NationStates Jolt Archive


"A Failure of Initiative"

Gargantua City State
13-02-2006, 21:34
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4707536.stm

I looked over the topics of the last couple pages, and didn't see anything that was blatantly related. Since this just came out today, I figure no one's touched it yet. So, I read this article, and there are a few quotes that I absolutely love.


"Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare," says the report's summary, seen by the Associated Press.


"If 9/11 was a failure of imagination, then Katrina was a failure of initiative," the report's summary states.



The investigators said they "are left scratching our heads at the range of clumsiness and ineptitude that characterised government behaviour before and after this storm.

"If this is what happens when we have advance warning, we shudder to imagine the consequences when we do not."

And my absolute favourite one comes at the end:


Mr Brown argued that the response to Hurricane Katrina would have been more effective if a terrorist had blown up one of the levees.


I smell change on the wind... mmmm... such a sweet smell!
Tactical Grace
13-02-2006, 21:39
Why be so negative?

It's not a failure of initiative, it's a victory of procrastination! :D
Gargantua City State
13-02-2006, 21:46
As a procrastinator at heart, I take offense to that! :p ;)

Seriously, most procrastinators do their best work at the last minute (Speaking from years of university experience). There was no last minute sprint by the gov't on this one. They were more like the kid who comes to class hung over and says, "My dog ate my homework."