President cannot resist the overwhelming weight of responsibility for the gravity of this disaster

Independent Online Edition > Leading Articles : app2: "Katrina has exposed ugly truths about America | Published: 04 September 2005

It is the kneejerk reaction of Bush-haters around the world to blame the US President for the unnecessary suffering and deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It is also entirely justified. The President cannot resist the overwhelming weight of responsibility for the gravity of this disaster any more than the levees of New Orleans could resist the weight of water.

It was on his watch that federal funding for reinforced flood defences was cut and warnings about the scale of the all-too-likely catastrophe ignored. He was head of the executive branch of government that responded so slowly to the evidence that a rich American city was sliding into chaos. And he was Commander-in-Chief of the world's most powerful military as it found itself impotent."