Reconstruction of Gulf Coast 'must lift poor'

US President George Bush said today the Gulf Coast must be rebuilt with an eye toward wiping out the persistent poverty and racial injustice plain to all in the suffering of the black and the poor in Hurricane Katrina’s wake.

“As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality,” Bush said during a national prayer service with other political leaders and religious figures from the affected region at the National Cathedral.”