On tape: Bush was warned about Katrina

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On tape: Bush was warned about Katrina

Postby nomo » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:56 pm

Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina<br><br>By MARGARET EBRAHIM and JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writers<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_go_pr_wh/katrina_video">news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060...rina_video</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>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, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Six days of footage and transcripts 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.<br><br>Linked by secure video, Bush's bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.<br><br>A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.<br><br>"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.<br><br>Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:<br><br>Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.<br><br>"I don't buy the 'fog of war' defense," Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. "It was a fog of bureaucracy."<br><br>Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility — and Bush was worried too.<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: On tape: Bush was warned about Katrina

Postby Byrne » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:04 pm

The video of George W. Bush lieing to the American people and the rest of the world about the hurricane Katrina horror story, can be viewed here:<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4765058.stm" target="top">news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4765058.stm</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Bush

Postby antiaristo » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:08 pm

That's exactly how the story was reported here.<br><br>"Bush mintio" "Bush lied" <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Bush

Postby Col Quisp » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:42 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>"I don't buy the 'fog of war' defense," Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. "It was a fog of bureaucracy."<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Or rather a "fog of Jack Daniels?"<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Bush

Postby marykmusic » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:49 pm

There is no excuse.<br><br>I grew up in a household that was always aware of how bureoucracy works in emergencies; my stepdad was with the Red Cross. He tried to get on-site BEFORE a hurricane hit. But the organization isn't what it used to be, either.<br><br>Bush is being shown to the American public for being full of crap... I got the story right on my computer MSNBC home page.<br><br>But Wait-- There's More! Now you also get-- Port Security Paranoia! Brought to you by Bushco!<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em> Warning Siren Went Unheeded on Port Deal <br> By Martin Schram <br> Scripps Howard News Service <br><br> Tuesday 28 February 2006 <br><br> We are focusing today on one sentence in a two-page US document officially known as number AFGP-2002-603856. It is a 2002 letter in which al Qaeda says that it has infiltrated United Arab Emirates security and other agencies. <br><br> It was a warning siren document that should have raised urgent concerns at the highest level of the US government. President Bush and his entire team initially dozed through the alarm and apparently expected we all would, too. They rushed to approve a bid by Dubai Ports World (a United Arab Emirates company) to buy a British firm that runs six major US ports without publicly addressing the obvious questions the document raises. <br><br> The document, a letter from the al Qaeda terrorist organization to the United Arab Emirates government, mainly warns UAE officials to stop arresting al Qaeda's "Mujahideen sympathizers." The second paragraph begins with a potentially chilling boast: "You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship, and monetary agencies along with other agencies that should not be mentioned." <br><br> This document was not exactly a tip top government secret. US officials could find and read it (in its original Arabic or English translation) in the files of various government counter-terrorism agencies. But you can find and read it too. Just check out the Web site of the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point and peruse the list of unclassified documents. It is the one that says at the top, "In the Name of Allah the Most Compassionate and Merciful," followed by a warning title, "Get the Idolaters out of Arab Island (Gulf Countries)." <br><br> Al Qaeda's boast that it had "infiltrated" the security and other agencies of the United Arab Emirates, raises all sorts of basic security questions: How can the United States be assured that al Qaeda has not infiltrated DP World or any UAE agency that oversees DP World? How many DP World officials enter ports DP World runs in other countries? Who would be in charge of security clearances for UAE personnel permitted to enter US ports? If al Qaeda operatives have infiltrated DP World or the UAE, could they launch a terrorist attack from inside a US port?</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <br><br>Unless you've already read more than enough, the rest is <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030206B.shtml" target="top">here.</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>Bush is going down...<br><br>So is Cheney. News on TV ranks Cheney at 18% approval rating, a new record low. (No, I didn't watch it... y'all know how I feel about television! But I DO check out the occasional video on my computer.)<br><br>Are we really looking at the end of an era? Someone has bet us a one-pound organic dark chocolate bar that Hastert will be President before the next election... --MaryK <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Secure video conference.

Postby Hugh Manatee Wins » Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:42 pm

Hmm. Not that secure.<br><br>Where did this video hit on the White House come from?<br><br>Is this another effort to kneecap the neocons by the CIA that isn't complicit with their disaster economics? Perhaps to prevent more disaster in Iran? <p></p><i></i>
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