Monday, February 13, 2006

Katrina Congressional Commission a Farce

CNN received advance copies of the report delivered by an 11-person panel of Congressmen tasked with investigating all issues relating to the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. Unfortunately, all 11 Congressmen were republicans, so it’s no surprise that, while the panel did admonish the president, it shielded the president from direct blame by spreading blame equally over everyone associated with the incident. Two democratic congressmen indicated as much, and accused the commission of not being thorough.

The House committee "worked diligently" to meet its mandate of conducting "a full and complete investigation," the two congressmen wrote. "But due to the committee's short deadline and the refusal of the White House to provide access to essential documents, key questions remain unanswered. We therefore renew our call for an independent commission to examine the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina." The two lawmakers said the report "largely eschews direct responsibility."


Republicans on the committee say the report is fair and unbiased. Republican Rep Christopher Shays said the report is tough on everyone, from the president to the department of Homeland Security. “It's a blistering report. But I think it's fair."

So the end conclusion is that a commission of republicans looks at this tragedy, say everyone screwed up, and that’s it? No real blame is going to be assigned? All those Americans left without food, water, safety, and no one takes the blame? Tell that to the thousands of people still displaced from the storm, to the people who lost loved ones, to others who were attacked while trying to find shelter.

For people who waited for help that took days to arrive, and for people who wanted to leave before the storm and couldn’t get out because there were no vehicles to get them out of the region, this should not be enough. For every person who trusts our government to protect us from tragedies just like this one, who saw documents last week clearly showing that two days before members of our government knew the storm would be this destructive, this should not be enough.

Demand more from our government! Demand a real bi-partisan inquiry into the events surrounding the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.

Posted by Scottage at 2:49 PM / | |