La. Official: Feds 'Murdered' Flood Victims

Newsmax | September 5 2005

Federal bureaucrats who were slow to respond to the flood disaster in New Orleans "murdered" thousands of the city's residents who were left stranded for days without help, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard charged Sunday.

"It's not just [Hurricane] Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here," an emotional Broussard told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now," he insisted.
"Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history," the Jefferson Parish official complained. "I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here.

"Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired?," Broussard demanded. "And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy."

Broussard hinted that he thought President Bush should be held responsible, saying, "whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership."

"It's so obvious," he said. "FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support . . . FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do."