Who is to blame? Let's find out, but first, for the safety of the US,

[Don Claybrook]

Brown and Chertoff need to be removed from positions of authority before they hurt or kill any more people than they already have. When the time is right, a grand jury should be convened to determine whether they should be indicted on thousands of counts of negligent homicide or on other charges. But right now, today, while people's lives are slipping away, Brown and Chertoff need to be escorted out the door and replaced with people capable of doing the job. The evidence is widespread, overwhelming, and incontrovertibally damning to both of them. It would be appropriate to place their removal from office in the same category as the other rescue and recovery checklist items, such as repairing the levies, draining water, restoring order, and restoring power. And it's prerequisite to all of these things.

And yes, after the immediate emergency is over, let's take a cold and hard look at every angle and find out who did what wrong, and why. It's obvious that the Bush Administration deserves the vast majority of the blame for the way this incoherent shambles of a rescue effort has gone. But I have no problem whatsoever with putting Blanco, Nagin, and everyone involved under the spotlight. Let the truth reveal what the truth reveals, and let heads roll based on that truth. I think I know how an honest airing would turn out, but I'm willing to let the truth go wherever it goes.

But these incompetent gladhanders and yes-men must be terminated before anything else can happen with any degree of certainty that it will be successful.

[ananda]

1. So, what about Blanco?

Exactly what kind of blame must Blanco shoulder?

Could she have authorized public transportation to get people out of NOLA?

Could she have deployed the LA National Guard immediately?

Would someone please clarify these questions?

Thanks in advance,
Sue

[Don Claybrook]

2. Blanco must shoulder whatever blame she deserves

So far, I don't see a great deal of culpability on her part, but that of couse can change as more facts come out, etc. Again, let the truth take down whoever it takes down. That, by the way, would constitute government for the people, a novel concept in recent years.

But first, these dangerous political contributors and failed horse-ethics-judgers must be removed.