'No excuses' for staying in New Orleans: top Bush aide

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas (AFP) — A top aide to US President George W. Bush warned Monday of "weaknesses" in New Orleans' levee system and said anyone who stayed in the city in the face of Hurricane Gustav had "no excuses."

"There should not be any excuses. If people stayed in New Orleans, it was their choice," Federal Emergency Management Agency director David Paulison said as Bush traveled here to assess the government response to Gustav.

Paulison cited "unprecedented cooperation" among government agencies and the private sector, saying disaster response officials had learned tough lessons from their botched response to killer Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

"What it allows us to do is share information of what's going on, so we don't end up with what happened in...