From Holden:

The State Department failed because it is headed by an incompetent, just like FEMA.

Offers of foreign aid worth tens of millions of dollars — including a Swedish water purification system, a German cellular telephone network and two Canadian rescue ships — have been delayed for days awaiting review by backlogged federal agencies, according to European diplomats and information collected by the State Department.

Since Hurricane Katrina, more than 90 countries and international organizations offered to assist in recovery efforts for the flood-stricken region, but nearly all endeavors remained mired yesterday in bureaucratic entanglements, in most cases, at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

[snip]

“FEMA? That was a lost case,” said Mirit Hemy, an executive with the Netherlands-based New Skies Satellite who made the phone calls. “We got zero help, and we lost one week trying to get hold of them.”