Money down the Storm Drain
Twenty months after Hurricane Katrina's devastation, only $40 million out of the $854 million in cash and oil offered by our allies has been used for the storm's victims and reconstruction, John Solomon and Spencer S. Hsu of The Washington Post report. Their "Most Katrina Aid from Overseas Went Unclaimed" is full of examples of aid offers turned down by the U.S. government, such as search and rescue teams, water pumps and pontoon boats. They also write that much of the aid that arrived was wasted, including gauze, medicine and other medical supplies from Italy that spoiled instead of being used. The Post was able to get this important story thanks to the efforts of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a public interest group that tenaciously used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain thousands of pages of e-mails, cable and telegraphs by U.S. diplomats. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801113.html?referrer=email