Conflicting accounts from top on Katrina response

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14505805.htm

Conflicting accounts from top on Katrina response


WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Under fire over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House and Homeland Security Department have offered conflicting accounts of who was in charge and when the administration first triggered what it promised would be a massive, organized federal response.

U.S. Senate investigators are looking closely at these inconsistencies and what some critics say was general confusion within the administration about what a newly created National Response Plan entailed.

....

In the same memo, Chertoff declared Katrina the first-ever "incident of national significance" -- an announcement touted the next day by the White House as key to setting in motion a carefully choreographed response and recovery effort.

But according to government documents, congressional aides and Homeland Security officials, what first triggered the "incident of national significance" was not Chertoff's memo, but a little-noticed statement issued by the White House on the night of Aug. 27 while President George W. Bush was still vacationing at his Crawford, Texas ranch.

[rodeodance]

1. in the end there was nothing by news conferences and talking heads tell-

ing us all the things they were doing!!

[UpInArms]

2. Conflicting accounts from top on Katrina response

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-09-15T201703Z_01_N14505805_RTRIDST_0_KATRINA-RESPONSE-REFILES.XML

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Under fire over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House and Homeland Security Department have offered conflicting accounts of who was in charge and when the administration first triggered what it promised would be a massive, organized federal response.

U.S. Senate investigators are looking closely at these inconsistencies and what some critics say was general confusion within the administration about what a newly created National Response Plan entailed.

Homeland Security Security Michael Chertoff waited nearly 36 hours after the Aug. 29 storm hit to designate then-FEMA Director Michael Brown as the "principal federal official" to coordinate the federal response, according to a memo Chertoff sent to fellow Cabinet members on Aug. 30.

In the same memo, Chertoff declared Katrina the first-ever "incident of national significance" -- an announcement touted the next day by the White House as key to setting in motion a carefully choreographed response and recovery effort.

But according to government documents, congressional aides and Homeland Security officials, what first triggered the "incident of national significance" was not Chertoff's memo, but a little-noticed statement issued by the White House on the night of Aug. 27 while President George W. Bush was still vacationing at his Crawford, Texas ranch.

...more...

[adaada]

3. Ultimately, Bush bears the blame for the lack of response.

Whether it is a question of cronies who were unprepared for the job, a poor reorganizaton plan (the national disaster response plan) and/or implementation of that plan under FEMA and Homeland Security, or his own failure to recognize and respond to the disaster is merely an academic question (although an interesting one).

[jarab]

4. Welcome, adaada!

...O...

[struggle4progress]

5. kick