Louisiana senator slams Bush
2005-09-04 07:57
Baton Rouge - Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu on Saturday branded President George W Bush's visit to a busted levee in New Orleans a mere photo-op, and slammed his government's response to the hurricane tragedy.
Landrieu rebuked Bush for failing to heed her call to name a cabinet-level official to lead the federal government response to the one of the worst natural disasters in American history.
"Perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street Levee," said Landrieu, a Democrat.
"Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe.
"Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity.
"The desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.
"The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -black and white, rich and poor, young and old - deserve far better from their national government."
The White House responded to Landrieu's call on Friday by saying that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) falls under the oversight of homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff, who is of cabinet rank.
Bush, who was criticised in some quarters over what critics said was a tardy federal response to the tragedy, has taken a much more personal role in the relief effort over the last few days.
After touring areas of New Orleans and Mississippi on Friday, the White House announced that the president would return to the affected area on Monday.
Bush announced on Saturday, after a 50-minute meeting with senior aides steering the response to the killer storm, that he was sending 7 000 regular army troops from battle-hardened units to the area.
- SAPA