Monday, October 03, 2005
We really suck
Pentagon report links Katrina, Iraq problems: paper
Mon Oct 3, 9:49 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - An official U.S. report says that failure to plan and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in
" type="hidden"> SEARCHNews | News Photos | Images | Web" type="hidden"> Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently relief work to combat Hurricane Katrina, The Independent newspaper said on Monday.
The British daily said the report by Stephen Henthorne, a former professor and adviser to the
" type="hidden"> SEARCHNews | News Photos | Images | Web" type="hidden"> Pentagon, concluded that the poor response to Katrina mirrored earlier shortcomings in U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States," the confidential report said.
The report was commissioned by the Pentagon to provide an "independent and critical review" of what went wrong after Hurricane Katrina swept ashore in September.
"The one thing that this disaster has demonstrated (is) the lack of co-ordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies," the report said.
"Another major factor in the delayed response to the hurricane aftermath was that the bulk of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard was deployed in Iraq," it said.
The report also blamed corruption and mismanagement by local government in New Orleans for diverting cash earmarked for flood prevention schemes to projects more likely to win votes.
Henthorne is a former professor of the U.S. Army's War College and was a deputy director in the Louisiana relief efforts, the paper said.
