Pentagon Report Confirms Widespread Federal Incompetence

An official U.S. report says that failure to plan and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently relief work to combat Hurricane Katrina, The Independent newspaper said on Monday. The British daily said the report by Stephen Henthorne, a former professor and adviser to the Pentagon, concluded that the poor response to Katrina mirrored earlier shortcomings in U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States," the confidential report said. The report was commissioned by the Pentagon to provide an "independent and critical review" of what went wrong after Hurricane Katrina swept ashore in September.