Under-fire Bush defends response to national emergency

US President George W Bush, already under fire for the Iraq war, yesterday tried to fight off criticism over his response to Hurricane Katrina as he pleaded with Americans to keep politics out of the disaster.

Mr Bush cut short a holiday at his Texas ranch to return to Washington on Wednesday to take charge of recovery efforts two days after Katrina walloped the US Gulf Coast, leaving hundreds feared dead.

But critics have accused him of failing to take one of the country’s worst national disasters seriously enough at the outset, prompting a strong riposte from the president yesterday.