Bush left TEXAS, for D.C. to coordinate relief efforts in LOUISIANA.. Yeah ok georgie

Bush Back to D.C. to

Help Relief Efforts

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press
Writer Wed Aug 31, 8:20 AM ET

Link Here

WACO, Texas - President Bush is returning to Washington to oversee the federal response to Hurricane Katrina as aides make arrangements for an expected visit to storm-ravaged areas of the Gulf Coast later this week.
Bush cut his monthlong vacation by two days even though aides have long contended that his duties are uninterrupted when he spends time at his ranch in nearby Crawford that has White House-level communications capability.

The president decided he should be in the nation's capital given the magnitude of destruction and death caused by Katrina, one of the most severe storms to ever hit the United States.

"These are trying times for the people of these communities. We know that many are anxious to return to their homes. It's not possible at this moment," the president said Tuesday during a speech in Coronado, Calif. "Right now our priority is on saving lives, and we are still in the midst of search and rescue operations."

Katrina left thousands homeless in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and many more without electricity or fresh drinking water.

The storm also caused the closure of oil platforms and pipelines in the Gulf Coast. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday the administration will release from the federal petroleum reserves to help refiners affected by the hurricane.

Bush originally was to return to the White House on Friday, after spending more than four weeks operating from his ranch. But after getting updates on the devastation, he decided to fly back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to personally oversee a massive federal emergency assistance program.

"The president's preference is to manage the response efforts from Washington, and that's why he made the decision to return," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

Returning to Washington ahead of schedule also could insulate the president from criticism that he was on vacation during the crisis, and the return could be seen as a symbolic gesture to hurricane victims.

"I don't think that's necessarily the way to look at it," McClellan told reporters. "The devastation is enormous. The destruction and loss of life is very sobering. Our focus remains on saving lives and making sure that we're prioritizing the relief efforts to get assistance to those who are most in need right now."

The president, upon his return to Washington, planned to chair a meeting of a White House task force set up to coordinate the federal efforts to assist hurricane victims across more than a dozen agencies.

Bush was expected to visit the ravaged region by week's end, but details on that trip were in flux as the White House worked to make sure a presidential tour would not disrupt the relief and response efforts.

The president was leaving Texas just as anti-war protesters, who had gathered near his ranch for nearly a month, were departing on a bus tour aimed at building momentum to bring home U.S. troops from Iraq. Protesters dogged the president during trips to Arizona and California this week.

On Tuesday, Bush gave his third speech in just over a week defending his Iraq policies as the White House scrambled to counter growing public concern about the war.

Standing against a backdrop of the imposing USS Ronald Reagan at a naval air station near San Diego, the president gave a fresh reason for American troops to continue fighting: protection of the Iraq's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorists.

Bush said the Iraqi oil industry, already suffering from sabotage and lost revenues, must not fall under the control of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida forces led in Iraq by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"If Zarqawi and bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks," Bush said. "They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more terrorists by claiming a historic victory over the United States and our coalition."

A one-time oilman, Bush has rejected charges that the war in Iraq is a struggle to control the nation's vast oil wealth. The president has avoided making links between the war and Iraq's oil reserves, but the soaring cost of gasoline has focused attention on global petroleum sources.