New York Cares

Ray Nagin, New Orleans wacky mayor, said he was "shocked" by video showing President George W. Bush being told the day before Hurricane Katrina hit that the city’s protective levees could fail. The tape shows President Bush and Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security haha chief, being told on August 28 that the hurricane could trigger breaches of levees that protect the city as well as threaten the Superdome, which became a last-ditch shelter for storm victims. “I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal after the storm to help you deal with the loss of property,” Mr Bush says in one part of the video. “We pray there’s no loss of life, of course.” Four days later: “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.”