New Video Shows Bush Received Warnings on Levees
George W. Bush has been caught in a lie. (What a shocker! He's proven himself to be so forthcoming, and such a truth teller)!
On the September 1, 2005 episode of ABC's Good Morning America, Bush pretended that the breach of the levees in New Orleans was a surprise. He said: "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
Sorry W, that's a lie!
The Associated Press has obtained new video which shows that Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were indeed forwarned on the possible breach of the levees.
Federal disaster officials had warned them, BEFORE Katrina made landfall, that the monster hurricane could breech NOLA's levees, put the lives of those in the Superdome at risk, and overwhelm rescuers.
Also of outrage is that George Bush failed to ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck.
Now, America sees the consequences of having an intellectually lazy, uncurious President. One who chooses to believe what he wants to believe, and NOT what the information and the facts are telling him.
Video shows Bush got explicit Katrina warning
President, Chertoff were clearly told of storm’s dangers numerous times
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There is no shortage of news clips or radio show excerpts of NOLA locals being interviewed the night before the storm - MANY expressing the same sentiment... we've endured many storms, we'll endure this one. That's AFTER they were told to leave.
You must quit spinning this as if the President is the only one who knew - and again - FEMA cleans up the mess - states are responsible BEFOREHAND.
Comment by Cate— 2006/03/02 @ 05:44 AM — (Reply)
I am simply giving you the facts.
And the fact of the matter is that on Sunday, August 28, during the very last briefing he received before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in NOLA, President Bush was informed of the possibility of the levees failing.
Yet, 4 days later, on Thursday, September 1 he went on Good Morning America and told Diane Sawyer "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
He lied.
Those are the facts. That's not me spinning anything.
And I'm sorry if the facts happen to get in the way of your assumptions about George Bush.
Comment by SMillard— 2006/03/02 @ 03:23 PM — (Reply)
I have no more assumptions about GWB than I do about Mayor Nagin - but I do know a bit about the Army Corp of Engineers who have been presenting the very same information FOR YEARS to federal, state and local governments.
Being briefed on the "possibility" of failure and actually anticipating that as a probable outcome are two different things. It's a possibility that I might win the lottery - of course, I'm not exactly planning for that contingency. Suggesting something is a possibility and actually anticipating it happening are very different things - there is no lie there.
For someone who deeply respects a man who can't define "is" I am not surprised you would miss the semantics of these statements.
I repeat, government officials from NOLA to DC have ignored repeated warnings for years that those levees were never designed to stand the test of time. There is blame to go around even before agin and Bush came into office, there were politicians who heard the briefs and said, "It'll never happen."
And even if he had gotten a psychic reading from Miss Cleo, what would you have him do? Go down and put his finger in the dam?
As it was many NOLA residents refused to leave even with mandatory evacuation orders - others were hustled out by force only to bring a media backlash (Not like taking a young Cuban boy with a swat team...)
I accept facts when I am presented with them but you are right, in suggesting that there is an ideological lackey posting on this page. It just isn't me.
Comment by Cate— 2006/03/02 @ 04:17 PM — (Reply)
Which is that George Bush told a lie when he said no one anticipated the breach of the levees.
That was a lie, because people did in fact anticipate that may very well happen.
That's what we are talking about here.
It's very similar to the lie that Condoleeza Rice told when she said no one could have anticipated that terrorists would have flown commercial airplanes into buildings....they only anticipated "traditional" hijackings.
We now know that is a lie, thanks to the August 6 PDB.
Regarding the NOLA residents who didn't leave.
Many of them COULD NOT leave because they did not have the financial means to do so.
Are you even aware of the concept of "the working poor?"
That's what you have a lot of in NOLA--people who work (sometimes 2 or even 3 jobs) and yet to no fault of their own, they cannot make it above the poverty line.
I want to refer you to this article entitled "Katrina's Victims Poorer Than U.S. Average."
Specifically, check out this particular line here from a Katrina survivor:
"Let them know we're not bums. We have houses. Our houses were destroyed. We have jobs. It's not our fault that we didn't have cars to leave," Shatonia Thomas, 27, said as she walked near New Orleans' convention center five days after the storm, still trapped in the destruction with her children, ages 6 and 9.
Full article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/04/national/a114412D98.DTL
Also, interestingly, during the very week that Hurricane Katrina hit, the Census Bureau released statistics that showed the national poverty rate had risen to 12.7%.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1082279&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
So, I certainly hope you aren't blaming people for their lott in life, and blaming them for not being able to afford their own car, and thus transportation out of the city.
