Blame game escalates in aftermath of slow response
Local officials begged for help last week, demanding reinforcements as their cities were obliterated by flooding.
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin issued a “desperate SOS” and Louisiana officials claimed the White House had blocked some aid efforts.
Much of the criticism surrounds the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Many feared that when it became part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001 less attention would be given to disaster relief.
Senator Hilary Clinton this weekend demanded that it be restored as an independent agency.
Particular ire is being directed at director Michael Brown. Last week he sparked outrage by saying he had not been aware of the suffering of those trapped in the New Orleans Superdome despite days of harrowing media coverage.
The state’s Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu has threatened to “punch” US President George W Bush or anyone else criticising the local effort.
It has also emerged that the network of levees built to protect the city had been designed to cope with a Category 3 hurricane.
Katrina, a Category 4 storm, overwhelmed the city’s defence causing massive flooding.
Newsweek magazine claims the Pentagon hampered the recovery effort by initially resisting sending in troops to help victims.
As hundreds lost their lives, US Defence Department lawyers were reportedly reluctant to allow inexperienced soldiers to be sent into the area.
Mr Bush sounded a much more sombre note this weekend. His light-hearted press conferences were met with disbelief last week as he made jokes during a visit to the devastated area.
Several elected representatives have accused the White House of ignoring the warning signs in low-lying New Orleans because it was predominantly black and poor.
Others blamed the same reason for Washington’s slow response.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice vehemently rejected the charge during a tour of Alabama. “Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race,” she said.
General Russel Honore, in charge of the military recovery effort, insisted that the focus must remain on the search and recovery effort.
“The storm did this,” he said. “It’s nothing any government did.
“That’s the reality folks, we need to get on with it.”
Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, a subsidiary of Halliburton, the company which Vice-President Dick Cheney used to lead, has been given a $500 million (398.8m) contract for emergency repairs at naval facilities.
KBR was already under fire for its role in Iraq after it was awarded a five-year contract to restore oil fields before the war began.
