The head of Homeland Security was quoted as saying (and I'm paraphrasing here): "You shouldn't believe all the rumors you hear about there being people in the stadium". He, evidently, did not realize that there WERE people sheltered in the stadium until two days afterwards. That, to me, is inept.

Craig, I'm not really as critical as I sound. I know the answers are not simple, and I'm sure much has been done heroically and correctly. My dad was head of cival defense for about 15 years in a coastal, island town in RI. I DO know it's never simple to deal with even marginal emergencies, not to mention widespread destruction such as this. I sympathize with the huge tasks that needed to be done, and it's true that it's easy to "Monday morning quarterback" from here.... but it seems some MAJOR blunders have been made, and it has cost people their lives.

In my view, from my safe location in NH and based only upon news reports, it seems to me that the first real test of the post-9/11, revamped system showed it to largely be broken.

::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::