FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 12, 2005
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The White House - Office of the Press Secretary
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President, Lieutenant General Honore Discuss Hurricane Relief in Louisiana |
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North Claiborne and Cleveland Streets
New Orleans, Louisiana
9:29 A.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank the Governor for joining us today and thank
the Mayor for joining us. My impression of New Orleans is this, that there is a
recovery on the way, there's progress being made, but there's a lot of serious
and hard work that's yet to be done.
I was briefed today about the search and rescue that continues. I was also
briefed about the different projects that are taking place. There's a
containment of an oil spill; the electricity is beginning to be turned back on.
The Mayor is anxious, of course, to get parts of the city up and running, but
he's also mindful that there's a lot of work to be done for that to happen.
General Honore and Admiral Allen briefed us, as well, about the close
coordination between the federal government, state government and local
government, all aimed at solving problems. And we just came through an area that
had had substantial water in it, and the dewatering is an indication that the
city is moving forward. But I'll repeat, we got a lot of work to do, a whole lot
of work to do. And my pledge again to the Governor and the Mayor is the federal
government will work closely in coordination with their authorities.
You know, one of the things that the people are beginning to think about is
the long-term revival of New Orleans, for example, or the surrounding parishes.
My attitude is this: The people of New Orleans can design the vision; the people
of New Orleans can lay out what New Orleans ought to look like in the future;
and the federal government will help. The people of Louisiana can lay out their
vision of what Louisiana will look like, and the federal government can help. I
think the best policy is one in which the federal government doesn't come down
and say, here's what your city will look like. The best policy is one where the
local folks say, here's what we want our city to look like and let's work
together to achieve that vision.
And so I -- as we're beginning to get through this recovery phase, and the
rescue phase, and the transitional phase -- recovery phase -- we're beginning to
think through the -- how to reconstitute this really important state, as well as
along the Mississippi coast, as well.
At any rate, again, I want to thank you all for being here. I appreciate you
taking time out.
I'll answer a couple of questions. Yes.
Q Sir, what do you make of some of the comments that have been made by quite
a number of people that there was a racial component to some of the people that
were left behind and left without help?
THE PRESIDENT: My attitude is this: The storm didn't discriminate, and
neither will the recovery effort. When those Coast Guard choppers, many of whom
were first on the scene, were pulling people off roofs, they didn't check the
color of a person's skin. They wanted to save lives.
I can assure people from the -- and I know from the state and local level, as
well, that this recovery is going to be comprehensive. The rescue efforts were
comprehensive, and the recovery will be comprehensive.
Q Mr. President, does the federal government need the authority to come in
earlier, or even in advance of a storm that threatening?
THE PRESIDENT: I think that's one of the interesting issues that Congress
needs to take a look at. And it's really important that as we take a step back
and learn lessons, that we are in a position to adequately answer the question,
are we prepared for major catastrophes, that the system is such that we're able
to work closely together and that --
Q Do you recommend that Congress consider allowing the federal government to
act more quickly?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it's very important for Congress to take a good, close
look at what went on, what didn't go on, and come up with a series of
recommendations. And my attitude is, is that we need to learn everything we
possibly can; we need to make sure that this country is knitted up as well as it
can be, in order to deal with significant problems and disasters. Meantime,
we've got to keep moving forward.
And I know there's been a lot of second-guessing. I can assure you I'm not
interested in that. What I'm interested in is solving problems. And there will
be time to take a step back and to take a sober look at what went right and what
didn't go right. There's a lot of information floating around that will be
analyzed in an objective way, and that's important. And it's important for the
people of this country to understand that all of us want to learn lessons. If
there were to be a biological attack of some kind, we've got to make sure we
understand the lessons learned to be able to deal with catastrophe.
Q Will what is needed to get this area back on its feet have any impact on
the timing of troop withdrawals in Iraq?
THE PRESIDENT: In Iraq?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: We've got plenty of troops to do both. Let me just -- let me
just talk about that again. I've answered this question before, and you can
speak to General Honore if you care to. He's the military man on the ground. It
is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there wasn't enough
troops here, just pure and simple.
Do you care to comment on that?
GENERAL HONORE: Well, we have about 90,000 members of the Reserve and
National Guard deployed, of a total force of approximately 400,000. So 90,000
are deployed. We've got the capability. We're here, we're demonstrating in deed
every day. We're performing the mission with the great support of the National
Guard from multiple states. The response is here. The troops are getting the job
done under the conditions that you see here today, and they're making America
proud that we have that capability.
We have capability. We're applying it -- air, land and sea -- our federal
forces in support of the Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi under the
direction of the Adjutant General. The system is working. We've got the
capability, and we're looking forward to get the job done and get the job
completed, until the Governors tell us otherwise.
