Rummy's DoD holds "hard-hitting" inquiry that exonerates Bush

[expatriot]

This is a blog entry I just wrote on the "confidential" DoD inquiry RE: Katrina that was just posted in LBN

While an internal DoD inquiry into the shortcomings of the Katrina response, as reported by the British daily The Independent, appears to be critical of the federal government's failure of response by citing a lack of military preparedness and readiness and troop shortages "caused by the Iraq war," it falls far short of faulting a lack of senior-level leadership for the failed response.

In fact, it lays a large amount of blame on local corruption and lower-level military command while exonerating Bush by adding "The President has indicated several times that he wants the US military to take a more active role in disaster management and humanitarian assistance."

Funny, then, that Bush would have missed an opportunity like the one that presented itself to him in the form of Katrina to exert the authority he already possessed to preposition military assets and a supportive command structure.

Let us compare three reports, two of the military's response to Katrina and the other regarding the military's preparations for Rita only three weeks after Katrina. The first report is from the British daily's The Independent report on the DoD's inquiry.

(continued)

I think I checked it for spelling errors but grammatical errors will have to wait for morning. I am going to bed for the night, will read comments in the morning.