The Times-Picayune, the newspaper in the city of New Orleans, examines the revelation that the United States government failed to act on offers of foreign aid after the devastation of Katrina.  Congress needs to figure out why before it happens again:

Only a small fraction of the more than $800 million in Hurricane Katrina assistance offered by foreign governments was used by federal agencies, according to documents released Sunday by a private watchdog group. 

Rejected were the offers of foreign governments to send medical teams, search-and-rescue units, body bags, bottled water, food, fuel and even offers of specially trained rescue dogs from Poland, according to documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Also turned down or stalled by bureaucratic delays were offers of two cruise ships by the Greek government for use as medical facilities and to house workers and displaced residents.

The United States didn't have a system to process so many simultaneous offers of assistance, and if another disaster of the scale of Katrina occurred, it still would be unable to accept most aid, said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director.

"I'm afraid the same thing would happen again," Sloan said in an interview Sunday in which she called for congressional investigations. "It's been nearly two years since Katrina, and still the government doesn't have a mechanism in place to deal with offers of foreign assistance."