Free Republic

The federal government has mapped out a few places that could be targets for a major terrorist attack. NORAD, in Colorado Springs, Colo., for one. The West Wing of the White House. Or another New York City landmark. But the director of an organization that analyzes the country's level of disaster response offers up one more — Tucson's elementary schools. In his new book "Americans at Risk," Irwin Redlener blasts what he calls a slow emergency response by the government to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and last year's Hurricane Katrina. He lists five worst-case scenarios to further illustrate...

If one of the media's favorite "independent" disaster experts looks familiar as he bashes and trashes the Bush administration for bungling the response to Hurricane Katrina, that's because he is. Since Katrina devastated New Orleans nearly a month ago, Dr. Irwin Redlener, head of something called the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, has been the subject of nearly two dozen TV interviews and media reports, including appearances on NBC's "Today Show," ABC's "World News Tonight" and "Prime Time Live" - as well as several pitstops at CNN in between. And despite his "nonpartisan" credentials as a pediatric expert at Columbia...