From CNN:
The response of government at all levels to Hurricane Katrina was "dismal," poorly planned and badly coordinated, showing that more than four years after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, "America is still not ready for prime time."The commission said that the president didn't receive "adequate advice and counsel from disaster officials," but also that "earlier presidential involvement might have resulted in a more effective response." It also singles out Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary, for his delayed response and ineffective decision making.
The report, which runs more than 500 pages, called the response to Katrina "a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare."
"At every level -- individual, corporate, philanthropic and governmental -- we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina. In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw," the report stated.
This is the panel's conclusion:
"It remains difficult to understand how government could respond so ineffectively to a disaster that was anticipated for years, and for which specific dire warnings had been issued for days. This crisis was not only predictable, it was predicted," the committee said in the report. "If 9/11 was a failure of imagination, then Katrina was a failure of initiative. It was a failure of leadership."And this is Bush's response:
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that Bush has not talked to Chertoff about resigning.So, a Republican panel concludes that Katrina's disaster resulted from a failure of leadership and Bush tells us the guy they singled out is a strong leader. Why am I not surprised?
"The president appreciates his strong leadership," McClellan said.
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