Will the Next Katrina Be a Nuclear Attack?

In the new American lexicon, "Katrina" will be defined as follows:

KATRINA (noun; slang, U.S.) -- ka-tri–na: A foreseeable disaster or tragedy that is not prevented, or is made worse, by government cronies in powerful positions -- one where said cronies then profit in the aftermath

Will the next Katrina be a terrorist strike with nuclear materials? Consider this eye-catching sentence: "Some radiological waste storage areas may lack adequate protection against sabotage which could cause wide-area radiological dispersal." Or this one: The "US Defense Department failed to secure sources of radiological material in Iraq for six months after the US invasion in 2003, during which period some were looted or scattered, a congressional watchdog said." Or this one: "An unknown number of radiologic sources remain unsecured in Iraq."

Many terrorism experts believe a radiological or "dirty bomb" attack is likely -- but why make it so easy? Like the pre-Katrina FEMA, it's a tale of cronies in high places, greedy contracting, and plain old-fashioned incompetence. It turns out that the "MBA President" of press lore probably couldn't cut it as CEO of a barbershop quartet, much less a nation.

If and when that "Nuclear Katrina" hits, you won't have to worry about the "cronies," though. They'll profit off the clean-up and reconstruction contracts, just as they've been doing in Iraq and the Gulf Coast. In fact, Halliburton's already hiring Radiation Safety Officers! And Rove's directing the hurricane clean-up, which goes to show: When it comes the post-nuclear family that is Bush cronyism, blood is thicker than water.