If this Bill Sammon story is correct, then much of what has been reported in the mainstream media about the federal role in Katrina preparation and relief is inaccurate and unfairly takes FEMA and the White House to task. For example:
The discord began Aug. 27, when Mr. Bush asked Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to order an evacuation of New Orleans. Mrs. Blanco did not issue the order until Aug. 28, a day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
Mrs. Blanco also neglected to ask the president for federal troops when she wrote him a letter on Aug. 27 and when she spoke with him on Aug. 29. She had not made the request even on Aug. 31, when she gave a series of television interviews in Baton Rouge.
“I really need to call for the military,” she told her press secretary between interviews. “And I should have started that in the first call.”
Later that day, she asked the White House for troops, which were dispatched to assist Louisiana National Guard forces.
Mrs. Blanco hesitated again when she met Sept. 2 with Mr. Bush, who offered to have the federal government take over the chaotic evacuation. Mrs. Blanco said she needed 24 hours to make a decision and ultimately rejected the federal offer.
The piece begins with the more-recent conflict between New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and the Feds over repopulating the city. Read the whole thing, as they say.
