Hillary wants Katrina probe

2005-09-05 21:45

Washington - US senator Hillary Clinton has urged President George W Bush to set up a "Katrina Commission" to probe the government's response to the killer hurricane that has ravaged New Orleans and its surroundings, possibly killing thousands of people.

In a letter sent to the president on Sunday, the wife of former president Bill Clinton and much-rumoured presidential candidate, said the panel should be fashioned after the 9/11 commission that investigated the September 11 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

"It has become increasingly evident that our nation was not prepared," Clinton said in the letter.

She added that the slow pace of relief efforts "seems to confirm that our ability to respond to cataclysmic disasters has not been adequately addressed".

Clinton said she also planned to propose legislation to separate the federal emergency management agency (FEMA) from the department of homeland security and convert it into a cabinet-level agency.

The senator's husband, ex-President Bill Clinton, gave a tacit backing for the commission but stressed that any investigation into the circumstances under which the disaster occurred should be conducted after the immediate needs of the victims were met.

"We had a 9/11 commission, we may have a Katrina Commission. We may have these things, but I think first thing we got to do is ... what these people are going through," Clinton said at the launching of a fund to help the hurricane victims.

Clinton joined his predecessor George Bush to lead the fund-raising drive, repeating their feat during the tsunami disaster in Asia earlier this year when they raised a billion dollars.

- AFP