Brownie may have some news to share

February 10, 2006

Yesterday, Mike Brown, the former head of FEMA, indicated that 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. The White House said no and now good ol’ Brownie appears ready to dish some dirt.

And, apparently, there may be quite a bit of dirt to dish.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans. But Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a federal emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department’s headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency official, Marty Bahamonde, first heard of a major levee breach Monday morning. By late Monday afternoon, Mr. Bahamonde had hitched a ride on a Coast Guard helicopter over the breach at the 17th Street Canal to confirm the extensive flooding. He then telephoned his report to FEMA headquarters in Washington, which notified the Homeland Security Department.

“FYI from FEMA,” said an e-mail message from the agency’s public affairs staff describing the helicopter flight, sent Monday night at 9:27 to the chief of staff of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and recently unearthed by investigators. Conditions, the message said, “are far more serious than media reports are currently reflecting. Finding extensive flooding and more stranded people than they had thought — also a number of fires.”

Michael D. Brown, who was the director of FEMA until he resigned under pressure on Sept. 12, said in a telephone interview Thursday that he personally notified the White House of this news that night, though he declined to identify the official he spoke to. […]

“There is no question in my mind that at the highest levels of the White House they understood how grave the situation was,” Mr. Brown said in the interview.

Hell hath no fury like a former Arabian horse judge scorned? Stay tuned — Brown is scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today and his lawyer said that Brown “is planning to testify by answering all questions.”

I was wondering when the White House’s record of scapegoating personnel and not really paying a price for it was going to end.

  • They won’t trap me again. I read stories like this, and I can see the (White)house of cards starting to fall. I’m just positive that there will be a mob replete with pitchforks and torches in Lafayette Park by nightfall (not that I’d advocate such behavior, but I love dramatic mental imagery). It won’t happen. Some bogus terrorist plot will be foiled, or Shrub will rescue a kitten from a wood chipper, or some other stupid goddam thing, and the story will be changed.
    Fool me 25 times, shame on me.
    As of this writing: 1074 days, 13 hours, 38 minutes remaining in the Bush Presidency.

  • Cheney: Okay boys, brush off the “disgruntled employee” defense. It worked on Clarke, it will work on Brownie. Then let’s make sure to point out that this was a FEMA agency failing. We can use this to defend our budget cuts to the agency. Fire up the fax and get the talking points out to our media mouthpieces ASAP!

  • I guess the Do as I say, not as I Do Consultancy Business didn’t work out so well for Brownie. Or perhaps he was sick and tired of being an international joke.

    On the other hand, this is what gutted the mafia when omerta was shattered and the knives/grudges/secret hatreds all came out in court. The problem with the Rovian style tactics are only good for gaining power, not trying to save it. Besides, Rove’s discipline rather brittle because it is based on fear and intimidation which only goes so far. As it is, the stories are gaining more traction that even the asskissing MSM can’t just bury them.

    Things can change so quickly. At this time last year, many liberals were thinking about moving or taking up drinking. Then came August with Cindy Sheehan and Katrina and then suddenly whatever “dominance” that the Repubs had disappeared. Suddenly it wasn’t so good to own all three branches of government because their excuses dried up (Clinton and Daschle.)

    Erroding the base is a time consuming process, but once it goes, the rest come tumbling down very quickly.

  • I have to agree with Curto on this. Brown may have some startling revelations. But it’s Friday, and the coverage Brown’s testimony receives won’t get the attention it deserves. Plus, New Orleans is old news. We need to focus on the important stories like out-of-control liberals at the Correta Scott King funeral, fictional cowboys kissing, the next young missing white woman, and whatever other distractions our “liberal” media can waste time with.No matter what, Bush will get a pass on this.

  • When scorned bureaucrats bite back.

    While I do believe Brown deserves a huge amount of the blame, that no does not absolve DHS, Chertoff, and Bush. I see something similar with regards to Abu Graib except at least Congress is investigating Katrina failures.

  • Quoteth Brownie: “There was a cultural clash that didn’t recognize the absolute inherent science of preparing for a disaster,” he [Brownie] told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

    Imagine that. The Bush Sadministration not recognizing the science of something.

  • Libby has started to sing, Brownie is threatening to sing, and Deutsch makes Brownie look competent and qualified, so what do we get? A re-release of “news” (albeit lame, old, & dubious) about a supposedly foiled terrorist attack. It must be about time for someone to roll out Limbaugh and Coulter for another go-round on Clinton and blowjobs.

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