Biloxi or Basra?

The aptly-named Rude Pundit is the first I've seen to suggest that the Katrina disaster provides good reason for our withdrawal from Iraq.

For, yes, and it can be said, right now we are facing a choice in this America, where the Bush administration has looted the Treasury as surely as any desperate parent or disgusting opportunist running through the Walgreen's on Canal Street in New Orleans, leaving the coffers as empty as the diaper shelves and the pharmacies: Iraq or the U.S. South?

And those who say we can do both do not comprehend exactly what has happened down by the Gulf of Mexico. We haven't even begun to see the poisoning done by the toxic gumbo that now covers New Orleans. Besides, we couldn't even do Iraq's reconstruction right. Now we can do both badly or try to do one well.

For those not offended by crude language, the rest of his post is also worth reading.

If we're going to be rebuilding roads, schools, bridges, electrical, water and sewage systems anywhere, I think most Americans, even Yankees, would prefer we give priority to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. At least here, if there are wackos running around with guns, they speak some version of English.