Iraq war delayed Katrina relief effort, inquiry finds

[tuvor]

By Kim Sengupta
Published: 03 October 2005

Relief efforts to combat Hurricane Katrina suffered near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war, an official American inquiry into the disaster has revealed.

The confidential report, which has been seen by The Independent, details how funds for flood control were diverted to other projects, desperately needed National Guards were stuck in Iraq and how military personnel had to "sneak off post" to help with relief efforts because their commander had refused permission.

The shortcomings in dealing with Katrina have rocked George Bush's administration. Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has resigned from his post and polls show that a majority of Americans feel the President showed inadequate leadership.

The report was commissioned by the Office of Secretary of Defence as an "independent and critical review" of what went so wrong. In a hard-hitting analysis, it says: "The US military has long planned for war on two fronts. This is as close as we have come to reality since the Second World War; the results have been disastrous."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article316682.ece

[UrbScotty]

1. Surprise!

:sarcasm:

[hang a left]

2. Not that anybody here could disagree with it's conclusion....

you have to wonder after examining who commissioned the report the motivation for this rather unflattering release. Let's see if Reuters or AP pick the story up tomorrow.

[Roland99]

3. But the story quickly diverts from the headline - points fingers to locals

Figures.

[LynnTheDem]

4. Official AMERICAN report, broadcast by the UK MEDIA.

Gotta keep Americans dumbed down.

[UpInArms]

5. why would anyone in the USoA want or need to see this

report :sarcasm:

The "librul" media just keeps covering up for the ultra-rightwing neocons :crazy:

[aquart]

6. Who is this Barbero bastard and what can be done to him?

[Terre]

7. I like this Stephen Henthorne...

The report concludes: "The one thing this disaster has demonstrated the lack of coordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of Government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies. 9/11 was an exception because the geographical area was small and contained, but these two hurricanes have clearly demonstrated a national response weakness ... Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued US efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States."

Amen.

[expatriot]

8. Read this: Rummy's DoD holds "hard-hitting" inquiry that exonerates Bush

I just typed up this ranting blog entry... this is not as "hard hitting" against Bush as it may first appear.


http://americannero.blogspot.com/2005/10/rummys-dod-holds-hard-hitting-inquiry.html

[rayofreason]

9. I wonder...

...how they got a copy of this. Who else has it?

[turbo_satan]

10. Iraq war delayed Katrina relief effort, inquiry finds

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article316682.ece

'The report concludes: "The one thing this disaster has demonstrated the lack of coordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of Government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies. 9/11 was an exception because the geographical area was small and contained, but these two hurricanes have clearly demonstrated a national response weakness ... Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued US efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States."

[BrklynLiberal]

11. Feeling safe yet? A good article to send to anyone who voted for Bush

because he wouls keep them safe.:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

edited for types...as usual

[geomon666]

12. What is this?

It charts how "corruption and mismanagement within the New Orleans city government" had "diverted money earmarked for improving flood protection to other, more vote-getting, projects. Past mayors and governors gambled that the long-expected Big Killer hurricane would never happen. That bet was lost with Hurricane Katrina."

Sounds like they're nailing Nagin to the wall.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. It is hard to tell if it is Nagin specifically..or past politicos in

general, which is pretty well known.

[jody]

14. "Past mayors and governors gambled" includes Repug Gov. Foster

QUOTE
It charts how "corruption and mismanagement within the New Orleans city government" had "diverted money earmarked for improving flood protection to other, more vote-getting, projects. Past mayors and governors gambled that the long-expected Big Killer hurricane would never happen. That bet was lost with Hurricane Katrina."
UNQUOTE

NOTE: "Past mayors and governors gambled" includes "Mike" Foster, Republican governor for eight years immediately preceding Blanco.

[Cocoa]

15. will Condi call this report "hogwash"?

I wonder, had Condi done her own study when she rejected this idea out of hand? Or was she just talking out of her ass as usual.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00161.htm

<snip>

MR. SMILEY: There are a lot of folk, and I know you've heard this, who believe and it's been everywhere expressed that this sentiment that the money and other resources that we have been spending on Iraq put us in a situation where we didn't have the resources available quickly enough to move into the Gulf Coast. Do you accept that?

SECRETARY RICE: No, it's just not true. Frankly, it's hogwash. And I'll use that term very, very clearly. There are plenty of resources to deal with this. There are military resources to deal with it. There were National Guard resources to deal with it. I was in the room with Don Rumsfeld when the call came to mobilize those resources. Yes, they did bring some people back from Iraq because their homes were affected and their families were affected and they wanted to make sure the National Guard who were affected themselves were back in the country. But we have the resources.

There were, I think as of today, more than 70,000 forces in the Louisiana area. So we have an active and reserve and guard force of 2.5 million people; 139,000 people are in Iraq. So this is just not an argument that holds water. What is the question is how we better coordinate and decide when federal resources of this magnitude are going to be brought to bear.

[leftchick]

16. Yahoo Link: Pentagon report links Katrina, Iraq problems: paper

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20051003/pl_nm/iraq_katrina_dc

LONDON (Reuters) - An official U.S. report says that failure to plan and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently relief work to combat Hurricane Katrina, The Independent newspaper said on Monday.

The British daily said the report by Stephen Henthorne, a former professor and adviser to the Pentagon, concluded that the poor response to Katrina mirrored earlier shortcomings in U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States," the confidential report said.

The report was commissioned by the Pentagon to provide an "independent and critical review" of what went wrong after Hurricane Katrina swept ashore in September.

"The one thing that this disaster has demonstrated (is) the lack of co-ordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies," the report said.

[Festivito]

17. President* said it didn't. Truth lies in the middle. Move along.

Ughh, I want to throw up.

[papau]

18. Pentagon report linksKatrina, Iraq problems(failure to train/plan-need NG)

"Another major factor in the delayed response to the hurricane aftermath was that the bulk of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard was deployed in Iraq."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051003/pl_nm/iraq_katrina_dc;_ylt=AgH7EgJ2aT_HqNY76omwaZQb.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NGRzMjRtBHNlYwMxNjk5

Pentagon report links Katrina, Iraq problems: paper Mon Oct 3, 9:49 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - An official U.S. report says that failure to plan and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently relief work to combat Hurricane Katrina, The Independent newspaper said on Monday.

The British daily said the report by Stephen Henthorne, a former professor and adviser to the Pentagon, concluded that the poor response to Katrina mirrored earlier shortcomings in U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States," the confidential report said.<snip>

"The one thing that this disaster has demonstrated (is) the lack of co-ordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies," the report said.<snip>
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4958152

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article316682.ece

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Oh, face!

The anorexic FEMA's response was slow AND the deployment of the LA National Guard in Iraq caused unnecessary hardship.

How many ways can you say, "incompetence?"

[papau]

20. "incompetence" is what the 6 o'clock should lead with - but I doubt

this report will even get airtime.