Getting rid of the local people and not doing anything about the incompetence at the top levels accomplishes nothing.

Here is the Snopes.com debunking of many of the lies and distortions that you have allowed yourself to be duped by...

http://www.snopes.com/katrina/politics/blanco.asp

I'm still looking for the text of Blanco's request. But here is the president's response to Blanco's request...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

"The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding."


Bush clearly states that FEMA has the job of determining what is needed, and then providing it. So if things that are needed are not provided, and since it was FEMA's responsibility to make sure that the "resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency" are provided, then responsibility for any inadequacies is the fault of FEMA.

My suggestions are the same as those of local and national disaster planners all over the US. Take FEMA back out of the DHS. Make the FEMA directorship a cabinet level position, answerable only to the president. Restore the funding that the Bush administration cut from FEMA's budget. Appoint and hire people for FEMA based on qualifications, and eliminate the practice of cronyistic appointments and hiring practices.