Yes, the Coast Guard is part of the armed forces, but they do have a unique mission set (mostly law enforcement). They have little to do with war fighting. While there are some organizations that have a stated mission, it is a "when called upon, when necessary" mission based on what is already organic in organization, equipment, capabilities and training. Fighting wars is the primary purpose of the military, and the wars, and potential wars necessarily take priority. I have even seen congress refuse to fund disaster assistance training and equipment, because it does not enhance the primary missions.

There was no delay in response, it was more a matter of the initial response not meeting expectations of some people, mostly people who are not involved in the effort and are very emotionally involved, as they are the ones needing help. It is not magic, it takes time and there are not unlimited resources. The assistance is doing well with what they have, and more is on the way. More was planned from the beginning, as a follow on in case it was needed. Information is the key resource at the beginning, and it has to start somewhere.

The humanitarian assistance mission can take many forms. It is not specifically disaster relief.

Yes, AKSAR, I do not know of any media outlet or source of information that does not have some bias at least. The respect you refer to for the Washington Post is not universal, and they do come out publicly in support or opposition to particular politicians, and this article was an attempt to compare things that were not comparable.

Another aspect of this is the legal one. Like with Louisiana in Hurricane Katrina, the federal government can't legally deploy military or federal assets without the request from the governor. In Puerto Rico, this was requested before the hurricane. In Louisiana, the governor did not request it until much later than expected, even refusing the offer and suggestion from the federal level at first. You generally see now that the governors will think about getting ahead of the problem, as Puerto Rico did, to avoid a Katrina disaster.