Mari Ness - I promise this will be my last Katrina related post for awhile:

An Open Letter to the President

Mr. Bush:

To quote you from yesterday: "I'm going to fly out of here in a minute, but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen."

Neither will we.

Let me explain why we are angry, Mr. President.

We are angry because nearly four years after a terrorist attack on New York City and Washington DC, you, your administration, and Congress have still failed to implement a system to evacuate one of our major cities swiftly and safely. For four years, you and your administration have consistently raised and lowered the terrorist threat level, telling the American public that we are in danger from terrorists. It is for this reason that Americans supported the war in Iraq, despite considerable misgivings and international opposition; it is for this reason that you were reelected.

Despite the known dangers of natural threats to our cities, including hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados, and despite the unquestioned fact that two of our cities have already been attacked, suggesting that future terrorist attacks may happen, you and your administration have created no contingency plans whatsoever and have in fact dismantled the admittedly inefficient and clumsy organization that previously existed. If you will recall, Mr. President, last year Florida was struck by four major hurricanes. In each case, FEMA and other government organizations were able to coordinate relief efforts and assure hurricane victims that help was on the way. Hurricane Charlie, by the way, was unexpected – and despite this, relief still arrived. Please do not attempt to make the argument that Katrina was worse than any hurricane striking Florida last year; both Hurricanes Charlie and Ivan were category four hurricanes when they struck. And unlike with Katrina, Charlie arrived with no warning. And please do not attempt to claim that the citizens of Florida are any better or smarter than those of New Orleans and Mississippi. I live here; we aren't. Nonetheless, after all four hurricanes, and also after Hurricane Andrew, victims saw an immediate response. That response mechanism has been dismantled.

This is a national disgrace. Madrid implemented emergency response tactics after 9-11, as did London. Kindly explain why the U.S. cannot follow the examples of Spain and the United Kingdom – and for that matter, why we would need to follow their examples at all, instead of setting world standards for safety and freedom.

We are angry because Americans are dying, unnecessarily, in one of our greatest cities. We expect deaths from hurricanes, Mr. President. We expect that people will die from the power of the winds, or because they chose to ride out the storm in a bus, or from storm related accidents shortly after the hurricane while attempting to clean up the damage. We do not expect that people will die after the hurricane because the National Guard has not arrived, because communications have failed, because nobody except for the Coast Guard can be seen to be doing anything, because apparently nobody can think to bring in a convey of helicopters with supplies

We are angry because you have said that you "understand that people are frustrated." Mr. President, frustrated is me yelling at my computer because Windows has crashed again. People in New Orleans are not frustrated. They are shooting one another. They continued to shoot each other last night.

We are angry that you stated that no one could predict that the levees would break, when, in fact, not only have hundreds of articles in the scholarly and popular press predicted exactly that, but all weekend prior to the storm CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and MSNBC, and FOX News were warning us that the levees could overflow and break in a strong hurricane. Were you simply not watching television? Mr. President, the reason the mayor of New Orleans ordered an evacuation is because people did predict that the levees would break. It was why, in fact, federal and local officials requested federal money to fix the levees – money that was diverted to Iraq.

We are extremely angry that your concept of a bright spot in this disaster is that Senator Trent Lott, who has lost a 175 year home with all of the possessions in it, will be able to rebuild a new home with a porch and you'll be able to visit him in it. Mr. President. I repeat. Senator Lott lost a 175 year old house. It is irreplaceable. Its memories are irreplaceable. And Senator Lott is one of millions facing this kind of loss today – and he is in the fortunate position of at least having the finances to rebuild. Others do not. Your remarks, Mr. President, were uncalled for. You owe the Senator a full apology, and you owe a full apology to every U.S. citizen who has lost a home or business in this disaster.

We are angry that it took you until Friday to reach storm areas. Harry Connick Jr. arrived faster, and last we checked, he does not have access to Air Force One or Marine helicopters. I understand that the Secret Service would have security concerns regarding New Orleans, but Mississippi has not had the same security concerns, and last we checked, Mississippi is part of the United States, filled with hard working, taxpaying Americans. Not as an aside, Mr. President, a lot of them voted for you because they sincerely believed you would provide leadership in a time of crisis. So did and do people in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

We are angry because instead of asking what the hell FEMA was doing on Friday, when it was clear to the entire world that FEMA was not performing its duties, you instead praised its directors and told them they were doing a good job. Mr. President, when we screw up at our jobs, we're fired. When people die as a result of our mistakes, that's called screwing up. It does not deserve praise.

And finally, we are angry that thanks to the incompetence of the government response, the world has seen these horrific images of our beloved country, and heard its government say callously that this is the fault of the people who stayed behind. We are supposed to be the example for the world, or have you forgotten? We are angry that the government of Cuba provided a faster response.

Mr. President, I live near Miami, Florida. You might have heard of it; its citizens donated a lot of money to your campaign funds. Miami lies in a hurricane zone. As a major international trade zone and well known American city, it is also a terrorist target. And frankly, I have lost all confidence in your administration's ability to handle either a hurricane or terrorist strike. You owe us explanations and apologies, and above all, you owe us action.