The Bush Administration, citing confidentiality and National Security, is refusing to turn over government documents to the Congressional Investigation into the Katrina debacle. The investigatory committee, comprised of Senators like Susan Collins of Maine and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut has responded strongly to the administration's tight-lipped stance, calling it "totally inappropriate" and "a gag order."USA Today wrote:The White House is crippling a Senate inquiry into the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina by barring administration officials from answering questions and failing to hand over documents, senators leading the investigation said Tuesday.
Many, and not just the liberal left, are pointing out that the refusal to release these documents and allow testimony is simply a convenient way for the Bush Administration to avoid another beating in the press over the abysmal failure that was the Federal response to Katrina.
These documents and the gaged testimony are likely to be the pieces of evidence that answers this question:
"How is it that the White House Situation Room received detailed warnings 48 hours before Hurricane Katrina hit, that the National Hurricane Center was warning CNN and the world that Katrina could be The Big One, that FEMA reported two days before landfall that Katrina's surge `could greatly overtop levees and protective systems,' destroy nearly 90 percent of city structures, require `incredible search and rescue needs (60,000-plus),' and displace more than a million people - and the President days later still insisted on national television, `I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees' that left 1,300 dead and thousands more homeless?"
