Stupid Excuses

According to CNN,

Defending the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued Saturday that government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur.

But in fact, government officials, scientists and journalists have warned of such a scenario for years.

Chertoff, fielding questions from reporters, said government officials did not expect both a powerful hurricane and a breach of levees that would flood the city of New Orleans. (See the video on a local paper's prophetic warning -- 3:30 )

"That 'perfect storm' of a combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight," Chertoff said.

Leaving aside the apparent abject ignorance of everybody in the Bush Administration over the vulnerability of New Orleans to a hurricane, isn't DHS supposed to be on its toes about possible terrorism? This disaster resulted from the failure of three levees. Weather aside, it never occurred to anybody in the Bush Administration or DHS that in a time of high water, a terrorist might use explosives to damage levees at key locations?

It's a constant stream of confessions of rank incompetence.