To the Point
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In New Orleans, the Disaster Continues

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Fortune magazine says, in the year since Katrina, the Big Easy has become the Big Difficult.  State, federal and city coordination has given way to 73 neighborhoods trying to make plans on their own. What’s the role of race in the rebuilding process? Could levees rebuilt by the Army Corps of Engineers prevent the same disaster from happening again? Plus, Halliburton and Bechtel are among the major contractors in both the Gulf States and Iraq and Afghanistan.  What does the contracting process have to do with the results?   Also, UN Secretary General is in Lebanon, trying to push implementation of the cease-fire.

Making News

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Visits the Middle East ()


Kofi Annan is back in Beirut, trying to push implementation of the cease-fire in Lebanon. The UN Secretary General has called on Hezbollah to turn over abducted Israeli soldiers, and on Israel to lift its sea blockade. Mohamad Bazzi, Middle East Bureau Chief for Newsday magazine, says there's been some progress.

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Main Topic

In New Orleans, the Disaster Continues ()

Ernesto is now just a tropical storm, but it was the first hurricane of a new season. Meantime, politicians of both parties, including President Bush, are streaming into New Orleans for tomorrow's first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Under direction from Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers has spent a billion dollars to bring the city's flood protection back where it was before Katrina. Despite billions in federal spending, there's not even a plan for rebuilding 12 months after America's worst natural disaster. If there were another Katrina, could levees rebuilt by the Army Corps of Engineers hold back the water? What does race have to do with the lack of planning? We hear about the slow and painful process of recovery.

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Reporter's Notebook

Disaster Profiteering in the Gulf ()


The Army Corps of Engineers is involved in rebuilding both on the Gulf Coast and in Iraq and Afghanistan, as are Bechtel, Halliburton and other major contractors. The contracting process is also familiar, leaving local subcontractors finally doing the actual work with only a tiny amount of the money originally paid by the federal government. That's according to CorpWatch, a nonprofit group that keeps track of the private sector. Pratap Chatterjee is the director.

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Transcripts of To the Point are available from The Transcription Company, (818) 848-6500, or www.transcripts.net. A CD copy is available by calling 1.888.600.5279

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