On Sunday, I said that FEMA Director Michael Brown should be fired for his incompetent handling of the disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi. I’m not alone. Andrew Sullivan has made the call as well and is cataloging the bloggers who have said the same thing here here, here, and here.
The Washington Post has an article about the controversy swirling around Brown that includes this damning quote:
While [Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael] Chertoff said the levee breach that flooded New Orleans “exceeded the foresight of planners,” Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Brown and other top federal officials were briefed as much as 32 hours in advance of landfall that Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge was likely to overtop levees and cause catastrophic flooding.
“They knew that this one was different,” Mayfield said yesterday. “I don’t think Mike Brown or anyone else in FEMA could have any reason to have any problem with our calls. . . . They were told. . . . We said the levees could be topped.”
In other words, Brown lied when he said that he thought Katrina would just be a “standard” hurricane before it hit.
Fire the man now.
Technorati Tag: Hurricane Katrina
