Who Blocked Funding for Levee Projects?

There's probably plenty of blame to go around in the disastrous aftermath of Katrina. But too much of it is being heaped on George Bush:

• George Bush was calling, pleading for mandatory evacuation very early. From August 28th:

The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding. [emphasis added]

[Notice that the Mayor actually seemed hesitant about a full mandatory evacuation because airlines had cancelled all flights.]

• The Army Corps of Engineers had its funding proposals for levee upgrading blocked by environmentalists and the Clinton administration.

The Clinton administration also cut back on funding for New Orleans. Here is an excerpt from the EU Rota blog about what the Clinton administration did.

[ht to GayandRight]