Source:

washingtonpost.com
Bush Pledges Historic Effort To Help Gulf Coast Recover
President Says U.S. Will Learn From Mistakes

By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 16, 2005; A01

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 15 — President Bush, summoning the American spirit and “a faith in God no storm can take away,” vowed from the heart of the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone Thursday night to rebuild this devastated city and the rest of the Gulf Coast with “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen.”

In a prime-time address televised from the storm-battered French Quarter, the president appeared without coat and tie to promise help for hundreds of thousands of victims to rebuild their lives with unprecedented federal assistance to secure homes, jobs, health care and schooling.

“You need to know,” he said, directly addressing the dislocated and desperate, “that our whole nation cares about you, and in the journey ahead you are not alone. . . . And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives.”

Eighteen days after Katrina smashed through the levees here, flooding the city, killing hundreds and displacing more than 1 million, Bush effectively accepted the criticism of the government’s stutter-start response to the storm and vowed to investigate and overhaul its emergency plans, calling in particular for “a broader role for the armed forces” in future disasters. But he embraced a Republican plan for a GOP-majority congressional inquiry rather than the independent commission sought by Democrats.

The president called for “bold action” to address the long-standing poverty in the region that was only worsened by the crisis. He made it clear that local officials will dictate how the city is reconstructed, and that a chief aim will be to lure those who fled New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities to return rather than relocate permanently to the places where they sought refuge. A few hours before Bush spoke, the mayor of New Orleans announced that 200,000 people would be allowed to return to the city starting this weekend.

Although Bush cited no price tag, he committed the nation to a plan that officials and lawmakers believe could top $200 billion, roughly the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, and is certain to reorient government and the remainder of the Bush presidency. It will create much larger deficits in the short term, siphon off money that would have been spent on other programs, and dramatically shift the focus of the White House, Congress and many state governments for the indefinite future.

While he embraced a program the scale of which few Democratic presidents have ever advanced, Bush also signaled plans to use the reconstruction to enact long-term political goals. Adopting a policy option typically used in much smaller scale, he proposed creation of a Gulf “opportunity zone” that would grant new and existing businesses a variety of tax breaks, loans and loan guarantees through 2007. And in documents released before the speech, Bush called for displaced families that send their children to private schools, including religious ones, to be eligible for federal money.

In recognition of the economic disparities laid bare by the hurricane and its aftermath, Bush spoke of using this moment to confront endemic destitution born out of prejudice. “As all of us saw on television,” he said, “there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action.”

The president called on Congress to quickly pass a plan that would provide property on the federal domain free of charge though a lottery. In exchange, a recipient would be obligated to build a home with additional assistance from government. “Homeownership is one of the great strengths of any community, and it must be a central part of our vision for the renewal,” he said. He also proposed creation of “worker recovery accounts” of up to $5,000 for evacuees to use for job training, education and child care.

Bush spoke from Jackson Square, where a towering statute of Andrew Jackson is one of the few local icons left unscathed in the Big Easy. The buildings surrounding the square are boarded up and lifeless; a metal telephone pole across the street is split like small stick, a testament to Katrina’s fury. The historic square commemorates the French handover of Louisiana in 1803; now, 202 years later, it marks the spot where Bush promised to rebuild the heart of Louisiana.

“There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again,” Bush said. The White House said it paid for the electricity and lights used for the speech, limiting the local inconvenience.

The speech came at perhaps the most difficult political moment of Bush’s presidency, with Americans losing faith in his ability to manage crisis and lead the nation out of troubled times, according to polls. His approval ratings have dropped to new lows in the past few days as gasoline prices have soared and chaos in Iraq persists. The speech capped a week-long effort to restore Bush’s standing, starting with the ousting of the Federal Emergency Management Agency director, who oversaw the initial response, and a rare public embrace of responsibility for shortcomings.

Congressional Democrats did not wait for the speech to lay down markers for how they think the Gulf Coast should be rebuilt — and to lay the blame on Bush for Washington’s sluggish performance.