Comment by SMillard— 2006/03/02 @ 04:29 PM — (Reply)
But personal slanderous implications aside, we are still left with the fact that the mayor and the governor had the same info and even more so - the explicit responsibility to do something - and the only thing they did was watch it unfold and then scream "He did it!" as they pointed toward the White House.
History will record the failures of the Bush administration but if you are using this as the basis of your denunciation of the president - your ability to reason is just as faulty as those levees.
Comment by Cate— 2006/03/02 @ 05:01 PM — (Reply)
WASHINGTON - As Hurricane Katrina loomed over the Gulf Coast, federal and state officials agonized over the threat to levees and lives. Hours after the catastrophic storm hit, Louisiana's governor believed New Orleans' crucial floodwalls were still intact.
"We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29 — the day the storm hit the Gulf coast.
"We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee," she said on a video of the day's disaster briefing that was obtained Thursday night by The Associated Press. "I think we have not breached the levee at this time."
In fact, the National Weather Service received a report of a levee breach and issued a flash-flood warning as early as 9:12 a.m. that day, according to the White House's formal recounting of events the day Katrina struck.
Those at the federal emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, La., was heard but not seen on the video. implored officials to "push the envelope as far as you can," noting that they had already spoken to Bush twice that day and described the president as "very, very interested in this situation."
Brown has criticized the White House for miscommunications that led to some delays and said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff should resign. But he said in an interview Thursday he never blamed Bush. He also said there was confusion among officials over whether levees were breached at the time of the noon video conference call. But he said he was convinced of the breach by 1 p.m.
The video shows weather forecasters predicting the storm's path and also briefly cuts to White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin asking Blanco about the status of the levees and the situation at the Superdome in New Orleans.
By that time, an estimated 15,000 evacuees had gathered at the stadium, where food and water was beginning to run out, said Col. Jeff Smith, Louisiana's emergency preparedness deputy director. Smith also reported up to 10 feet of flooding in neighboring St. Bernard Parish and that there were 45 patients on life-support at one area hospital that lost its power.
Still, "the coordination and support we are getting from FEMA has just been outstanding," Smith said.
Comment by anony mouse— 2006/03/03 @ 12:41 PM — (Reply)
The August 28 video conference call very explicity says that the possibility of the levees breaching was a real concern.
On Sunday, August 28 Bush was briefed about the possibility that the levees might break when Katrina came ashore.
On Thursday, September 1 (4 days later) he goes on ABC and says no one anticipated it!
He told a lie. That is a fact.
Comment by SMillard— 2006/03/03 @ 03:34 PM — (Reply)
Could you call an expert in here, I'm just not real clear on the legal definition of that word, "is"?
If you read about a liar, as in someone who hides or omits a truth for the sake of a little CYA, check this politician out.
Comment by Cate— 2006/03/03 @ 09:30 PM — (Reply)
Let me ask you a question, in all seriousness: aside from launching an illegal war of agression, destroying our national reputation, eviscerating the bill of rights, allowing New Orleans to be wiped from the face of the earth and turning the county into a seething mass of partisan anger...what would w have to do to get on your bad side? Molest children? Have an affair? Endorse Brokeback Mountain?
Comment by illustrator— 2006/03/07 @ 12:04 PM — (Reply)
Not that you are able to think clearly enough to realize it but some people can spearate the issues. While I don't support GWB on a lot of issues, this particular load of smelly waste is just plain silly.
Engage real issues not just political finger pointing, Illustrator.
But A+ for effort in trying to derail Shalana's post - it's about NOLA and who knew what when. Try again.
Comment by Cate— 2006/03/07 @ 01:37 PM — (Reply)
George Bush is a liar.
He said we would go to war with Iraq as a last resort; war was not his first option. We now know that was a lie, thanks to the Downing Street Minutes. We know that he was so worried about the lack of evidence against Sadaam, he contemplated entrapping Sadaam by disguising U2 reconnaissance planes. He wanted to pretend the reconnaissance planes were actually U.N. planes, and paint them in the U.N. colors.
http://progressiveminds.bloghi.com/2006/02/03/new-secret-memo-shows-just-how-determined-idiot-son-was-to-go-to-war.html
He lied in Buffalo, NY in April 2004, when he said: "Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so." http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/20/bush-caught-on-tape/
We now know he has been conducting domestic spying WITHOUT getting a court order through the FISA court.
Illustrator was giving you the FACTS.
Comment by SMillard— 2006/03/07 @ 08:18 PM — (Reply)