http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3337770
Some Clips . . .
Flood of regret...waves of anger
Americans right to ask: Where was President Bush's plan?
By GEOFFREY CORN
At the same time, Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, was placed in the unenviable position of being the
"excuse man" "fall guy" for the administration. What hypocrisy!
(more after flip)
For Throughout the four years since Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush has
been telling us that his number one No. 1 priority is protecting the
nation against a WMD terrorist attack and, if efforts to protect us
fail, preparing to respond with full force.
Last week, a major American city, New Orleans, fell victim to the
natural version of such an attack. The effects of Hurricane Katrina --
widespread physical destruction and contamination rendering an entire
city virtually uninhabitable -- are virtually the same as the effects
that might result from an attack by terrorists wielding weapons of mass
destruction.
So, Mr. President, where is "the plan"?
To understand why this national disgrace represents a "catastrophic
failure" of this administration to deliver on the commitment it has
made to the American people, it is important to understand why Michael
Brown is rapidly becoming the scapegoat.
FEMA is simply not, as so many believe, the "great and good somebody
else" equipped to swoop into any natural or man-made disaster and
implement a comprehensive response plan. Instead, FEMA is charged with
a much more limited role -- serving as the federal coordinating agency
to facilitate humanitarian assistance in response to such a situation.
This is only one aspect of the much broader response that we were told
would be planned, coordinated and executed by the Department of
Homeland Security when that Cabinet-level agency was created.
Ironically, upon its creation, Homeland Security absorbed FEMA and its
limited budget.
It is the Department of Homeland Security, working directly for the
president, that should have been prepared to implement a comprehensive
response plan for Katrina. It is the president, and only the president,
who is empowered by Congress to invoke the extraordinary emergency
measures required to allow the massive military and policing response
so many observers believe is now necessary to establish a "safe and
secure" environment in the storm-affected areas.
<snip>
The most fundamental problems associated with this disaster are
emergency communications, population evacuation, establishment of
extraordinary security measures, establishment of entry and exit
routes, establishment of refugee centers and provision of medical care,
food and water resources. Most of these do not fall under FEMA's
responsibility. Clearly, they would all have been necessary in response
to a terrorist attack.
The only reasonable conclusion to draw from this debacle is that no
such plan exists; that for four years the president and his
administration have been playing lip service to his supposed No. 1
priority.
<snip>
This is the true disgrace, one that is only exacerbated by the
president's feeble gesture of appointing his father and former
President Bill Clinton to generate private support for the victims.
What the victims needed was a swift, coordinated, comprehensive federal
response ordered by the president and implemented by a Department of
Homeland Security fully prepared for such a task.
<snip>
Corn is a professor at SOuth Texas COllege of Law. He retired from the
Army as a lietenant colonel after serving 21 years.
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