Video shows Bush clearly warned before Katrina struck

Newly released video footage clearly shows that Bush and his senior officials were clearly warned before hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers. According to Associated Press, Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

Six days of footage and transcripts show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Linked by secure video, Bush's statement Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

"I'm concerned about . . . their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

AP states that some of the footage conflicts with the defences that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response.

It appears that Bush and Chertoff have engaged in a massive coverup of the fact that they were fully forewarned of the impending catastrophe and failed to take the necessary action to minimize the damage.