THE PRESIDENT: The troop levels in Iraq will be decided by commanders on the
ground. One, we're going to -- our mission is to defeat the terrorists, is to
win. Secondly, the strategy is, as Iraqis stand up, we will stand down. And so,
to answer your question about the decisions made on the ground in Iraq, they
will be made based upon the ability of the Iraqis to take the fight. And more
and more Iraqi units are getting more and more qualified.
There's still a lot of work to be done there. Obviously, we're going to make
sure we have a troop presence to help this political process go forward. There's
an election -- the ratification of the constitution -- election will be coming
up, and, of course, there will be elections this -- later on this year. And we
will have the troop levels necessary to make sure those elections go forward.
After all, the enemy wants to stop democracy. See, that's what they want to
do. They want to kill enough people so that -- in the hopes that democracy won't
go forward. They tried that prior to -- more than eight million Iraqis voting.
They were unable to stop Iraqis from voting, because people want to be free.
Deep in everybody's soul, regardless of your religion or where you live, is a
desire to be free. And they can't stop it. And what we're going to do is help --
and they can't stop democracy from moving. And so what we're going to do is help
make sure those elections are accessible to the Iraqi people.
Q Mr. President, there is a belief that we've been hearing for two weeks now
on the ground that FEMA let the people here on the ground down. And perhaps, in
turn, if you look at the evidence of what it's done to your popularity, FEMA let
you down. Do you think that your management style of sort of relying on the
advice that you got in this particular scenario let you down? And do you think
that plays at all --
THE PRESIDENT: Look, there will be plenty of time to play the blame game.
That's what you're trying to do.
Q No, I'm trying to --
THE PRESIDENT: You're trying to say somebody is at fault. Look -- and I want
to know. I want to know exactly what went on and how it went on. And we'll
continually assess inside my administration. I sent Mike Chertoff down here to
make an assessment of how best to do the job. He made a decision; I accepted his
decision. But we're moving on. We're going to solve these problems. And there
will be ample time for people to look back and see the facts.
Now, as far as my own personal popularity goes, I don't make decisions based
upon polls. I hope the American people appreciate that. You can't make difficult
decisions if you have to take a poll. That's been my style ever since I've been
the President. And, of course, I rely upon good people. Of course, you got to as
the President of the United States. You set the space, you set the strategy, you
hold people to account. But yeah, I'm relying upon good people. That's why
Admiral Allen is here. He's good man. He can do the job. That's why General
Honore is here. And so when I come into a briefing, I don't tell them what to
do. They tell me the facts on the ground, and my question to them is, do you
have what you need.
Q Did they misinform you when you said that no one anticipated the breach of
the levees?
THE PRESIDENT: No, what I was referring to is this. 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. And I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why?
Because I was listening to people, probably over the airways, say, the bullet
has been dodged. And that was what I was referring to.
Of course, there were plans in case the levee had been breached. There was a
sense of relaxation in the moment, a critical moment. And thank you for giving
me a chance to clarify that.
Q Mr. President, where were you when you realized the severity of the storm?
THE PRESIDENT: I was -- I knew that a big storm was coming on Monday, so I
spoke to the country on Monday* morning about it. I said, there's a big storm
coming. I had pre-signed emergency declarations in anticipation of a big storm
coming.
Q Mr. President --
THE PRESIDENT: -- which is, by the way, extraordinary. Most emergencies the
President signs after the storm has hit. It's a rare occasion for the President
to anticipate the severity of a storm and sign the documentation prior to the
storm hitting. So, in other words, we anticipated a serious storm coming. But as
the man's question said, basically implied, wasn't there a moment where
everybody said, well, gosh, we dodged the bullet, and yet the bullet hadn't been
dodged.
Q Mr. President --
THE PRESIDENT: Last question.
Q This is two weeks in. You must have developed a clear image at this point
of one critical thing that failed, one thing that went wrong in the first five
days.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think there will be plenty of time to analyze,
particularly the structure of the relationship between government levels. But,
again, there's -- what I think Congress needs to do -- I know Congress needs to
do -- and we're doing this internally, as well -- is to take a sober look at the
decision-making that went on.
And what I want the people of this state and the state of Mississippi to
understand is that we're moving forward with relief plans. And we're going to
move forward with reconstruction plans, and we're going to do so in a
coordinated way. And it's very important for the folks of New Orleans to
understand that, at least as far as I'm concerned, this great city has got ample
talent and ample genius to set the strategy and set the vision. And our role at
the federal government is -- obviously, within the law -- is to help them
realize that vision. And that's what I wanted to assure the Mayor.
Thank you all.
END 9:42 A.M. CDT
* Sunday
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