'Katrina, Katrina' ... or 'Another day, another lie'

posted by The Vidiot @ 7:49 PM Permalink

Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, head of the Army Corps, told Bush in a private briefing that 100 miles of the 169 miles of levees damaged by the Aug. 29 hurricane have been restored.

Good news! Right!? Well, maybe not:

Strock took issue with findings from two teams of independent experts who said the Corps was taking shortcuts and using substandard materials, leaving large sections of the system substantially weaker than before the hurricane.

The findings [...] were made by engineers on a National Science Foundation-funded panel and by a Louisiana team appointed to monitor the rebuilding.

And the money quote:

"We are using the right kind of materials," Strock said. "There is no question about that."

Well, that's a lie, because 2 independent groups are questioning it. And who are ya gonna believe, Bushco and the Army Corps of Engineers, with their 'proven' track record, or 2 separate groups of real scientists?

It gets worse: White House spokesman Scott McClellan sez:

"The Corps of Engineers is using modern design and construction methods, which have greatly improved the last four years, which is the time when those levees were originally built"

Reeaaaly!

NEW ORLEANS (Feb. 24, 2006) - The HNTB Federal Services Corporation has been selected by the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide general design support services to assist in rebuilding critical infrastructure that was demolished during the twin punches of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

And who was this no-bid contract awarded to?

retired General Robert B. Flowers, who was the Corps' Chief of Engineers from 2000 until 2004, a period in which the Corps pursued questionable navigation projects in New Orleans at the expense of flood and hurricane protection. In addition, Flowers was the commander of Corps' Mississippi Valley Division from 1995 to 1997 which was directly responsible for construction, operation, inspection, and maintenance of New Orleans flood and hurricane protection projects.