BEIJING, Sept. 6 -- Complaints about U.S. President George W. Bush's reaction to Hurricane Katrina echoed past criticisms over crises like the Asian tsunami or the Iraq war.

    Critics are asking whether Bush reacted too slowly to the catastrophe, sent enough troops to keep order, or relied too much on rosy scenarios spun by senior aides while New Orleans descended into anarchy.

    Some lawmakers and local emergency officials have called Washington's initial reaction "a national disgrace" and assailed the Bush administration as having a too-little, too-late response.

    Some critics have seized on a news photograph of the president palling around with a country singer and posing with a gift guitar Aug. 30 ¡ª even as officials predicted Katrina's death toll would run in the hundreds ¡ª to say that the president was not taking the situation seriously enough.

    There have also been parallels with Iraq: The administration has widely been accused of deploying too few troops to contain widespread violence after the fall of Saddam Hussein because of poor planning.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)