Hurricane Katrina's response: who is to blame?

An independent report on the response to Hurricane Katrina commissioned by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has come out and it criticizes all levels of government for their lack of response:

Relief efforts to combat Hurricane Katrina suffered near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war, an official American inquiry into the disaster has revealed.

The confidential report, which has been seen by The Independent, details how funds for flood control were diverted to other projects, desperately needed National Guards were stuck in Iraq and how military personnel had to "sneak off post" to help with relief efforts because their commander had refused permission.

"The US military has long planned for war on two fronts. This is as close as we have come to [that] reality since the Second World War; the results have been disastrous."

The report says that "corruption and mismanagement within the New Orleans city government had diverted money earmarked for improving flood protection to other, more vote-getting, projects. Past mayors and governors gambled that the long-expected Big Killer hurricane would never happen. That bet was lost with Hurricane Katrina."

This clearly puts the blame on everybody, although I still feel like New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana's Governor Kathleen Blanco bear less responsibility, since they got into office only last year and sprung into action when the storm was getting ready to hit.

On the contrary, Bush has had 5 years in office and had the power and the financial resources to put safeguards in place, especially after 9/11, but never bothered, and stayed ON VACATION while the storm was savaging the Gulf Coast.

The report concludes: "The one thing this disaster has demonstrated [is] the lack of coordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of Government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies. 9/11 was an exception because the geographical area was small and contained, but these two hurricanes have clearly demonstrated a national response weakness ... Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued US efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States."