I have been watching the C-SPAN coverage tonight of the hearings on what happened during hurricane Katrina. I have actually be shocked at the amount of showboating by congressmen/women both Republican and Democrat alike. I know… why should I be "shocked," but I am.
I have also been surprised to at the testimony of Brown. I went into this hearing thinking he was a guy that did not properly prepared FEMA for Katrina because the media has portrayed him as such a lack luster looser, however, now after seeing the guy's testimony, I realize he has just become a scapegoat by the media, the administration, congress, senate and local officials in LA. Let me be clear though, that I don't think Brown or FEMA lacks any blame here. I do think many changes need to be made and Brown admits that, but the disaster of Katrina on the "human side" was not just because of Brown's leadership…far from it.
I was amazed at some of the facts brought out during the hearing; Being in Baton Rouge soon after the hurricane, I knew first hand of the inept leadership of the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans, but not to the extent of what has been testified: For example, when the Govt. of LA finally asked for Federal assistance…. She did not include the county that included New Orleans. Director Brown included them on his list because he knew what was to come, but it was not requested by the Governor but rather added later by Brown. Brown requested on national TV on Thursday that the people of New Orleans leave. The Mayor was asked by Dir. Brown on Friday to have a mandatory evacuation, but he refused and to make matters worse, the Gov. went public on local stations on Friday telling people to ignore Brown's previous evacuation requests. Brown finally asked the President to call the Mayor on Saturday because the Mayor was not responding to requests from FEMA.
Governor Blanco was the only governor out of the areas to be hit by Katrina that FEMA needed to ask for a Federalization of National Guard troops because local command was so chaotic that FEMA could not coordinate proper response teams. She refused. Additionally, LA had no local FEMA director because he was removed from office months before Katrina because of a federally indictment and had not yet been replaced by the governor.
After hearing Brown's testimony, I for one, feel deeply sorry for Brown because I feel like he was most likely a competent Director (as Senator Lieberman correctly attested) that handled five of the worst hurricanes to ever hit the coast of North America (prior to Katrina) and was praised on his and FEMA's reaction to all of them. However, Katrina was a different animal for several reasons beyond that fact that it was the worst natural disaster to ever hit the United States: (1) since 9/11 FEMA has been systematically dismantled and had its internal emphasis altered because of Homeland Security and many of the budgeting needs requested by FEMA after the test of "hurricane Pam" were denied; And (2) hurricane Katrina hit a state that was inadequately prepared and had poor leadershipn - LA. FEMA did not have competent partnerships with local officials who knew their responsibilities to organize appropriate services and people died.
I am convinced that the "original sin" (as quoted from C. Krauthammer) of Katrina was the lack of preparedness of local officials that includes an evacuation of their own citizens and I hope this congressional inquiry delves into that issue at more depth.
