful scenes of locals – poor and black,
invariably – screaming for help will be indelibly inked in our
memories.

A US EPA spokesman was saying today the decontamination alone would
cost more than the country’s entire GNP. So we could well see a
Western City lost for the first time since the Thirty Years War.

It will be fascinating to see how many other nations follow Australia’s
swift move, and donate aid to this American tragedy. Some Americans are
going to get very angry once they realise the bitter harvest their
nation’s foreign policy has sown.