Ex-FEMA Chief Says Bush Was Overconfident

[cal04]

President Bush remained engaged during Hurricane Katrina but was overconfident that the Federal Emergency Management Agency could handle the destructive aftermath based on its record in previous disasters, former federal disaster chief Michael Brown said Wednesday. Brown, one of the public faces of the administration's failure, was interviewed about his recollection of the daily briefings that occurred during last summer's devastating storm, as The Associated Press made public footage and transcripts of those sessions during the critical seven days of the government response.

He said one of his most vivid memories was a private session with Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, presidential adviser Karl Rove and others the day after Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast. ``President told everyone to shut up, that he wanted to hear from me and he said, 'Brown, quick. Give us an update.' And my first words to him were, 'Mr. President, it is my estimation ... at least 90 percent of the population of New Orleans has been displaced. He was truly taken aback by that.'' Brown described the president throughout the crisis this way: ``I think he was engaged, but I think there was an overconfidence that FEMA had handled Sept. 11, we had handled the California wildfires, we had handled the 2004 hurricanes right in the middle of the presidential elections. Hey, we could do this, too.''

Homeland Security officials have said the ``fog of war'' blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But Brown said the transcripts and footage of the daily briefings conflict with that. ``I don't buy the fog-of-war defense,'' Brown said. ``It was a fog of bureaucracy.'' Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke took exception to Brown's comments, noting the former FEMA director has received much criticism for his handling of the storm and has acknowledged many of his own mistakes.

``I would tell you it is hard to see how Mike can make that argument with a straight face after he testified he willfully kept the secretary and the department out of the loop,'' Knocke said. He also said Bush and other top officials knew from those briefings there was a serious chance that New Orleans' levees would be breached.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5656889,00.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. He's overconfident about EVERYTHING!!! That's his problem! nt

[smtpgirl]

2. I agree

[susu369]

3. "President told everyone to shut up"

Oh, Bar and 41, you are both miserable failures.....

[oneighty]

4. Heckofajob Brownie

Do not get even. Get ahead.

Hahahahahahaha

180

[bleever]

6. "Do not get even. Get ahead."

I just googled this phrase to see where it came from, and as far as I can tell it's yours.

Brilliant!

:thumbsup:

[oneighty]

9. Not mine

Been around for years. I think I first heard it in the Navy in the fifties. But it just as well might have been since then.



180

[bleever]

10. And I thought I had nothing left to learn.

Thanks!

:)

[Quakerfriend]

5. I would NOT call him overconfident-ever.

He simply lacks the ability to make good/proper judgements about ANYTHING- whether it is how to handle a crisis or how to handle the grieving mother of a dead soldier.

He is not a good manager, boss- and most certainly not presidential material.

When are we going to get out in the streets folks??

[Gato Moteado]

8. amen

as for getting out in the streets...if that were gonna happen it would have already. the american public is pathetic.

[Gato Moteado]

7. overconfident?

he's an idiot. he's not even in charge.

his stupidity cost thousands of lives in katrina.