Right or wrong, let’s assume President Bush was late, uninformed, wrong, misguided, ill-prepared or all of the above in his response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

The media, his political adversaries and those who just don’t like Bush or anything he stands for had a field day in criticizing him and placing the blame for most of the bad things that happened at the president’s feet. Some even went so far as to suggest the storm itself was caused by environmental conditions – global warming – triggered by Bush’s environmental policies.

Again, let’s say all this is true and that the New Orleans mayor, the Louisiana governor and all others involved in pre- and post-Katrina activities performed in a perfect manner. Bush was the one who didn’t measure up.

Now, news stores are reporting massive cases of fraud associated with post-Katrina projects. According to the Government Accountability Office, huge amounts of money, millions of dollars, have been handed out to individuals not eligible to receive aid and relief.

According to the GAO, the Federal Emergency Management Agency spent nearly $17 million in improper or fraudulent rental payments to evacuees already living for free in trailers provided by the agency. The GAO claims FEMA gave nearly $20 million in double payments to people who claimed damage to the same property from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A relatively minor amount, $3 million, was given to more than 500 foreign students who were ineligible for aid and more than $150,000 to foreign workers in the United States on temporary work visas.

Some will say that a certain amount of misuse and mishandling of aid dollars is to be expected. Others will say this is another case of poor work, poor record-keeping and sloppiness by FEMA, which Bush should have been on top of if he was a good commander in chief.

It’s interesting, however, that little if anything is said about those who knowingly deceived government officials handing out aid. The polite thing to say is that there was “fraud,” but, in fact, those who deliberately lied to aid officials are thieves and criminals. Some might say their actions were justified, given what they had gone through – the loss of homes, jobs, etc. – but even so, they were thieves.

It’s easy to fault Bush and FEMA, and much of this criticism may be deserved, but why isn’t it just as correct to call the thousands of those who took money they didn’t deserve or merit what they actually are: thieves or criminals?

Katrina was a terrible disaster, and it is hoped New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will recover to be stronger and better than ever before. Lessons should have been learned, whether in the field of engineering, the construction of dikes, planning for massive storms, how to take care of victims, how to assess damage, the proper chain of command or how to handle federal compensation.

No one person is at fault for the many failures, and no one should get all the credit for getting things right. But last week’s report by the GAO makes it clear there was massive fraud and “criminal action” by many of those who received aid. Unfortunately, in the months to come, there are likely to be many more reports of fraud and mishandled aid and assistance that really are theft, whether it involves individuals, contractors or others who took advantage of the mood in New Orleans to recover as quickly as possible and not be overly concerned about costs. After all, it’s someone else’s money.