And now -- the rest of the story -- local officials fiddled while New Orleans flooded

By Aussiegirl

The Post Chronicle explains what really happened. It's always helpful to find out facts before playing the blame game:

According to some news sources, the Governor of Louisiana, who knew the levees were weak, who knew that the city had been slowly sinking, and who knew that a major # 5 hurricane was approaching her city, did not call Washington for help.

(2) The Mayor of New Orleans did call for evacuation over a loud-speaker, but did nothing to be sure that the police went door-to-door, followed by transportation, to pick up all those who did not have cars or any ability to leave.

There was no other leadership practiced by the mayor there, as had been in New York City during 9/11 by Mayor Giuliani.

(3) The hurricane veered east and saved New Orleans, Brian Williams announced a week ago, and all breathed a sigh of relief...until the levees broke a day or two later allowing the surrounding waters to pour into the city.

(4) It was this predicted levee failure which had been ignored for so long that doomed the local people to be held hostage in their attics or on rooftops, not the storm. It was also the failure of the local bureaucrats and local elected leaders to maintain law and order, and to have pre-arranged for complete evacuations of the city.

It was only after a request went out to the President that troops could be sent in. Can you imagine the anti-Bush media screaming that Bush had invaded Louisiana as he had done in Iraq if he had gone in before being asked? I can just imagine The New York Times headlining, "A Repeat of Shock and Awe by Bush!"

Bill O'Reilly, on Fox News, was the only commentator I heard who explained this. All the other network commentators seemed too willing to allow the implication inferred by the viewers, that this was all the fault of the Bush Administration.