White House (bush), Chertoff Faulted Over Katrina

[Kadie]

White House, Chertoff Faulted Over Katrina
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - The White House and Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff failed to provide decisive action when Hurricane Katrina struck, congressional investigators said Wednesday in a stinging assessment of slow federal relief efforts.

The White House had no clear chain of command in place, investigators with the Government Accountability Office said, laying much of the blame on President Bush for not designating a single official to coordinate federal decision-making for the Aug. 29 storm. Bush has accepted responsibility for the government's halting response, but for the most part then-FEMA Director Michael Brown, who quit days after the hurricane hit, has been the public face of the failures.

"That's up to the president of the United States," GAO Comptroller General David M. Walker told reporters after being asked whether Chertoff should have been the lead official during the emergency.

"It could have been Secretary Chertoff" or someone on the White House staff, Walker added. "That's up to the president."

The report, which the congressional agency said was preliminary, also singled out Chertoff for several shortcomings. Chertoff has largely escaped direct criticism for the government's poor preparations and slow rescue efforts.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_washington;_ylt=AsFiyG1WMmYJwT8rVspWpxCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[savemefromdumbya]

1. they are out to pile the blame on Nagin!

CNN were gloating that Nagin put people in the stadium without food! CNN are getting more dreadful.

[rodeodance]

2. cnn just gave a report. Hil. C. blasted Cherkoff and he fired back-saying

the report was unprofessional with lots of errors. But the employees admitted there was no coordinated chain of cammand.