From Reuters and Japan Today

Visiting the devastated Gulf Coast last week, Bush expressed confidence in the FEMA head, saying: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

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The administration of President George W Bush cut the $27.1 million budget requested by the Corps of Engineers for improving the levees in 2005 by more than 80% to $3.9 million, although Congress finally raised the grant to $5.7 million, compared to $10 million in 2001.

The $100 million 2005 budget requested by the Southeast Louisiana Flood control project was slashed to $16.5 million by Bush and Congress finally awarded $34 million to the scheme, compared to $69 million in 2001.

But White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied the administration had underfunded flood control in the stricken area, saying he had received no complaints from the Corps of Engineers.

“Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one,” he said adding that there was “nothing to suggest underfunding whatsoever and that it’s been more of a design issue with the levees.”

New Orleans (FA newswire) - Amid partisan screaming and politically-motivated starving and drowning, the Bush administration today hailed its latest steps to relieve the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

As has been widely reported, the federal government’s response to the crisis has been hailed around the world as the “very best and most timely ever” reaction to a completely unprecedented storm that could not have been foreseen by anybody on the planet because it was completely unpredictable and came out of nowhere in a surprising manner that simply could not have been prepared for or anticipated.

“Sadly, there are people who want to make the government look bad who are using this situation for their own gain and distorting the truth,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, adding that one of the untold stories of this disaster is the possible political motivations of some of the so-called “victims.”

“Well, let’s be logical here. They were told to evacuate. They didn’t. And now they’re trying to make the President look bad. What’s wrong with this picture?”

The lightning-fast response of FEMA and other US agencies has already ensured the survival of approximately 9 out of 10 former New Orleans residents, though the rescue efforts have been hampered by black people looting stores while whites have been forced to forage for supplies in now-closed shopping areas.

Also ignored by the critics is the brilliant planning that spared so many lives and so much property. Nearly 30% of the Louisiana National Guard and 50% of its equipment had been relocated to safety in Iraq long before the storm struck. Among these survivors were thousands of soldiers and many personnel carriers and amphibious vehicles that otherwise might have been caught up in the disaster.

“Nobody’s crediting the administration for that,” said McClellan. “But that’s okay - our priority is the safety of the American people, not collecting compliments.”

Another bold move was the Bush administration’s cutting of tens of millions of dollars in flood prevention that had been earmarked for the New Orleans area, McClellan said. “One thing that’s indisputable is that if that money had been sent to New Orleans, it would be at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico right now, another victim of this unforeseeable act of God. But nobody’s talking about that…”