Words raise more questions
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Re “Bush Is Warned on Katrina in Video,” March 2
While only minimally vindicating former FEMA chief Michael Brown’s attempts at self-defense, the revelation of a video showing that President Bush knew what was coming, only to subsequently lie about knowing, shows yet again the incompetence and public dishonesty by which Bush operates. “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees,” he said. Maybe those 10 now-infamous words should be added to the discredited 16 he used in justifying the war on Iraq.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 11, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday March 11, 2006 Home Edition California Part B Page 16 Editorial Pages Desk 2 inches; 73 words Type of Material: Correction
Levees: A March 3 letter said the Associated Press reported that before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, President Bush was warned that the levees protecting the city could be breached. AP later clarified that, on Aug. 28, before the storm hit, Bush was warned that the levees could be topped by floodwaters, not breached. The Army Corps of Engineers uses the word “breach” to mean a hole developing in a levee, AP said.
MIKE LASKAVY
Oak Park
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Now the Associated Press is reporting that the president was warned before Katrina hit New Orleans that a disaster was imminent, that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk and overwhelm rescuers. The president asked no questions. After Katrina hit, he claimed no one could have imagined the levees breaching -- the same excuse as after 9/11, when the administration had been warned that airplanes could be used as missiles (“No one could have imagined this”). Why should we trust this administration about anything?
BARRY GREENFIELD
West Hollywood
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