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Excerpt from White House Press Briefing: McClellan Dodges Questions on Katrina Response http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050906-5.html Q But, Scott, more concretely, an officer of the Northern Command is quoted as saying that as early as the time Hurricane Katrina went through Florida and worked its way up to the Gulf, there was a massive military response ready to go, but that the President did not order it. It could have been ordered on Sunday, on Monday, on Tuesday -- the call didn't come. Why not? MR. McCLELLAN: Bill, let's point out a couple of things. There were a lot of assets that were deployed and pre-positioned prior to the hurricane hitting. And you have to look back -- Q These assets were deployed, but the order to use them never came. The Bataan was sitting off behind the hurricane. MR. McCLELLAN: I know these are all facts that you want to look at and want to determine what went wrong and what went right. I'm not prepared to agree with your assessment just there. There is a much larger picture here that we have to take a look at, and -- Q It's not mine, it's an officer in the Northern Command. MR. McCLELLAN: -- in terms of the President, the President issued disaster declarations ahead of time so that we could make sure we're fully mobilizing resources and pre-positioning them. But this was a hurricane of unprecedented magnitude. Q Right, but the military can't go into action without his order. MR. McCLELLAN: I'll be glad to talk to you about it, but I've got to have a chance to respond... ------------ http://snipurl.com/hpgb President has to get the lawyers out of disaster relief By ROBERT D. NOVAK I'VE GOT THIS down," Michael Chertoff boasted to aides last weekend as he staved off questions on television about handling the Katrina disaster. It turned out, however, that the secretary of homeland security did not begin to have it "down" when he subsequently was interrogated by Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press." Chertoff's miserable performance on the air reflected a fiasco at all levels of government. "There'll be plenty of time," Chertoff told Russert, to "do the after-action analysis." That bloodless dismissal made the human tragedy and physical mayhem on the Gulf Coast seem like a bureaucratic mistake. What Chertoff "got down" was the White House mantra, repeated endlessly, that the "after-action analysis" should not interfere with current recovery operations. It was similar to saying the Pearl Harbor attack should not have been investigated and nobody disciplined for failures until World War II was won. Democrats have seized on the administration's performance in handling Katrina to bash George W. Bush, but Republicans are not much happier with him. The common complaint is that the President has let the lawyers take over. Chertoff, a former federal judge and assistant attorney general, is a quintessential lawyer who has surrounded himself at Homeland Security with more lawyers. Michael D. Brown, who as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is Chertoff's subordinate, is also a lawyer. Neither Chertoff nor Brown was experienced in politics or large-scale management before joining the Bush administration. Chertoff's inexperience was shown when he said "I've got this down" into an open microphone, thinking he was safe because the cameras were off and not realizing his words were transmitted via satellite. He clearly saw himself as an advocate tailoring what he said to a lawyer's brief. Political deafness mixed with lawyerly evasion was shown on "Meet the Press" when Chertoff claimed the breaking of the New Orleans levees "really caught everybody by surprise." Russert cited repeated forecasts of this disaster by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, but Chertoff insisted he did not say what he had just said. Russert gave Chertoff a good going over, but that performance did not provoke Republican complaints (except for the usual grousing from White House aides). When Republican House members participated in a telephone conference call Sept. 1, the air was blue with complaints about the handling of Katrina. There was much hand-wringing about Republican prospects in the 2006 elections. Politics aside, however, the GOP lawmakers were unhappy with their administration's performance. Rep. Mark Foley of West Palm Beach, Fla., not known as a shouter, was especially critical. Contrary to claims that FEMA's Brown was doing just fine until Katrina struck, Foley has been at odds with Brown over the government's handling of hurricanes that have hit his Florida district. Foley has stories of Brown's denial of reality and FEMA's inherent bureaucratic sluggishness. Attempts in Florida to send 500 airboats to the Gulf Coast to help, the congressman says, hit a governmental brick wall. Criticism of FEMA was even voiced at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, of all places. While all other Cabinet members were silent, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson blew the whistle. He said HUD's readiness to send emergency housing to New Orleans was thwarted by FEMA's red tape. Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut is more liberal than nearly all his fellow Republicans, but he has tried to be a Bush loyalist. He is a member of the Homeland Security Committee and chairs the national security subcommittee of the Government Reform Committee. Consequently, it is noteworthy when he accuses the administration of "a real sense of arrogance. Loyalty and never admitting a mistake matters more than the truth. It has a Nixon feel to me." The Democrats on the ground, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, have done little to commend themselves. But that does not excuse the federal performance, in the candid opinion of many Republicans. To start with, these Republicans talk about taking FEMA back from the Homeland Security Department. They agree that heads must roll, certainly Brown's and possibly Chertoff's. Above all, these Republican politicians say, let's get the lawyers out of disaster relief. Robert D. Novak is a Washington political columnist and commentator on CNN. _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will become disabled or deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the information in this e-mail is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. 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