Day of reckoning must come for Katrina's victims

PUBLISHED: September 4, 2005

Chad Selweski
Columnist

I don't know who's to blame for the chaos and incompetence of the post-Katrina relief effort in New Orleans, but I do know this: There must be a day of reckoning.

Clearly, numerous government agencies and officials -- from the president to the police chief -- failed the city that may never again be known as The Big Easy. Mistakes were made in the years leading up to the hurricane, in the hours before Katrina slammed the Crescent City and, certainly, in the days after the storm.

The suffering was heartbreaking to see. But the resulting inaction and anarchy was too maddening to comprehend.

This was a national disgrace.

For all the world to see, the United States took on the appearance of a Third World country. A stumbling, bumbling giant. A supposed superpower that can't cope with a natural disaster in its own back yard.

Across the globe, our allies seemed dismayed at our inabilities. Our enemies gleefully pointed out our deficiencies.

Americans were stunned that thousands of people were left for dead, living on flooded streets without food or water. Starving refugees on American soil -- how can that be?

Worse, the looting and lawlessness left a second black mark on America. The marauding gangs became such a threat that heavily-armed National Guard troops were given shoot-to-kill instructions. Incredibly, vehicles evacuating the sick from a hospital were fired upon by thugs.

Imagine how many Americans, after listening to pleas for charitable help, would have turned up their noses at the Asian tsunami victims, dismissing them as savages, if such violence erupted in Indonesia following that disaster.

This was a humbling experience.

In Katrina's immediate aftermath, commentators on the left and the right offered their instant idiotic analysis. The liberals said global warming caused the hurricane, and the cost of the Iraq war led to levee breaks. The conservatives said government corruption in Louisiana and New Orleans prompted the non-response, and the low-lying city never should have been built in the first place.

Setting aside the spin, there's obviously a lot of blame to go around.

I'm sure Americans of every stripe have a lot of questions:

* Why couldn't we airdrop food and water, just as we do for disaster victims across the globe? Why did it take four days for the National Guard to arrive in force and why couldn't we provide more buses and other means of quick evacuation?

* Was the Army Corps of Engineers shortchanged on funding for years in its attempt to shore up the levees, which were widely known to be incapable of handling a major hurricane?

* How much of an effect did the Iraq war have on the National Guard response, and why was more than half of the Louisiana Guard not on duty when the hurricane hit?

* Did large segments of the New Orleans police force abandon their posts in the Katrina aftermath?

* How many residents chose to stay, and how many had to stay?

* Why didn't black leaders -- Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton -- visit the area and speak out against the looting and shooting?

* How is it possible that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was unaware of the abysmal conditions at the convention center even after widespread media reports?

* Has the Federal Emergency Management Agency's role been lost in the DHS' bureaucratic labyrinth, or has it been supplanted by a greater emphasis on anti-terrorism?

* Why was FEMA's lack of planning, its lack of command and control, so great that basic needs like generators and sandbags to protect the city's water pumps went unheeded?

The Bush-bashing has gone overboard, but the president faced one of the greatest disasters in U.S. history and in that moment he was supposed to provide leadership, to act as healer-in-chief. His lack of leadership -- a tepid speech Thursday and a visit to the storm-ravaged areas four days later -- almost suggested complacency.

In time, after the suffering has ended, we must have a national moment to pause and reflect.

Surely there are lessons to be learned in all of this. And those lessons must be heeded. We owe that to the memory of those who died needlessly.