Unaccountable Government

Here's an excerpt from an article in The Washington Post:

Despite plenty of advance disaster warning and decade-old recommendations on preparedness, the federal government failed to exercise adequate leadership in response to Hurricane Katrina and was slow to determine the scope of the catastrophe, the Government Accountability Office reported today.

In a preliminary report submitted to a House committee investigating the hurricane response, Comptroller General David M. Walker pointed to a failure of federal leadership as Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast last year, with neither Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff nor any of his deputies stepping in to lead the relief effort.

The GAO chief indicated that national response planning for major disasters continues to be plagued by "weaknesses."

The Department of Homeland Security rejected the report as "premature and unprofessional" and complained that the findings were riddled with errors.

It is sad, but typical of the Bush team's performance. My first reaction reading this article was to think these are conclusions most Americans reached a long time ago.

Hardly news at all.

Then I read with dismay the real heart of the story -- the folks at DHS are still in denial. Unbelievable! It is hard to imagine what these people would be able to do if we faced a surprise attack, instead of a predictable storm.

Yes, just like the war in Iraq, the environment, the budget, and our economic futures -- Katrina was somebody else's fault, and all is well in Bushworld.

They're all doin' a heckuva job.

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