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Assign Katrina probe
to nonpartisan panel

THE ISSUE President Bush and GOP congressional leaders have promised to investigate the government response to Hurricane Katrina.

REMOVAL of the beleaguered federal emergency management chief from the Gulf Coast did not end the partisan blame-laying for the government's stumbling response to Hurricane Katrina. Meaningful retrospect needs to be placed in the hands of an independent commission to arrive at fruitful measures to respond to future natural disasters.

President Bush promised to investigate his own administration's emergency management. GOP congressional leaders announced the formation of a bipartisan, bicameral probe without consulting Democrats, who promptly refused to be a part of what they predicted would be a whitewash.

The problem with the response appears to have been more jurisdictional than political. As New Orleans drowned, federal, state and local leaders appear to have been paralyzed with uncertainty about legal protocol.

Justice Department and Pentagon officials decided not to urge Bush to seize control of the relief mission, according to The New York Times. They were concerned that the president lacked the legal authority to send in active-duty troops to restore order and offer aid without the consent of Democratic Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to surrender control of Louisiana's National Guard. State officials told the Times that she would not have given up that control.

While government officials struggled with the dilemma, the 82nd Airborne, which was ready to move into the area the day before the hurricane landed, remained stuck at Fort Bragg, N.C. Justice Department officials eventually concluded that the federal government has authority to move in even over the objection of local officials.

Those issues need to be clarified before the next major hurricane or tsunami strikes Hawaii. Nearly all of Hawaii's Army National Guard troops are deployed in Iraq, and large numbers of active-duty troops on Oahu could be needed quickly to perform a variety of missions. Hawaii residents cannot afford to wait for federal, state and local officials to draw jurisdictional lines of authority while the islands are pummeled by nature.

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Arroyo can’t relax
against opposition

THE ISSUE An attempt to impeach Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been rejected.

LITTLE more than a year into her first full six-year term, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has survived congressional impeachment votes, but the remainder of her term looks to be no cakewalk. She is reported to have used political machinery and alleged bribery of legislators to retain power, but she will need to do more than that to regain the support of most Filipinos.

Arroyo, elected in May 2004 after being elevated from vice president following the ejection of Joseph Estrada from the presidency, was accused of rigging the election. She apologized for her "lapse of judgment" in talking with an elections official but has denied any wrongdoing.

She was charged with electoral fraud, corruption and human rights abuse, but her opponents were unable to gather the one-third votes from the 236 House members needed to send the case to the Senate for trial. Despite its failure, the impeachment attempt will cast a cloud over Arroyo as she travels to New York next week to preside over the United Nations Security Council.

Under five years of the Arroyo administration, the Philippines continues to be riddled by a Muslim separatist movement, a communist insurgency, government corruption and widespread poverty, while the public debt has risen to more than 70 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Polls show that most Filipinos would like her to resign or be impeached.

Arroyo can credit the impeachment failure to neutral positions taken by the military and the Catholic Church, important catalysts in past overthrows. If the opposition is able to find an amiable leader who can galvanize the "people power," Arroyo may not last out her term.

Philippines law bars Arroyo's detractors from filing a new impeachment complaint against her for a year. She has that amount of time to institute reform and restore her credibility.

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