Letters

An American Tragedy

Our Special Report on the Hurricane Katrina disaster drew mail from readers expressing sympathy for the suffering of the survivors and outrage over the agonizing slowness of the Federal Government's response. Many blamed President Bush for the delays; others called such finger pointing unfair

The sluggish response to the crisis of Hurricane Katrina was shameful [Sept. 12]. There seemed to be a lack of organization and little coordination among federal, state and local authorities. The Gulf Coast contains vital ports for oil and natural gas and should have been given a high priority in U.S. defense planning against terrorism. The government's unpreparedness makes me extremely skeptical of the effectiveness of the Department of Homeland Security. It certainly didn't seem to have made plans for evacuation and disaster management in this major urban area. The scale of the disaster may have been unprecedented, but I thought the Bush Administration had spent the years since 9/11 planning for the unprecedented. BETH CONLIN Brookline, Mass.

How dare anyone blame the President for this disaster. The left-wingers have criticized the Bush Administration constantly. How can anyone--politician or member of the news media--not support our government? The critics have gone too far. We must work together, and those who can't must stay out of the way. I am tired of the divide in this country. SUZANN SOLIDAY Fresno, Calif.

Bush's slow response to Katrina was a national disgrace. Officials knew that the storm was coming and that there was going to be massive devastation. The President should have been mobilizing troops and supplies long before the hurricane ever hit. After it struck, poor people died because they had no food and water and no way out. Hospital patients, including infants, died because hospitals had no supplies or power. Looting was rampant because troops were slow to be mobilized and there were too few of them. I bet that if Bush felt he needed the military in the Middle East to protect an oil facility that he said was vital to U.S. interests, he would have had more than enough troops there immediately! JAMES SLOANE Las Vegas

The media just couldn't wait to criticize Bush and pick apart his response. Even in this time of crisis, you jump in and politicize the situation. Have you ever heard of pulling together with the rest of the country and keeping your mouth shut for a while? BARBARA WELSH Houston

Nancy Gibb's article described the government's inept response to the disaster. That's one report we should all keep close at hand when Administration officials go on TV and try to rewrite history to save their political skins. MARJORIE HERTELENDY Grafton Township, Ohio

Bush uncharacteristically said the initial relief response to the devastation along the Gulf Coast was not acceptable. Given the past reluctance of the Administration to hold anyone accountable for failure, it only remains to be seen who will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom after this tragedy. BUCK RUTLEDGE Knoxville, Tenn.

I am a white person. As I looked at TV images of the black people in New Orleans with no food, water or shelter, I wondered if our government would have reacted with the same negligence if a natural disaster like Katrina had occurred in a city where the population was predominantly white. If white people put themselves in the place of the black people in New Orleans, we might better understand how racial prejudice is harmful to us all. GREG GIANAS Redmond, Wash.

The suffering in the wake of Katrina will not have been in vain if it helps bring the Bush Administration to its senses about climate change. The U.S. should ratify the Kyoto Protocol. JAN BERNHEIM Brussels

Levels of Barbarism

"The New Bin Laden?" your Notebook item on Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq [Sept. 5], said that al-Zarqawi's organization "is believed to have been behind barbaric attacks in Iraq." It seems only fair to ask where, on the spectrum of barbarism, we would locate the killing of Iraqi civilians, the razing of Fallujah, the depravity at Abu Ghraib prison and the self-righteous obscenity at Guantanamo Bay? And how about the abandonment of the desperate hurricane victims in Louisiana and Mississippi left without fresh water and food? In Iraq, limitless U.S. resources are deployed, while at home poor Americans, thirsty and starving, founder in toxic effluent. All around the globe, people are watching, incredulous, as the Bush Administration displays its unique ability to turn a natural disaster into an issue of law and order. It can be only a matter of time before criticism of the federal response to Katrina is declared unpatriotic. If you see barbarism in Baghdad, perhaps you will recognize it, too, on Pennsylvania Avenue. NIGEL M. CHAMBERS East Holm, Scotland