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Are you crazy? Brown is a total idiot. I will give him the first 48hrs, but not 4 days without any meaningful Federal action.

We won in 04 because we correctly argued that Democrats could not be trusted to protect this country.

Mark my words, this Brown character is going to cost us in 06. Being the head of the American Arabian Horse Association does not make you qualify to run FEMA. Frankly putting a Federal Judge in charge of Homeland Security was also a mistake. And placing FEMA with the department of HOMELAND security another huge mistake. We are lucky the rats are currently run by a buch of idiots. At this time, this is the only thing we have going for us. Bush need to get ahead of this story and fired this idiot.

I think you're missing the point of this article. I don't think FEMA Director Brown waited until the day of the storm to ask for help from additional FEMA personnel. They were already stationed on the ground near the affected areas, and in any event, under his control. He wouldn't need to ask his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, to direct them.

Instead, Director Brown asked for help from OTHER employees within the Department of Homeland Security, who would need (1) FEMA training and (2) permission from their managers before proceeding.

Nor did he tell other local police and fire departments not to come to Louisiana or Mississippi -- he told them not to come UNLESS asked by state and local officials.

There's been a lot of second guessing of the federal, state and local response to Hurricane Katrina. It's very easy to second guess tactics after the fact. Hindsight is 20/20. But it's much more difficult to work out logistics while things are still fluid. The area was hit by a hurricane before the flood. Before anyone can go in, roads and airports need to be cleared. Bridges need to be inspected. Fuel needs to be prepositioned. Trucks need to be moved into staging areas and loaded. Even helicopters can't fly until the winds die down.

You can't just snap your fingers and make this all happen. It takes time.

I'm sick and tired of the blame game. It's counterproductive. President Bush is right -- federal, state and local resources should be focused on rescue and recovery effort, not finger pointing. Now isn't the time for it.

It's Katrina's fault.

Are you crazy? Brown is a total idiot.

We've already gone through this. You people wanting to hang Brown out to dry are the total idiots. (And I dare say your bio looks rather puny compared to "total idiot" Brown's.) Every one of your pitiful accusations has been proven to be exaggerated or more often flat-out false.