Tape: Bush Warned on Levees Before Katrina
Confidential video footage obtained by the Associated Press proves that federal officials warned Bush that Hurricane Katrina could breach levees and cause a tidal wave of disaster Watch the video Ex-FEMA chief Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown says Bush was overconfident about FEMA's response to Katrina FireDogLake: In an attempt to spin the story and make Bush seem in charge, the White House leaked Newsweek transcripts from FEMA conference calls during and after Katrina.
AP
:
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.
This year, the ground feels uncertain — facts are buried and those in power are working to keep them hidden. Now more than ever, independent journalism must go beneath the surface.
At Truthdig, we don’t just report what's happening — we investigate how and why. We follow the threads others leave behind and uncover the forces shaping our future.
Your tax-deductible donation fuels journalism that asks harder questions and digs where others won’t.
Don’t settle for surface-level coverage.
Unearth what matters. Help dig deeper.
Donate now.
Editorial Cartoons
Environment
With hurricanes, wildfires and droughts, every region of Texas is threatened by man-made climate change, vulnerability index shows.
Troubling questions hover over then-Lt. Cmdr. McCain’s actions in a catastrophic 1967 fire aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal and the period immediately afterward. His later accounts of events that followed the accident also raise issues.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.