President Bush Knew the Levees Could Fail

Yesterday the Associated Press released video of a videoconference held to discuss Katrina on August 28, the day before the storm hit the Gulf Coast. In the video, FEMA director Michael Brown clearly states concern about the storm’s seriousness and the danger to the Superdome. He call it “the big one.”

Next Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield says the storm is as powerful as Andrew but much larger, and adds that “I don’t think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not.”

Finally the president speaks from his ranch in Crawford. He asks no questions. He makes no decisions. He says, “I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal to help you deal with the loss of property, and we pray for no loss of life of course.”

The next day the storm came ashore, the surge broke the levees, thousands perished, and New Orleans was thrown into chaos. The next day on Good Morning America the president said, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breeching of the levees.”

Clearly that was false and the president knew it.