I received a bit of flak from some of my conservative friends for highlighting FEMA’s inadequate response–particularly former FEMA chief Michael Brown’s embarrassing performance–during Hurricane Katrina. This week, Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and FEMA official Marty Bahamonde confirmed FEMA’s failures once and for all. Bahamonde’s testimony yesterday was especially damning. He was on the ground at landfall and throughout the aftermath and concluded:

“There was a systematic failure at all levels of government to understand the magnitude of the situation,” Bahamonde testified. “The leadership from top down in our agency is unprepared and out of touch.”

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has posted 19 e-mails/Blackberry messages sent between Bahamonde and other FEMA officials as the disaster unfolded–including an obnoxious note from a Michael Brown aide emphasizing her boss’s “very important” scheduling need for more dining time before a TV appearance on Joe Scarborough’s MSNBC show…as people were drowning and dying in New Orleans.

I think it is important for conservatives to read the e-mail messages rather than turn a blind eye to bureaucratic incompetence and arrogance. There’s no excuse.

(Note: This post was edited June 6, 2007 to facilitate the re-design of this site. In the original post, all the e-mail messages were reprinted.)