To Senator Harry Reid and all Senate Democrats:
The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina still haunts this nation and will continue to haunt all of America for the foreseeable future. We have watched as thousands of American citizens died at the hands of a horrendous hurricane. We then watched as thousands more died at the hands of an incompetent and ineffectual government response. There is no doubt today that the response by our government to this disaster was an absolute travesty and greatly compounded the damage that Hurricane Katrina wrought.
The first and foremost goal of any government is to protect its citizens. Simply put, there is no reason for a government to exist if it does not improve the lives of its citizens. In this regard, our government failed us during Hurricane Katrina. American citizens were not protected and were instead left to drown, to be murdered, to be raped, to starve and dehydrate, to pass from lack of medication and care, to expire in the heat, to be eaten by alligators—
for God's sake—and to lie dead in the streets, in the water, in their homes, their residences, even in the city's supposed shelters. Our government failed miserably and thousands of American citizens are dead as a result, while thousands more are injured and traumatized, left with horrific memories that they will spend a lifetime hoping to forget.
Our government failed us, the American people. And it is unacceptable.
At this point, there are two things that must happen. First, we must care for the victims of Hurricane Katrina—both alive and dead, both human and animal—to the best of our ability—and to a much better ability than has so far been done. Second, we must learn as much as we can about the response to this tragedy at every level of government—local, state and federal, including the military, and with a thorough vetting of every single government agency involved in the response. We must face the decisions made by our government with an unblinking eye, allowing a deep and thorough investigation that probes every crevice of the response and finds fault everywhere it may lie and labels the successes everywhere they occurred, irregardless of partisanship, of political protection, of potential embarassments.
This investigation cannot contain even a hint of whitewashing, for we are talking about the very lives of American citizens. A truly independent and bipartisan commission must be set up to investigate the response. In the Washington Post, it is being reported today, September 8, that congressional Republicans intend to assemble a commission that they, ultimately, would control as the majority party. This is unacceptable. Any investigation of Hurricane Katrina must be independent of Congress and cannot be swayed by either party. It must be truly independent with absolutely no political goals. It must have one goal only—a full vetting of the truth, so that we may stop American citizens from dying in the future.
This is not politics. This is not partisan. This is thousands of dead American citizens and a failed government response. We are not playing, Goddamn it, we are dying, and we are dying in the cruelest way possible. This is not the time for a partisan Congressional investigation that will come to the conclusions that are wanted by whomever controls it.
We need a panel that is made up of independent investigators with an exact balance of Republicans and Democrats, if political affiliation must come into play. There cannot be a single member of Congress on this panel. Democrat or Republican, they cannot impartially investigate themselves, the Bush administration and the federal agencies involved in the response to Katrina. This disaster is worse than the attacks of September 11. An entire major American city has been wiped off the map. Thousands are dead, thousands are suffering, a million are displaced. We must find out how this happened. Second to caring for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, finding out what went wrong during this disaster is the absolute top priority of our government.
Congressional Democrats are going to have to push hard to make sure that an independent investigation is what we receive. Therefore, I propose that Senate Democrats stop ALL business within the Senate until an independent commission is formed to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina. Senator Reid, as the Senate Democratic Leader, I ask you—I beg you—to gather your delegation and insist that all Senate Democrats filibuster any and all legislation not directly related to assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina until a truly independent and trustworthy panel is assembled to investigate this disaster. Furthermore, as previously diaried by Kagro X, any appointments—such as the appointment of John Roberts—must be filibustered as well until a truly independent commission is set up to investigate this disaster.
This is not politics. This is thousands of American citizens lying dead in the streets. This is horror on an unimaginable level. This is about stopping the future deaths of thousands more Americans when the next inevitable tragedy—natural or manmade—strikes our great country. There can be no compromise and there can be no weakness. The lives of Americans depend upon strength and certainty.
Senator Reid, you and your Democratic delegation must filibuster EVERYTHING until we have a real and independent investigation into Hurricane Katrina. This is the only way the people of the United States can come to once again trust their government.
I am counting on you, Senator Reid, and on every other Democratic Senator. Please do not let down the American people.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Joel Caris