Letter: Don’t make political game of response

Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 5:45 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

Sept. 10-11, 2005

I for one am sick of the liberals and Democrats politicizing the hurricane disaster in Louisiana.

Columnist Paul Krugman wrote that the federal government should have started preparing for Katrina three days before it struck. But three days before Katrina hit New Orleans, she was a very strong tropical storm approaching the coast of south Florida. If Krugman possesses some sort of clairvoyance for tracking the course and intensity of hurricanes, he should share it with the weather service and the rest of us.

Additionally, if the Superdome had been designated as a storm shelter, how come bottled water and military meals weren't stockpiled there in advance? Both are items that can be stored almost indefinitely until needed and should be part of any disaster preparedness plan. Also, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's order to "get out any way you can" on Sunday morning is hardly an evacuation plan. Local officials in New Orleans knew for years that they were vulnerable to a major hurricane. Did they not have some kind of evacuation plan on the books?

Finally, there's the issue of it taking nearly five days until relief supplies and volunteers were able to enter the area. One need only a working knowledge of logistics and a look at a map of New Orleans to see why it took so long. I doubt the president had a magic wand to make huge convoys of relief supplies, along with personnel to man them, suddenly appear. People have to be called up, trucks have to be loaded. Routes into New Orleans are limited. Interstate 12 from the west is the most direct route, but I'm sure it was severely damaged. Interstates 55 and 10 were also severely damaged and back roads were no better.

Everyone is doing their best to help people recover from this disaster. The only thing making it worse is people trying to politicize it.

WILLIAM W. MORELAND