<p>OK, now I’ve seen everything, George W. actually admits doing something wrong. A must read article here, on CNN:
People making decisions hesitated
<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/13/katrina.response/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/13/katrina.response/index.html</a></p>
<p>Highlights:
-it is clear that government officials knew what to expect, despite claims to the contrary.
- Bush says, " to the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,"
- In the hurricane’s aftermath, thousands of people trapped in the submerged city began asking how they got left behind without food and water. And why?
- Why did it take so long to get help to stranded people? Where were the helicopters to drop food and emergency supplies? And eventually, why were people who sought safety in shelters still without food and water five days after the storm?
- Why did aerial shots of the flooded city show hundreds of school and city buses window-deep in water? Why hadn’t anyone used those buses to move people out?
- why FEMA wouldn’t allow the delivery of 20,000 trailers Sen. Trent Lott found?
- Chertoff has insisted for two weeks he had no warning of how bad Katrina could be. But the National Weather Service issued a detailed message a day before Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, saying buildings would be leveled, high-rises crippled and most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer. Chertoff continued to downplay the significance of the levee breaks in New Orleans, even as floodwaters consumed 80 percent of the city.
-State officials also are being blamed for turning back assistance during the critical first few days. Sheriff Steve Simpson, of Loudon County, Virginia, sent 22 deputies with supplies and 14 vehicles, including four all-terrain vehicles. But he called them back when Louisiana state police officials waved him off.
-Governor Blanco said she ordered the state to sign a contract with Kenyon International Monday , after Chertoff failed to live up to renew the private disaster recovery firm’s contract. Kenyon worked for the Australian government to identify the remains of tourists killed during the December tsunami, and the company handled the remains of plane passengers who crashed into a Pennsylvania field during the September 11 attacks.
-Mayor Nagin’s disaster plan called for mobilizing buses and evacuating the poor, but he did not get it done. He said he could not find drivers, but Amtrak says it offered help and was turned down, so a train with 900 seats rolled away empty a day and a half before the storm.</p>