Katrina Video Refuels Debate Over Response (WaPo)

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Katrina Video Refuels Debate Over Response

White House Issues Defense Of Bush's Handling of Storm

By Peter Baker and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 3, 2006; Page A01

Three days after Hurricane Katrina wiped out most of New Orleans, President Bush appeared on television and said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." His staff has spent the past six months trying to take back, modify or explain away those 10 words.

The release of a pre-storm video showing officials warning Bush during a conference call that the hurricane approaching the Gulf Coast posed a dire threat to the city and its levees has revived a dispute the White House had hoped to put behind it: Was the president misinformed, misspoken or misleading?

The video leaves little doubt that key people in government did anticipate that the levees might not hold. To critics, especially Democrats but even some Republicans, it reinforces the conclusion that the government at its highest levels failed to respond aggressively enough to the danger bearing down on New Orleans. To Bush aides, the seeming conflict between Bush's public statements and the private deliberations captured on tape reflects little more than an inartful statement opponents are exploiting for political purposes.

"This makes it perfectly clear once again that this disaster was not out of the blue or unforeseeable," said Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who has been critical of the handling of Katrina. "It was not only predictable, it was actually predicted. That's what makes the failures in response -- at the local, state and federal level -- all the more outrageous."

Continued @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030202130.html?nav=hcmodule