The Ross Writ

"I don't think," President Bush said yesterday on Good Morning America, that "anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." He would have us believe the flooding in New Orleans took everyone by complete surprise.

But in fact, "just such a potential nightmare has been foreseen by storm experts, investigative reporters, academics, and even by U.S. government agencies for years," writes Cox News reporter Julia Malone. CNN had the details of the impending disaster on August 28 (check out CNN's "Worst Case Scenario" video). So how is it possible President Bush and his staff did not?

The rest of the media should jump on this. Because the real scandal here is not how the feds have been rudderless in the days following the storm.

The real scandal is what the feds did not do the day before. "

The extent of this disaster was clear at least 12, maybe 24 hours before the hurricane hit. It was obvious to experts the city would be flooded if the hurricane hit directly.

So why wasn't the Navy deployed the day before from Mayport so it would arrive the day after?

Why didn't feds commandeer busses to get the rest of those neighborhoods evacuated?

Why was there no execute order for the national guard until afterwards?