Bush ‘picked wrong disaster aides’

THE White House was under fire again yesterday with reports US President George W Bush chose unqualified political supporters instead of disaster experts to head the agency leading the Katrina relief effort.

The Washington Post reported five of the top eight Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials had little experience in handling disasters and owed their jobs to political ties to Mr Bush.

As political operatives took the top jobs, professionals and experts in hurricanes and disasters left the agency, the newspaper said.

Time magazine reported that the White House biography of FEMA director Michael Brown, who was removed yesterday from his role managing relief efforts for the victims, exaggerated his experience in disaster relief.

Mr Brown was a friend of former Bush campaign director Joe Allbaugh, the previous FEMA head. Last week, as criticism of his response to the disaster swelled, Mr Bush gave him a public vote of confidence, saying: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

Mr Brown’s biography on the FEMA website said he had once served as an “assistant city manager with emergency services oversight”, but Time quoted an official in Edmond, Oklahoma, as saying the job was actually “assistant to the city manager”, with little responsibility. The magazine also said Mr Brown padded his academic accomplishments.

“The assistant is more like an intern,” city spokeswoman Claudia Deakins told Time. “Department heads did not report to him.”