"Could the levees in New Orleans have been INTENTIONALLY blown out in order to provide the justification for total FEMA federal takeover?"

LMFAO! So the US Govt. blew the levees to make themselves look totally inept? You'll be telling us next that they actually started the storm with satellites next...

but there was a program on the bbc a year or two ago where three people had to be 'crisis managers' and respond to a surge up the thames where the contemplated flooding out residential areas to protect canary wharf (they did, on the grounds thats what the thames barrier was built for). They also refused to empty prisons and were told that made them liable to murder charges, so its not impossible under the circumstances to believe the authorities traded slums for rich parts - but if they did they screwed up and we still need EVIDENCE

"so its not impossible under the circumstances to believe the authorities traded slums for rich parts - but if they did they screwed up and we still need EVIDENCE"

THAT I can agree with. But the poster's claim that it was all engineered as part of some Govt. conspiracy to seize the city is a bit far-fetched.

Gasp!!! Could the hurricane in fact have been caused by the same global shockwave weapon that caused the Tsunami, and really destroyed the twin towers? New Orleans is he capital of voodoo....George Bush is going to use the thousands of dead for his zombie army of conquest.

It's perfectly OK to report "some people believe" but anrticles should ALSO include background about the geological relities of New Orleans. Also the sociological realities not entirely blinded by ideology.

Water does not flow uphill.

The French Quarter was the original settlement. The orignal French settlers were not idiots. Back then there were no levees, not giant pumps to keep below sea level areas free of water. So naturally the original settelment was on the highest ground around. No purpose whatsoever would be served by flooding the below seas level neighborhoods to "save" the neighborhoods above sea level. This is NOT similar to a case where there is a limited amount of surface so spreadign the water keeps the height down << the area of the adjoining lake is huge compared to that of the city and so the volume of water that could be contained in the low areas negligible.

The levees were EXPECTED to fail if and when faced by a deluge of this magnitude. They were not designed to handle it. Yes of course, had they spent more money on bigger levees perhaps THIS storm wouldn't have been enough to break through. But eventually along would come such a storm.

Following the great flood of 1927 levees were built. Important to keep in mind that humans have relatively short memories. The low areas in between the higher "islands" were built upon as the city "filled in" by poor people housing, yes. But 70-80 years is a LONG time for short memory humans. When in year after year there were no floods wiping out these low neighborhoods they began entering the normal US city cyclical process of "gentrification" and "decline". By 2005 and Katrina it was NOT true that these were all "poor people" neighborhoods nor even all Black neighborhoods on the low ground.

Well maybe as in the case of Iraq the rebuilding contracts had already been awarded before the heroic liberating armies actually destroyed the original buildings, hospitals, schools, bridges and other such typical military targets. The U.S government has shown that it couldn't organize a wank in a brothel when it comes to a relief operation, even if they weren't all under water, but it can sure hand out fists full of multi million dollar rebuilding contracts to all the Grinning morons old buddies...

"Could the levees in New Orleans have been INTENTIONALLY blown out in order to save sections of the city deemed to be more important?"

No, but the levees could have been INTENTIONALLY blown out in order to murder residents of the city deemed less important. It's called ethnic cleansing.

The Government's slow response exacerbated the disaster, which means FEMA will need more funding and their cronies get the rebuilding contracts.

Bush's seeming incompetence means that in future, (and there will be future catastrophes) military forces will have to take-over the Administration.

Indymedia is full of posts about the criminality of those in power, in every country, and their covert operations to instigate mass-murder, but still people don't get it!

When it comes our turn to be crammed into The Dome, at gunpoint, while our city is wrecked, it will be too late, so when are you going to get the picture?

"ethnic cleansing" You're having a laugh I hope! Otherwise get a grip!

It's happened before, in 1927. This is a matter of historical record:

 http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z2CF626CB

The shipping companies left Barges floating around the canals and the lake and rivers, evidence is that in at least one case the Levee was breached by a Barge that crashed into it.