Newspapers surprised at superpower 'humbled' by Hurricane Katrina
Fri Sep 2, 3:21 AM ET
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Newspapers expressed surprise at the sight of the US superpower "humbled" as it tries to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that swept over the states of the Gulf coast.
"The sight of a superpower humbled is in itself humbling," the Daily Telegraph wrote in an editorial.
"In Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama over the past four days, the United States has been struggling to provide the basic necessities of life - food, water and medicine - to the victims of Hurricane Katrina," it said.
"Take New Orleans alone. The breached levees remain unrepaired. About 20,000 refugees have been living in appalling squalor in the Superdome sports stadium," it said.
"Young men have not only been looting with impunity but firing on National Guardsmen. And the authorities still have no idea how many people may have died," the conservative daily said.
"The forces of nature have smashed the fabric of society beyond recognition," it commented.
"Individualism is one of America's many adornments. But it can hamper efficiency as competing voices wrangle over who should be responsible, or to blame, for what," it said.
"The challenge facing (US President George W.) Bush is to harness the native 'can-do' spirit to a co-ordinated rescue plan masterminded by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Daily Mail newspaper echoed the same theme in its editorial entitled "The humbling of a superpower."
"Here is a superpower that can crush at will a tinpot dictatorship - but then becomes so bogged down in the grisly aftermath of war that it finds itself unable to respond to anything like adequately to the plight of tens of thousands of its own citizens engulfed by a natural calamity," it said.
"President Bush, his ratings already in free-fall, could pay a high price indeed for his military folly," it said.
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