Letter: Storms show how documentation is key

Monday, Oct. 10, 2005 | 9:07 a.m.

Dan K. Thomasson's fine commentary in your Oct. 5 edition points out the need for accuracy in reporting the news. The Hurricane Katrina event has created a flood of what Thomasson calls "outlandish and undocumented propaganda." Floating around in that flood is a lot of political garbage that too many choose to believe and pass on as truth.

Unfortunately there are those such as Richard St. John, whose letter to the Sun on Oct. 5 shows he chooses to believe propaganda rather than documented facts. For example, St. John wrote that the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot act unless states request it, which they did not. In fact, the states did request it, and it is not FEMA but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who must declare an "Incident of National Significance" before FEMA can act.

Further, Chertoff could have acted without permission from the states but waited 36 hours to declare the INS. At that point, the president was back in the White House. Bush then formed a task force to run the Katrina response, ignoring the Homeland Security plan in place. (This was documented in a Knight Ridder article on Sept. 13.)

Documentation can be subject to some interpretation, but it is a much sounder basis than depending on talk radio and urban legends.

Jerry Bitts Las Vegas