Looks like the wrong guy may have been made a scapegoat for the Katrina response:
As thousands of hurricane victims went without food, water and shelter in the days after Katrina's early morning Aug. 29 landfall, critics assailed Brown for being responsible for delays that might have cost hundreds of lives.
But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents. An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director.
But according to a memo obtained by Knight Ridder, Chertoff didn't shift that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30, about 36 hours after Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. That same memo suggests that Chertoff may have been confused about his lead role in disaster response and that of his department.
Remember that this is the administration that was making the case that if John Kerry was elected it mean the death of us all. Then a real disaster strikes and these guys take there sweet time about responding. Breaking campaign promise about raising taxes I can understand. Breaking a promise to do all you can to keep the American people safe should haunt this administration for all time.
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