My friend, a flood victim was buried today, his body recently discovered and identified by DNA. He was 53. I attended his funeral, talked to his family, and felt sadness because this should never have happened. Also recently, on June 1, the US Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged broad system-wide flaws in their flood protection that contributed to the catastrophic flooding of metro New Orleans.

Things suddenly changed in Washington. Our Members of Congress stopped making disparaging remarks about the work ethics of New Orleanians and Donald Powell who before June 1 stridently defended the corps, suddenly strongly urged our Members of Congress to help Louisiana. Within days came the signing of the supplemental spending bill for 4.2 billion in community development block grants and 3.7 billion for levees. Of course we are very grateful.

But here is a key issue. Even though the Corps has admitted design and construction flaws, even though the Corps has conceded that the flood protection was a system in name only, Congress has yet to acknowledge those mistakes, and so essentially continues to ignore/deny the federal government’s central role in the New Orleans flood. For a citizens’ group to hold the Corps accountable is important, and that is why I founded Levees.Org. But it’s not enough. Congress must hold the Corps accountable, too.

To date, only the Louisiana delegation is united on this. My favorite is when Chairman Jerry Lewis on the House Appropriations Committee stated on June 6 that Hurricane Katrina’s damage to New Orleans was not the Federal Government’s fault. Senator Mary Landrieu called his bluff, saying that it WAS in fact the government’s fault and had a 6,000 page report from the Corps to prove it.

But with the exception of the Louisiana delegation, and a very few lone members including Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Congress has not recognized Corps culpability in the New Orleans flood.

Congress must acknowledge the errors of the Corps. Then Congress must take the steps to make sure the flooding never happens again. This begins with redefining the very mission of the Corps, with establishing concurrent peer review of Corps projects. It also begins with getting serious about water management in Louisiana and with dedicated funding so that citizen safety is not compromised by annual congressional budgetary review.

Until Congress recognizes the mistakes of the Corps, there is no reason for the people of metro New Orleans to feel safe nor any citizen in the USA whose life and property are protected by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Sandy Rosenthal