If US wasn't hurricane-ready, what about a terrorist attack?

(From Gulf News)

Byline: John Hughes

Lesson learned. That is what we must hope for in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The chaos and dislocation caused by those storms should be a wake-up call for a society at war with terrorism but which for the most part has not been personally touched by it.

This is not to diminish in any way the sacrifice of those who perished on 9/11 or the almost 2,000 military personnel who have died since in the campaign to liberate Iraq. But though their families live each day mourning the loss of their loved ones, most of us have not experienced that anguish or been exposed to great loss or challenge.

The flooding, the fires, the mass exodus from threatened cities …