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, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.
Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
The footage — along with seven days of transcripts of briefings 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.
So the president thinks bravado - "We are fully prepared" - is all that is needed. Disgust is really too mild a word for what I'm feeling upon learning of all this.
Unfortunately, while everyone is fighting over the horribly inadequate initial response, the current response to the aftermath of Katrina remains inhumane, cruel, and unorganized. Every where I turn are stories of families living in FEMA tent cities who are due to be evicted in March, families living in cruise ships who are due to be evicted anytime, and families who have already been evicted from FEMA arranged housing in Houston.
ReplyDeleteYet, large numbers of FEMA trailers are supposedly sitting unused in Arkansas because each individual family has to apply for a trailer, but there does not appear to be anyone to help them through this process. Where are these people supposed to go? It is 6 months after Katrina and clean up has not even begun in large areas of Mississippi and Louisiana. Rebuilding cannot start if clean up has not been done. I sometimes think they continue the argument over the initial debacle in hopes that no one will notice that the atrociously inadequate response continues.
Carolyn L.
I know, Carolyn. I agree with you. And it's simply beyond belief.
ReplyDelete