Rice defends Bush's response

2005-09-04 20:23

Mobile - Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice defended President George W Bush on Sunday against charges that the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina showed racial insensitivity.

"Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race," the administration's highest-ranking black said as she toured damaged parts of her native Alabama.

Some black lawmakers, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and other black leaders have complained bitterly about the slow response to the disaster, whose victims have been disproportionately black and poor, particularly in New Orleans.

They have said racial injustice was a factor in the government's slow relief effort.

"I just hope that when people stop and think about it, they will just see that that's just not the case," Rice said.

"How can that be the case?

"Americans don't want to see Americans suffer."

Since Katrina struck, an estimated 70 nations - from Azerbaijan to Venezuela - had offered more than $100m in cash donations to the American Red Cross, Rice said.

Many countries had also donated supplies, ranging from helicopters to food, to help the victims.

After outlining the influx of international support, Rice said she had told Bush: "If there's anything I can do outside of my responsibilities as secretary of state, I'd be happy to do that too."

- AP