The federal reaction to Hurricane Katrina and the disasterous flooding around New Orleans, has shown the US government using their preferred strategy -- to put matters in the hands of corporations and Bush cronies.

The former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Michael Brown, was forced to resign in favour of a more experienced hand, namely a Coastguard vice-Admiral. Brown had been appointed to the job by Bush in 2003, and took over from his childhood friend, Joe Albaugh, the previous head of FEMA, who had been GW Bush's chief of staff during his governorship of Texas. Albaugh is now working as a consultant for firms seeking contracts in Iraq, and is registered as a lobbyist for Kellogg, Brown and Root (part of Haliburton).

Whether down to Alburgh's lobbing prowess or not, FEMA has awarded one of the contracts to 'reconstruct' the disaster-hit South to... Haliburton. The company will be involved in repairing and restoring power to naval facilities in Mississippi and New Orleans. Good news for Haliburton, which has recently sreen its stock hit a fifty-year high. Not such good news for New Orleans residents, if KBR's behaviour in Iraq is anything to go by, with Haliburton currently under investigation by US federal authorities for possibly defrauding the military.

Just as, in Iraq, private mercenary company ERINYS has been hired to protect oil installations, including those run by KBR, the US government is also looking for a private military option in New Orleans, with armed operatives from the 'Balckwater' firm patrolling the streets. Reporters from TruthOut spoke to some of these mercenaries, who admitted that they had been active in Iraq, under the orders of US neo-con officials such as Paul Bremer and Paul Negroponte.

The presence of both KBR and Blackwater indicate that the occupation of Iraq is a real danger to US liberties -- tactics forged in war are being used in the US, against the civil population.