Thread: Bush Tours Katrina Damage Amid Criticism

Bush Tours Katrina Damage Amid Criticism
Sep 02 2:09 PM US/Eastern


By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer

MOBILE, Ala.

Facing sharp criticism, President Bush toured the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast on Friday and vowed the government will restore order in lawless New Orleans. He said the $10.5 billion approved by Congress was just a small downpayment for disaster relief.

"It's worse than imaginable," the president said after walking through a battered neighborhood in Biloxi, Miss. He warned of gasoline supply problems this weekend because of damaged refineries and pipelines.

"I'm not looking forward to this trip," Bush said as he toured Alabama and Mississippi and headed for Louisiana. "It's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by the worst kind of weapon you can imagine," he said.

Bush began the day at the White House where he expressed unhappiness with the efforts so far to provide food and water to hurricane victims and to stop looting and lawlessness in New Orleans. "The results are not acceptable," said Bush, who rarely admits failure.

Later, he said he was talking about security problems in New Orleans and the fact that food and medicine had not reached thousands of people who need it.

The president's comments came after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin lashed out at federal officials, telling a local radio station "they don't have a clue what's going on down here."

Even Republicans were criticizing Bush and his administration for the sluggish relief effort. "I think it puts into question all of the Homeland Security and Northern Command planning for the last four years, because if we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?" said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

He urged Bush to name former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as the White House point person for relief efforts. Rep. John Sweeney, R- N.Y., also suggested Giuliani or former Secretary of State Colin Powell or retired Gen. Tommy Franks to take charge of the relief efforts.

In Biloxi, Miss., Bush encountered two weeping women on a street where a house had collapsed and towering trees were stripped of their branches. "My son needs clothes," said Bronwynne Bassier, 23, clutching several trash bags. "I don't have anything."

"I understand that," Bush said. He kissed both women on their heads and walked with his arms around them, telling them they could get help from the Salvation Army. "Hang in there," he said.

Asked later how the richest country on Earth could not meet the needs of its people, Bush said "I am satisfied with the response. I am not satisfied with all the results."

The White House announced Bush had approved federal disaster aid for Texas and Arkansas, which also suffered hurricane damage. Bush urged people to donate money to the Red Cross and said he would sign the $10.5 billion in federal disaster relief later Friday

The president rejected suggestions that the United States could not afford both the war in Iraq and the hurricane cleanup. "We'll do both. We've got plenty of resources to do both," he said. He also said there were plenty of National Guard troops.

While some states have suspended state motor fuel taxes, Treasury Department officials in Washington said there was no discussion about reducing the federal tax on gasoline.

Bush got a warm reception in Mobile from Govs. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Bob Riley of Alabama. Both praised the federal government's response. Still, Barbour said, "We've suffered a grievous blow that we won't recover from for a long while."

Standing with the governors in an airplane hangar, Bush said, "We have a responsibility to clean up this mess."

"What is not working right, we're going to make it right," Bush said. Referring to rampant looting and crime in New Orleans, Bush said, "We are going to restore order in the city of New Orleans."

"The people of this country expect there to be law and order, and we're going to work hard to get it," the president said. "In order to make sure there's less violence, we've got to get food to people."

"We'll get on top of this situation," Bush said, "and we're going to help the people that need help."

Bush was accompanied by Homeland Security Department secretary Michael Chertoff. The department, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been accused of responding sluggishly to the deadly hurricane. On the plane ride to Alabama, Bush was briefed on plans for housing the tens of thousands of people displaced by the hurricane.

"There's a lot of aid surging toward those who've been affected. Millions of gallons of water. Millions of tons of food. We're making progress about pulling people out of the Superdome," the president said.

For the first time, however, he stopped defending his administration's response and criticized it. "A lot of people are working hard to help those who've been affected. The results are not acceptable," he said. "I'm heading down there right now."

Bush hoped that his tour of the hurricane-ravaged states would boost the spirits of increasingly desperate storm victims and their tired rescuers, and his visit was aimed at tamping down the ever-angrier criticism that he has engineered a too-little, too-late response.

Amid the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, Bush has other problems besides the hurricane: Gasoline prices have soared past $3 a gallon in some places, and support is ebbing for the war in Iraq.

Even Republicans were criticizing Bush and his administration for the sluggish relief effort. "I think it puts into question all of the Homeland Security and Northern Command planning for the last four years, because if we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?" said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Ah, someone else has noticed this, too.

The president's comments came after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin lashed out at federal officials, telling a local radio station "they don't have a clue what's going on down here."

In my humble opinion the majority of the criticism should be directed to the Mayor and Governor. They drug their heels in when the storm was coming (which is a LOCAL issue) and now are pointing fingers at everyone but themself. Yes, I am sure that some things could have been done better but the destruction caused by the storm made it quite difficult to bring in aid. It will be interesting to see how things shake out. I feel bad for the citizens who lost everything. Watching the reports on TV almost defy belief.
Our efforts should be toward helping--not pointing fingers.

I have to agree with dataman. This event has been predicted many times. The city, county and state emergency management should have prepared better. They knew this storm was coming but I don't remember hearing from the Mayor until the day before the storm to tell people to evacuate and don't remember hearing the Governor to tell people to evacuate until after the storm. The amount of people who would/could not leave was even predicted. They were complaining of a lack of food and fresh water just a couple of days after the storm. Clearly the local and state governments did not have enough supplies set aside. To be screaming for help from the federal government after just a couple of days is really unacceptable. Police did not have working radios because the batteries died. Did not the police have a command post set up with generators to recharge radio batteries....come on...someone should have thought of that.