By: Tony Zurlo

Americans should be outraged by Mr. Bush’s failure to immediately end his treasured vacation and take charge of recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Instead he continued his cheerleading campaign to salvage his erroneous war in Iraq.

Mr. Bush was elected president of the United States, not Iraq. His oath of office requires that he take immediate and extensive action to help Americans here, on our soil. Almost a week later, more than two million American citizens are still living under third world conditions from this disaster.

The nation needed a leader last Monday morning to take charge, address the nation, and mobilize the unique skills of the military. Instead of sending more American troops to Iraq, Mr. Bush should have deployed the units to the Gulf Coast immediately after Hurricane Katrina moved inland.

Consider what 100,000 able-bodied, well-trained American troops could contribute to recovery on the Gulf Coast. They have the special skills to conduct search and rescue missions both on land and water, transport the sick and injured, pump out putrid flood waters, construct shelters, provide security, distribute first aid and food, and eventually to help rebuild a shattered infrastructure.

Instead, Mr. Bush spent a couple of days promoting his war, a war that has made us less safe at home. Aside from creating a popular training ground for terrorists, the invasion and occupation of Iraq has depleted the personnel and budgets needed to pay for national emergencies such as Katrina.

While squandering more than $500 billion of tax payers’ money on the Neocon crusade in Iraq, Mr. Bush has reduced funds for dozens of domestic programs. Journalist Deon Roberts, in the June 6, 2005, edition of New Orleans CityBusiness, writes that “In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.” It was the “largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district.” Furthermore, according to Roberts, “a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.”

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Domestic projects across the nation have been cancelled or put on hold while Mr. Bush pursues his Neocon expansionist foreign policy. But the reasons Mr. Bush gave for his war have long been discredited. In short he was dead wrong about Iraq. There were no WMD and the 9/11 terrorists were not Iraqis. But he continues sending young Americans over there to sacrifice their lives and limbs for a barren policy. Meanwhile, Gulf Coast communities sink further into ruin.

Mr. Bush’s recklessness leadership and misguided policy has left the nation unprepared for disasters at home. So it is time to admit his tragic mistake of invading Iraq. The U.S. must ask the nations in the region and the United Nations to come in and work out a long-term solution. We can and should be part of the solution. But America can not dictate to other nations how to live and run their affairs, especially through force.

Instead of asking how long it will take and how much it will cost to rebuild Iraq, we should be asking these questions about our own Gulf Coast. Each citizen pays at least $450 a year in taxes to support Bush’s war. Instead, I want my check to go to relieve the misery on the Gulf Coast. The hundreds of billion dollars in Bush's war-chest needs to be transferred to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Tony Zurlo a writer/educator living in Arlington, TX. He teaches writing and African/Asian culture at Tarrant County College. He has also taught in schools in Nigeria, China and the United States. Tony has published poetry and short fiction in more than sixty journals, magazines, and anthologies, as well as non fiction books on the topics of Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Japanese Americans, and West Africa.