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By Rondi Adamson

September 11, 2005

If only George Bush had treated the United Nations with more respect these past four years, not only would Katrina's aftermath have been different, but hurricane season this year may have been avoided altogether.

This is close to the level of silliness we have been hearing since Aug. 31. The initial charge, that Bush underfunded levees, was quickly debunked.

In The New York Times of Aug. 31, Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said the break in the levee surprised him because it was "along a section that was just upgraded."

Okay, but Bush caused global warming, which in turn caused Katrina, right? William Gray, a Colorado State University expert in the study of cyclones, was quoted in the Belfast Telegraph two weeks ago, regarding the alleged link between global warming and hurricanes, saying, "... it just isn't so ... These are natural cycles."

But the Louisiana National Guard were all in Iraq, fighting Bush's illegal, immoral war, right? No; 8,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard were at home. The job of dispatching them belonged to state officials. And this is what the handling of Katrina exposes: The negligence and incompetence of Louisiana officials, in particular state governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

There is no question the handling of Katrina does not reflect well on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's director, Michael Brown. But in the American system, emergency planning is a local and state responsibility. Blanco and Nagin have both been terrible leaders, unwilling to co-operate with each other, and with Washington.

Were Blanco more reasonable, a mandatory evacuation — which Bush called for Aug. 28 — focusing on those unable or unwilling to leave, could have been carried out. The New York Times reported Sept. 9, "Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area."

Further, it was Blanco who prevented the Red Cross from entering New Orleans Sept. 3 with supplies, for fear it would discourage people from evacuating. Nagin, complaining that people should "get off their asses" and help, stayed on his (in Baton Rouge, much of the time), and refused to use school buses made available to his citizens. He wanted nicer buses. Soon enough, the school buses were under water.

A cursory look at the situation in Mississippi shows what effective leadership can achieve. Governor Haley Barbour declared martial law as soon as Katrina hit. While Louisiana's neighbor also suffered enormous losses, citizens of Mississippi could rest assured the governor they elected kept those losses to a minimum.

I would like to see Michael Brown fired. But I also look forward to seeing the citizens of Louisiana let Blanco know what they think, the next time they vote. Ditto Nagin, should New Orleans hold elections again.

Rondi Adamson is a Toronto writer whose work has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal Europe and USA Today.