Saturday, six days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, President Bush authorized the first major commitment of troops to the relief effort.Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports there is a behind-the-scenes political power struggle underway where the White House is trying to shift blame to state and local governments.
This is despite what leaders at all levels say is a failure of the nation's emergency management.
The White House quietly sent Governor Kathleen Blanco (D-LA) a legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the New Orleans evacuation.
The Governor got the memo at midnight Saturday morning and the White House kept up talks throughout the night. State leaders refused -- saying the move would allow the feds to declare martial law.
The move may have also allowed the White House to cover up federal government failures in the response.
A source in the state government told the Post:
"Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals."
Governor Blanco has since called in James Lee Witt -- the FEMA director who handled the successful Hurricane Floyd evacuation -- to take over state efforts.
Witt is in the private sector these days. His firm specializes in dealing with emergency management. It's staff includes former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Former NATO Commander, General Wesley Clark. (WashPost)
1 comment:
Oh, would I love seeing Wes Clark in action down there! But those BushCo asses would unquestionably try every way they could think of to hamstring him.
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