Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Investigate the Federal Response to Katrina

There were two alarming stories (1, 2) in the Times-Picayune today about a speech given by the former head of FEMA Michael Brown last week to graduate students at Metropolitan College of New York. Brown stated:
"Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking, 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor, and we have a chance to rub her nose in it. We can't do it to Haley (Barbour) because Haley's a white male Republican governor. And we can't do a thing to him. So we're just gonna federalize Louisiana.'"

Brown claims he heard such conversations aboard Air Force One while parked at Louis Armstrong Airport on September 3rd. Certainly Brown is not the most credible source in the world. But other journalists in September and October of 05 painted a similar scenario. Joe Lieberman, who heads up the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has said there won't be an investigation, and he likened such an investigation to a "witch hunt." But now there is word that Mary Landrieu might be able change this, as she is expected to be appointed to a subcommittee to oversee disastor response. I want to know more about what happened in the aftermath of Katrina, and I don't care if it damages Democrats, Republicans, or both.

1 comment:

mominem said...

Why did Brown wait till now to mention this little detail?

He's been talking to anyone who would listen to him ever since he got fired.

Why hasn't anyone else mentioned this? There are many Katrina books out, all looking for dirt.

The whole thing seems a little suspicious to me.

But a real investigation couldn't hurt.