“The families in the Gulf . . . certainly don’t need to hear another speech from President Bush,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). “What they need is leadership. . . . Let’s be clear about what Katrina was: a failure of leadership.” Reid called for “an American Marshall Plan” to rebuild the Gulf Coast and accused Republicans of balking at even greater spending on health, housing and education for victims.

Reid insisted on an independent commission modeled after the Sept. 11, 2001, panel to investigate what went wrong with Katrina. But Republicans rejected an independent inquiry. “We can’t wait three years for those answers,” countered Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). “We need them immediately so we can quickly make the changes and protect all Americans.”

The House adopted a plan for a joint investigative committee that would have a Republican majority but grant Democrats authority to call witnesses and seek subpoenas from the GOP chairman. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) was tapped Thursday to serve as co-chairman with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Without waiting for the new committee to begin its work, Davis convened the first House hearing on the Katrina response at his Committee on Government Reform, inviting representatives from Los Angeles, Washington and Miami to testify about disaster preparations. “Whatever the threat, Katrina has forced officials across America to take another look at disaster plans that may not be as solid as they previously thought,” Davis said.

Moving to expand the $62 billion in relief already approved, the House and Senate on Thursday passed similar tax bills estimated to cost at least $5 billion over five years to allow storm victims to draw funds from retirement accounts without penalty and to extend several housing, job and child tax credits through the disruption. The legislation also offers incentives for charitable donations while easing taxes on forgiven debts and unreimbursed business losses. Congress is also planning legislation involving health insurance for the poor, unemployment benefits and welfare.

Bush arrived here after a stop in Pascagoula, Miss. The New Orleans he found is a twisted shell of its former self, a once vibrant city that never slept but left for dead by Katrina’s fury. Streets remain flooded, piles of garbage line the streets, and a stench seems to cling to every part of the French Quarter and beyond.

The city’s only inhabitants are the police officers, firefighters, soldiers and other rescue and reconstruction workers toiling round the clock to clean up, and the few residents who refuse to leave. Tens of thousands of people have lost their homes, cars — everything — and desperately need assistance to rebuild their lives, whether it’s here or in the many communities that have taken in flood victims.

Vickie Johnston, 37, a hairdresser, sneaked into the city Thursday only to learn she had lost everything, her clothes, furniture and irreplaceables such as correspondence with her late grandfather and photos of her with her sister. She voted for Bush twice but feels betrayed by all government. “They knew New Orleans was a fishbowl. They knew,” she said. “Now it’s a toilet bowl. How can they do this to us? Why did they let the water get so high?”

In his speech hours later, Bush expressed understanding of such sentiments, acknowledging that the response “at every level of government was not well coordinated and was overwhelmed in the first few days.” The lesson he saw was the need for “greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces, the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment’s notice.”

As he did on Tuesday, Bush said he accepts accountability: “Four years after the frightening experience of September 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution.”

Staff writers Peter Baker and Spencer S. Hsu in Washington contributed to this report.

The Nation’s Top 10 Natural Disasters
Sep 14 5:13 PM US/Eastern

By The Associated Press
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the nation’s 10 deadliest natural disasters.

• 1. Galveston (Texas) Hurricane, 1900, estimated 8,000 deaths
• 2. Great Okeechobee Hurricane in Florida, 1928, estimated 2,500-plus
• 3. Johnstown, Pa., Flood, 1889, estimated 2,200-plus
• 4. Louisiana Hurricane, 1893, 2,000-plus
• 5. South Carolina-Georgia Hurricane, 1893, 1,000-2,000
• 6. Great New England Hurricane, 1938, 720
• 7. San Francisco Earthquake, 1906, 700
• 8. Georgia-South Carolina Hurricane, 1881, 700
• 9. Tri-State Tornado in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, 1925, 695
• 10. Labor Day Hurricane that hit the Florida Keys, 1935, 405

Looks like Ossie is on the move…and heading into the heart of the battlefield.

This story is from Debka.com, one of the leading, and most trusted, news sources in the middle east.

