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 along the Texas-Louisiana coast, the deaths, the emergency housing for tens of thousands of evacuees, was not, of course, caused by al-Qaida but by the elements. However, there can be little doubt that al-Qaida would seek great satisfaction (as Osama bin Laden gloatingly did after 9/11) if their next attack against the American mainland could replicate such havoc. It is the principal objective of any terrorist to create fear and confusion among the maximum number of the targeted populace with the hope of undermining its resolve and continued resistance.

Spurred by the tragedy of 9/11, has America in the four years since prepared itself adequately for a terrorist attack with the same kind of consequences as occasioned by Katrina and Rita? For the evacuation of perhaps 3 million people from urban areas, leaving the helpless behind unreachable and unattended?

Much has been accomplished since 9/11, but the lessons from Katrina and Rita suggest that many American cities may still not be any more prepared for a devastating terrorist attack than they were for the awesome destructive force of a major hurricane.

Katrina clearly showed us that there was tardy initial preparation for a threat of such magnitude, compounded by confusion over the responsibility of local, state and federal agencies. Preparedness for Rita was better, but there was chaos and gridlock as some 3 million people attempted evacuation along crowded highways, often littered with cars that had run out of gas. The prospect of such wholesale evacuation being ordered from Los Angeles or New York is almost impossible to contemplate.

Several influential voices have been beating the alarm tocsins about all this, warning the ponderous U.S. bureaucracy to move on an emergency wartime footing to redress the situation. Even before 9/11, the U.S. Commission on National Security, co-chaired by former Sen. Warren B. Rudman, had warned that the civil (non-military) aspects of homeland security "must be enhanced." The commission also urged that the National Guard — now deeply immersed in Iraq — should be trained and equipped for a significant role in homeland defense.