Planning, response to Katrina faulted

Key Quotes:

"Tens of thousands of people remain stranded on the streets of New Orleans in desperate conditions because officials failed to plan for a serious levee breach and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was slow, according to disaster experts and Louisiana government officials."

"This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control," Ebbert told the Associated Press as he watched refugees evacuate the Superdome yesterday. "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans. We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking, but we're not getting supplies."

"We would have wanted massive numbers of helicopters on Day One."

"Some defense specialists argued yesterday that the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to Iraq had diminished the number available for hurricane relief. Nearly 8,000 guardsmen from units in Mississippi and Louisiana, for instance, are serving in Iraq, many with engineering and other support skills that are especially useful in relief operations."

"Madden, now a national security and environmental consultant, said the lack of immediate federal help, specifically in the form of military assistance, was incomprehensible. 'How many people are going to die, per hour, before you get 40,000 troops in there?' Madden asked yesterday. 'I think it has cost lives. . . . They can go into Iraq and do this and do that, but they can't drop some food on Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, right now? It's just mind-boggling.'

Its appalling to me that this subject is considered a "Flame" only subject.