Fight for a Katrina Commission

[icarus]

Subject: We need an independent Katrina Commission

Dear friend,

Senators, including moderate Republicans, are deciding whether they support a Katrina Commission modeled after the 9/11 Commission this week. We need a really big number of people to stand up and show support for the Katrina Commission. President Bush will address the nation about Hurricane Katrina on Thursday. We'll start delivering the petitions to Congress starting Friday morning so your senators and representatives will hear what you think the very next day. Please sign a petition supporting the creation of an independent commission:

http://www.political.moveon.org/katrinacommission/

More details:
Subject: Congress on the fence: Tell them we need a Katrina Commission

We need to demonstrate broad, public support for an independent Katrina Commission to make America safe. Please sign the petition and we'll deliver them to Congress after President Bush's address to the nation Thursday. Help top 250,000 signatures this week.


Sign the Petition
Dear MoveOn member,
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it's clear that we're less safe than we thought. Four years after September 11th, the federal government failed to respond to an emergency every bit as dire as a terrorist attack—and it is likely thousands died.

We need an independent Katrina Commission, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to find out what went wrong. But the White House, working off a "Don't Look Back" strategy, refuses to consider one.1 Instead, President Bush has suggested that he and his Republican allies in Congress will lead the investigation—a recipe for a cover up.2

Will you sign our petition for an independent Katrina Commission?

http://political.moveon.org/katrinacommission/?id=5985-3017897-ZWQ4Gsn7Pbl13isdf9itQg&t=4

Senators, including many moderate Republicans, are deciding whether to support a Katrina Commission modeled after the 9/11 Commission, this week. We need a really big number of people to sign the petition to show senators and representatives how much support there is for the Katrina Commission.

President Bush will address the nation about Hurricane Katrina on Thursday.3 We'll start delivering the petitions to Congress starting Friday morning so senators and representatives will hear what you think the very next day. The goal is to get 250,000 petition signers quickly. So, after you sign the petition please forward this e-mail to your friends, family and colleagues and ask them to sign it too.

Here's why we need a Katrina Commission:

- We need to learn from Hurricane Katrina. The scale of the disaster makes it urgent that we learn from mistakes. The government can't investigate itself. That means appointing an independent group of experts to sort through the data.

- We need to find the other Michael Browns. Yesterday, FEMA director Michael Brown resigned. Brown had no experience in emergency management—his last job was as the director of the International Arabian Horses Association. And there are many other political appointees like him who could get in the way during a future emergency.

- When President Bush investigates his own government, no one is held accountable. When Bush and his allies have led investigations in the past, they've been whitewashes. The WMD Commission, led by Republicans in the Senate, concluded that no one was really to blame for the falsified intelligence about WMDs in Iraq. And the White House was entirely opposed to the 9/11 Commission until victims' families made it a politically impossible position.
The 9/11 Commission is a good model for the Katrina Commission. It was independent, bipartisan and provided all Americans with an honest and frank assessment of what happened on September 11th—they even published the results as a book. Support for the Katrina Commission is growing. New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton introduced legislation last week that would establish the one.4

Please help demonstrate broad, public support for the Katrina Commission by signing the petition today and then forwarding this e-mail.

http://political.moveon.org/katrinacommission/?id=5985-3017897-ZWQ4Gsn7Pbl13isdf9itQg&t=5

It is absolutely urgent that Congress establishes a Katrina Commission to make America safe. Next time it could be an earthquake, a river flood, a tornado, another hurricane or a terrorist attack. Please sign today and then forward this e-mail to your friends, family and colleagues.

Thanks for all you do.

–Tom, Joan, Justin, Jennifer and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Tuesday, September 13th, 2005

P.S. More information:

1. "Living too much in the bubble?" TIME, Sept. 19, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=898

2. "Bush says he'll find out what went wrong," Associated Press, Sept. 6, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=895

3. "Bush to address nation," Reuters, Sept. 13, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=896

4. Details on the Katrina Commission from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=897&id=

"Sen. Hillary Clinton Calls for Independent FEMA Probe," ABC News, Sept. 7, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=877

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Comments

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

Signed and passed it on. As always, thanks for the nudge.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thanks for doing this. Incredibly, Bush has actually taken some responsibility (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091300588.html). This, to my knowledge, is a first for the Bush administration.

But "I'm sorry" isn't good enough. Look at the carnage.

Icarus