CHRONOLOGY.... Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and
flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration.
Read it and weep:

January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of
FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush
administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May,
Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that
federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized
entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal
government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have
ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of
the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."

December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he
is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking
to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown,
who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded
into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on
fighting acts of terrorism.

2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation
and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness
and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.

Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding
requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You
would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant
program called for. We were more than qualified for it."

June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in
New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs
Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in
the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq,
and I suppose that's the price we pay."

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit
areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was
created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson,
Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe,
Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar
for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with
his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of
the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and
a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA.
Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was known
to be one of the top three risks in the country. FEMA was deliberately
downsized as part of the Bush administration's conservative agenda to
reduce the role of government. After DHS was created, FEMA's
preparation and planning functions were taken away.

Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the
size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when
it did happen was no accident. It was the result of four years of
deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and
partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence. It's the
Bush administration in a nutshell.