Source

Osama bin Laden Looks Like Heading for Iraq

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
August 8, 2005, 11:52 PM (GMT+02:00)

Coded electronic signals bandied in recent days among al Qaeda Middle Eastern elements across secret Internet sites all carry the same message: the supreme leader, Osama bin Laden, has come out of hiding in Afghanistan and set out, or is about to set out, for Iraq. This is the sense gained from this correspondence by DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources.

Some of the signals schedule his date of arrival as the second half of September when Ramadan is estimated to begin. His arrival in Iraq is planned to signal the launching of the biggest offensive his organization has ever launched against the US army. If these signals are a true representation of bin Laden’s plans and not a red herring, what is planned is a dramatic landmark battle in the global war on terror and the Iraqi conflict.

The signals cap a secret exchange of messages in recent weeks in which al Qaeda’s Iraq commander Abu Musab al –Zarqawi attempted to persuade bin Laden to leave Afghanistan and take command of the Ramadan offensive in Iraq. Zarqawi argued the importance of his transferring from Afghanistan to Iraq on two grounds: to boost al Qaeda’s standing as it embarks on an “offensive whose scale and importance rival the September 2001 operation.” and in the interests of his own personal safety.

Zarqawi stressed, according to our sources, that bin Laden will be safer in Iraq than in Afghanistan – an indication of Jordanian terrorist’s inflated self-confidence.

DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s experts have authenticated the messages as emanating from Zarqawi. Their secret contents have begun to leak out and set up a huge flap in al Qaeda networks, cells and affiliates in many countries and talk of “a new jihad to honor the leader.”

If bin Laden was indeed swayed by Zarqawi and aims to reach Iraq by mid-September, he has little time to lose and must already have set out on his winding secret journey, or be about to depart. One of his options would be the long way round through Pakistani and Iranian Baluchistan and across the border into Iraq.

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Osama bin Laden Looks Like Heading for Iraq

..on the National Weather Service website, with a TON of brochures and downloadable documents.

Visit them here…

Here is their list…

NOAA PA#
Publication
Aviation
96052
96076 Key to TAF and METAR Report
ASOS Guide For Pilots, htm or pdf

Boating/Marine
94058
98053
98054

NA
Safe Boating Weather Tips
Mariner’s Guide to Marine Weather Services Great Lakes
Mariner’s Guide to Marine Weather Services Coastal, Offshore and High Seas, Text only version
Marine Service Charts

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Found a great resource…

…that we may need marshmallows in Europe soon.

Rich

FROM JOSEPH FARAH’S G2 BULLETIN
Al-Qaida’s U.S. nuclear targets
Captured documents, terrorists reveal bin Laden’s preferred dates, places for ‘American Hiroshima’

Editor’s note: Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin is an online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for almost 30 years. The subscription price for the premium newsletter has been slashed in half and is now available for only $9.95 per month.

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Al-Qaida’s prime targets for launching nuclear terrorist attacks are the nine U.S. cities with the highest Jewish populations, according to captured leaders and documents.

As first revealed last week in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND, Osama bin Laden is planning what he calls an “American Hiroshima,” the ultimate terrorist attack on U.S. cities, using nuclear weapons already smuggled into the country across the Mexican border along with thousands of sleeper agents.

The series of attacks is designed to kill 4 million, destroy the economy and fundamentally alter the course of history.

At least two fully assembled and operational nuclear weapons are believed to be hidden in the United States already, according to G2 Bulletin intelligence sources and an upcoming book, “The al-Qaida Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse,” by former FBI consultant Paul L. Williams.

The cities chosen as optimal targets are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston and Washington, D.C. New York and Washington top the preferred target list for al-Qaida leadership.

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Al-Qaida’s U.S. nuclear targets

Original Source Link Here

Top Chinese general warns US over attack
By Alexandra Harney in Beijing and Demetri Sevastopulo and Edward Alden in Washington
Published: July 14 2005 21:59 | Last updated: July 15 2005 00:03

China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on Thursday.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu.

Gen Zhu was speaking at a function for foreign journalists organised, in part, by the Chinese government. He added that China’s definition of its territory included warships and aircraft.

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Top Chinese general warns US over attack