Investigating Congress' Investigation of Katrina

Popular Mechanics takes a close look at the Congressional Report On Katrina and finds quite a few errors and problems. Here's some of what they have to say (emphasis mine):

We've given the report an initial read and found it riddled with poor logic, internal contradictions and exaggerations. This is no 9/11 Commission Report...

While the 9/11 effort pinpointed large institutional problems and focused on solutions, this report seems designed to narrow attention onto a few individuals, ignoring larger, and frankly more important, issues—such as what role FEMA should actually take in large-scale emergencies.

A very excellent question indeed! One that I don't think enough people have been asking. The federal government is only going to be able to do so much for us during emergencies such as this. Rather than expecting the federal government to keep us safe, wouldn't we be far better prepared and responsive if individuals, communities, churches, religious organizations, non-profits and local governments were encouraged to take the lead in preparing for and responding to these types of emergencies? Would any of the deaths in New Orleans have been avoided if people expected to be responsible for their own safety? I don't know...

PM goes continues:

...here’s ... what seems to be the report’s most troubling shortfall: consistently blaming individuals for failing to foresee circumstances that only became clear with the laser-sharp vision of hindsight.

The Committee report also criticizes the DHS and FEMA for not including the Department of Defense in their pre-storm and immediate post-storm planning. However, the same August 28 transcript shows that DoD was included from the beginning. In reality, despite organizational shortcomings, the rescue spearheaded by the National Guard and the Coast Guard turned out to be the largest and fastest in U.S. history, mobilizing nearly 100,000 responders within three days of the hurricane’s landfall. While each of the 1072 deaths in Louisiana was a tragedy, the worst-case scenario death toll would have been 60,000.

Read the whole thing!

This article brings up many interesting points and concerns. Assuming PM's analysis to be correct, some of my deepest concerns include:

1. Why has it taken so long for this information to emerge in this way and why has it taken Popular Mechanics to bring it to the forefront? Isn't this what we should expect from the press as a whole?
2. Why have so many politicians been so eager to point fingers, escape blame and find scapegoats if this was in fact one of the fastest mobilizations of manpower in US history?
3. Why have we as a public allowed this type of chicanery to occur in the political landscape of our country? If Popular Mechanic's analysis is vindicated, will their be any public reaction to it?

Hattip to Instapundit for pointing to this report.