Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

It looks like the "we didn't know the levees would be breeched" excuse has gone the way of "You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie."

Democratic Underground - AP - Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina: "By MARGARET EBRAHIM and JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: 'We are fully prepared.'

Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster."

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