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Home Front: Politix
In New Video, Blanco Says Levees Are Safe
2006-03-03
In the hectic, confused hours after Hurricane Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast, Louisiana's governor hesitantly but mistakenly assured the Bush administration that New Orleans' protective levees were intact, according to new video obtained by The Associated Press showing briefings that day with federal officials. "We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29, according to the video. "We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee. I think we have not breached the levee at this time."

In fact, the National Weather Service received a report of a levee breach and issued a flash-flood warning as early as 9:12 a.m. that day, according to the White House's formal recounting of events the day Katrina struck. Critics have maintained the Homeland Security Department responded too slowly to the breaches, delaying repair efforts and allowing flooding to worsen. Formal reports of New Orleans' levee breaches reached the White House by 6 p.m., and the administration confirmed the damage by the next morning, according to the White House's recount.

In the video of the conference call, Blanco appears uncertain about the reliability of her information and cautioned that the situation "could change." Blanco said floodwaters were rising in parts of the city "where we have waters that are 8 to 10 feet deep, and we have people swimming in there."

"That's got a considerable amount of water itself," the governor said. "That's about all I know right now on the specifics that you haven't heard."
Posted by:lotp

#8  For being a dumb chimpbushhitler(tm) they sure must think he has some kind of super-ESP or something.

Actually it is all right there under the desk in the Oval Office--next to the Economy Up/Down Lever and the Nuclear Button is the "knows everything about all topics" screen.
Posted by: eLarson   2006-03-03 14:11  

#7  Five days after the briefing, with most of New Orleans underwater, Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

This gotcha crap has gotta stop! What Pres. Bush says is true, even with this video of his briefing. There's a HUGE difference between saying they COULD be topped/breached and actually ANTICIPATING/BELIEVING they WOULD be! I, for one, knew about NO since college and the very MINUTE I saw that storm hit Cat. 5 (Friday or Saturday), I would've been gone! Much like the scrappleface article on Nagin below, sitting around waiting on Feds to save you will get you killed in a storm like this!
Posted by: BA   2006-03-03 11:25  

#6  It's simple, really. Bush knew that the levees would break because Halliburton placed the explosives right where Rove told them to. Duh!

/wow, that's actually kinda fun
Posted by: BH   2006-03-03 10:27  

#5  At the time Bush, Blanco etc. were making their statements there was no reason to doubt that the levees were intact, save for some possible localized overtopping or seepage. They knew how high the storm surge had been, and it was not as high as the main New Orleans levees (those around St. Bernard and the Lower Ninth Ward are a different story.)

Most of the area SHOULD have been safe against the actual impact of Katrina. Most of the damage THIS TIME was due to levees that failed due to flaws in design and/or construction. These flaws were not discovered due to poor monitoring and maintenance.

That the NWS "received a report of a levee breach" earlier than Blanco's (or Bush's) statements did not make their statements 'wrong' - as we later learned, a LOT of initial 'reports'
about a lot of things were wrong.

I live in New Orleans. Pre-storm there was lots of warning that it could be bad, and everyone should leave if they could (I did). The storm came through where I was; the wind blew, the rain fell, the power went out. Battery-powered radio told us the storm had weakened, and jogged to the east a bit, and we all thought that, once again, New Orleans had dodged a bullet. Then morning came and the winds dropped and people out towards the Lake started seeing water coming up in their streets. It still took a number of hours to get official confirmation - thousands of trees and power lines down meant you couldn't just drive, and helicopters had to be brought back into the area from Lafayette etc. where they had been taken for their protection. Landing zones and support service had to be set up (Lakefront Airport is outside the levee.) I could go on, but you get the point - it is totally unrealistic to expect ANYONE to have perfect, or even decent, information over such a large area in just a few hours after such a large event.
(This is not a 'blanket' defense of Bush, Blanco, Chertoff, Brown, Naguin, Broussard, etc., and just applies to all this nit-picking 'gotcha' cr*p about 'who said what when' during and immediately after the storm.
Posted by: Glenmore   2006-03-03 09:30  

#4  think this will make Bob Schieffer's CBS news as the lead? Bwahahhhaa


me neither
Posted by: Frank G   2006-03-03 09:17  

#3  I'm very confused, I thought the levees were blown up by neurotoxin-tipped darts armed Krazed Killer Dolphins escaped form Area 51 or something... this was how The Man held down the NOLA proud people, I was told.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2006-03-03 07:47  

#2  Of course Bush should have known that the levies were breached! Just like he should have known there were notWMD's in Iraq [anymore] and he should have known that 9/11 would happen....

For being a dumb chimpbushhitler(tm) they sure must think he has some kind of super-ESP or something.

I figure the MSM will ignore this and focus even more intensely on Bush'es failure....
Posted by: CrazyFool   2006-03-03 07:28  

#1  Gosh. How will the assholes spin this one?

The more unvarnished BS-free info you learn...
Posted by: .com   2006-03-03 03:14  

00:00