| WASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.
Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared." |
Excuse my interruption here, but... Bush didn't ask a single question? The President of the United States had nothing to add to the meeting? Are you kidding me?
| Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.
Linked by secure video, Bush's bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm. A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then- Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome. "I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall. Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response: _Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast. "I don't buy the `fog of war' defense," Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. "It was a fog of bureaucracy." _Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility — and Bush was worried too. |
This is just unbelievable. They were warned, and they did nothing. They were warned, and Bush refused to cut short his vacation. And then, while New Orleans drowned, instead of returning straight to Washington, Bush headed to San Diego to give a speech and play some guitar. At the time Bush claimed that he couldn't possibly have known how bad things were.
Good god, was the president even paying attention during the briefing?
While I was writing this, the AP posted a second story with more details. An excerpt:
| The video footage obtained by AP shows a briefing that Bush was given on August 28 as Katrina hurtled toward New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico.
Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was heard saying "this is, to put it mildly, the big one". Brown expressed concern about the Superdome, saying the giant New Orleans sports stadium where thousands of residents eventually sought shelter is "about 12 feet (four meters) below sea level." "I don't know whether the roof is designed to withstand a Cat (category) Five hurricane," Brown is heard saying. The FEMA director also voiced concern about the medical and mortuary services available to cope with a disaster. "I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," he said, referring to the danger of a one-two punch of hurricane and flooding after a levee breach. Brown later had to resign, the most senior victim of the storm of controversy over the slow government response to the hurricane. Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center, said during a briefing there was "very, very grave concern" that New Orleans' levees could be topped by Katrina. In the August 28 video, Mayfield warned "there is potential for large loss of lives" on the coastal areas from a storm surge. Bush said in a television interview four days after the hurricane hit however: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." Bush attended the August 28 briefing by video link from his Texas ranch, where he was on holiday. The president asked no questions but said: "I want to assure the folks at state level that we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal after the storm to deal with the loss of property and we pray, no loss of life, of course." |
Although Bush is in India at the moment, the White house has responded to this new story in one hell of a hurry. Newsweek apparently has received a copy of a "missing transcript" (missing is apparently the White House word of the day today that shows Bush "very engaged" in monitoring the hurricane from the day it made landfall. But there's a huge contradiction in that defense, one Newsweek hasn't missed:
| While the newly discovered transcript does provide new evidence of initial presidential engagement in the Katrina crisis and of conflicting information about the state of New Orleans levees on Aug. 29, it also exposes some contradictions in previous administration explanations about the role of the White House and top officials in handling the crisis.
Under questioning by congressional investigators as to why he went home at 10 p.m. on Aug. 29 amid conflicting reports about flooding and levee breaches, Rapuano indicated that the administration did not believe the White House was supposed to be a command center. He says he went home believing that FEMA’s Michael Brown had all the resources he needed and that extensive search-and-rescue efforts were under way in New Orleans. Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, said earlier this year: "The White House is not an operational institution. It doesn't run the nitty-gritty in natural disasters, and it doesn't direct bombing sorties in Iraq." Some congressional investigators say it now seems somewhat ironic that having belatedly found the Aug. 29 conference-call transcript, the administration is now touting it as evidence of deep presidential—and White House—involvement in the crisis. White House spokesman Scott McClellan on Aug. 31 told reporters on Air Force One that the president was still deeply engaged in responding to Katrina. McClellan said Bush participated in a conference call that included Vice President Dick Cheney, Brown of FEMA, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, White House Homeland Security adviser Frances Townsend, chief of staff Andy Card, deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, deputy national-security adviser J. D. Crouch, White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett and others. Congressional investigators say they can’t recall seeing a transcript of this Aug. 31 conference call. An administration official said the White House is withholding the Aug. 31 transcript in order to protect the confidentiality of communications between the president and his advisers. Brown now says that after initially being deeply immersed in the crisis, “I think the president assumed, despite my warnings about FEMA’s marginalization, that it could handle a catastrophic disaster, too. Clearly that was not the case because of budget and personnel cuts imposed by Homeland Security.” |
This all makes the president's public behavior after August 29 less understandable. He flew to San Diego to give a speech on terrorism after having been warned? After the hurricane had actually made landfall? What the hell was he thinking? And what are they thinking using this as a defense? It makes Bush look more morally culpable, not less. I'm speechless.
And raise your hand if you are buying that line about "executive privilege" and the still withheld transcript from August 31. They're not protecting executive privilege. They are protecting the executive, our executive, the boy who would be king.
This isn't over. Not by a long shot.
UPDATE: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is not happy. And here is the video obtained by the AP of the briefing. Watch for yourself as the AP calls Bush a liar.
It would be fitting if in both the Plame leak case and the Katrina disaster the discovery of "missing" historical records led to incontrovertible proof that Bush lied to the American public. Time to turn on CNN....
UPDATE II: C+L reminds us of this exchange during Bush's ABC interview from just earlier this week. The hole just keeps getting deeper.
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