Leadership vacuum stymied aid

As violence, death and misery gripped New Orleans and the surrounding parishes in the days after Hurricane Katrina, a leadership vacuum, bureaucratic red tape and a defensive culture paralyzed volunteers' attempts to help. Doctors who wanted to treat the sick were handed mops. Police and supplies from other states were turned away.
http://www.cnn.com/rssclick/2005/US/09/15/katrina.response/index.html?section=cnn_topstories