Tornado season is just around the corner and then we get back into hurricane
season. During the off season, Washington had a great time frame to right some
wrongs that were exposed during Katrina. Instead they have chosen to not
cooperate with Capital Hill in investigating the failures. Now we might here
even more details as Michael Brown seems to be ready to break his silence:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is
indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and
other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless the White House forbids it
and offers legal support.Brown’s stance, in a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press,
follows senators’ complaints that the White House is refusing to answer
questions or release documents about advice given to Bush concerning the
August 29 storm.Brown quit as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency days
after Katrina struck. He left the federal payroll November 2.In a February 6 letter to White House counsel Harriet Miers, Brown’s
lawyer wrote that Brown continues to respect Bush and his “presidential
prerogative” to get candid and confidential advice from top aides.The letter from Andrew W. Lester also says Brown no longer can rely on
being included in that protection because he is a private citizen.“Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president,
including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr.
Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify
if asked about particular communications,” the lawyer wrote.Brown’s desire “is that all facts be made public.”
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The article goes on to say that a 5 pm deadline passed last night for the
White House to respond to Brown and they never did. Brown is slated to answer
questions this Friday before a Senate inquiry.
As I sat here reading this article, I got thinking about the days and weeks
following Katrina. There is one thing that did come back to me and I wonder what
has happened to it. George Bush, sitting with his cabinet members, told
reporters that he would be leading an investigation into what went wrong. What
even happened to that? He never came out and said he would let Congress or
someone else handle it. Instead it was something that just faded off into the
sunset.
Now we will have to sit here and wonder if the White House will try to
silence Brown before tomorrow’s hearings. It would be no shock if they did try
it or even if they didn’t try it but then go after him if he said something he
shouldn’t have during the hearings. Considering the White House has flat out
refused to turn over documents to Senate regarding Katrina, claiming their usual
“executive privilege”, there is something they are truly hiding in there. I have
heard some say that it is evidence local officials screwed up in Louisiana and
he is waiting for the mid-terms to get closer. That would be a suicidal stunt
because the last thing anyone wants to see is people playing even more politics
with Katrina.