Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

There were politically important areas hit by Katrina too; remember that the worst of the storm took place east of Louisiana in PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. areas, and these did little better via FEMA. Also, "actively keeping rescuers out of NOLA" was the work of the state, which had control over access, not FEMA, which never had say in such things (roadblocks were the work of state police reporting to Gov. Blanco, not federal agents).

Perhaps the worst was the local politics: FEMA was afraid to send any money into NOLA for fear it would be stolen. That wasn't just FEMA; a friend of mine owns a structural engineering business and refused absolutely to do any work in Louisiana due to the corruption there (he'd almost gone bankrupt once before not to knowing who to pay etc). That won't be a problem in Iowa. Lesson: know who you elect! ... which may be why everyone who could got out of NOLA ahead of time.