BUSH TOURS GULF STATES

[mburbank]

NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- President Bush said Monday that when he told the country, two days after Hurricane Katrina crashed ashore, that no one had anticipated the breach of levees in New Orleans, that wasn't what he meant.

Bush said he wanted to "clarify" the remark he made in an interview with ABC -- an inaccurate statement that added to blistering criticism against the president.

"When that storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came through at first, people said, 'Whew.' There was a sense of relaxation. And that's what I was referring to," Bush told reporters in New Orleans Monday. "Of course, there were plans in case the levee had been breached. There was a sense of relaxation at a critical moment."

That was not what Bush told ABC on August 31. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached. And as a result, much of New Orleans is flooded. And now we are having to deal with it and will," he said.





Okay, can anyone find me a single news or scientiffic opinion anywhere that comes close to saying NO 'dodged a bullet' or that the reaction was 'whew' when the actual body of the storm had passed? Who, exactly, experienced this 'sense of relaxation'? I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm saying I totally missed anything like it and in searching the internet have been unable to find any material from the immediatte aftermath saying any such thing.