POLITICS The Man Who Bought Washington, DC From deep inside the Republican elite, brought new excesses to the lobbying game. Who is he, and how did he get away with it for so long?

By KAREN TUMULTY/WASHINGTON and tapping a grassroots operation of Christian conservatives to help stop any rival casinos. And here were two qualities that jack by the next year, with elections rolling around, Abramoff looked for in a prospective lob- Abramoff had the Coushattas dreaming even big- bying client: naiveté and a willingness to ger. “You can control Louisiana,” Worfel recalls part with a lot of money. In Abramoff telling the tribal leaders. early 2001 he found both in “You could help elect Senators and Tan obscure Indian tribe called the Representatives and attorney gen- Louisiana Coushattas. Thanks to the erals in the state of Louisiana, and thriving casino that the tribe had then they’re going to remember that erected on farmland between New the Coushattas helped them. And Orleans and Houston, a tribe that they know that if you helped them, had subsisted in part on pine-needle well, they know that you can come basket weaving was doling out after them down the road if they stipends of $40,000 a year to every don’t help you, see?” The Coushat- one of its 800-plus men, women and tas went for it. On election night, children. But the Coushattas were they watched their chosen candi- also $30 million in debt and worried dates with excitement and discov- that renewal of their gambling compact would be ered that the $9.3 million they had given Scanlon blocked by hostile local authorities and that their had produced … nothing. casino business would be eaten away by others That’s probably because much of the $32 million looking to get a piece of the action. So tribal lead- that the Coushattas paid Abramoff and Scanlon ers were eager to hear from the handsome, well- over two years went not toward increasing the dressed visitor who had flown in from Washington tribe’s influence but toward lining the two partners’ with his partner on a private jet, shared some of pockets. Nearly $11.5 million in secret kickbacks their fried chicken in the council hall, then waited was funneled by Scanlon back to Abramoff, accor- for them to turn off the tape recorder that they ding to court papers filed in early January, as the used for official business. man who was once one of Washington’s highest- William Worfel, then a member of the council, paid lobbyists pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion recalls Abramoff saying if the Coushattas gave and a conspiracy to bribe public officials. him enough money, he could make their problems Abramoff’s plea agreement admits to expansive go away. He and his partner Michael Scanlon, a schemes to defraud not just the Coushattas but also onetime press secretary for congressional leader three other tribes and the lobbying firm Abramoff Tom DeLay who ran his own public relations worked for, and it acknowledges buying off public firm, came through, attacking the tribe’s political officials, in part by laundering his clients’ funds opponents, blitzing the state with television ads through legitimate-sounding think tanks and

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public-policy groups, some of which Abramoff the director of the fbi’s Washington field office, and Scanlon themselves set up. The stocky fig- Michael Mason, congratulated some 15 agents and ure in the black fedora who left the federal court- 15 support staff members under him on the case for house after telling Judge Ellen Huvelle of his “a huge accomplishment” in squeezing Abramoff to “tremendous sadness and regret for my conduct” make a deal after 18 months of investigation and was barely recognizable as the flamboyant power negotiation, one that made “a huge contribution to broker who used to send lawmakers and their ensuring the very integrity of our government.” staffs on junkets around the world and entertain But he added that “the case is far from over.” them back in Washington with golf outings, free Another official involved with the probe told meals at his expensive restaurant, and concerts and Time that investigators are viewing Abramoff as games enjoyed from the luxury skyboxes he main- “the middle guy” suggesting there are bigger targets tained at nearly every arena and stadium in town. in their sights. The fbi has 13 field offices across The Abramoff scandal has already taken down the country working on the case, with two dozen the political player who invented the system that agents assigned to it full time and roughly the has helped keep Republicans in power for more same number working part time. “We are going to than a decade. The once-feared DeLay, whose chase down every lead,” Chris Swecker, head of office had been Abramoff’s biggest claim to access the fbi’s criminal division, told Time. and influence on Capitol Hill, announced he would Just following the money that Abramoff spread resign as House majority leader. Because of DeLay’s across Washington should give them plenty to do. tightfisted regime that rewarded loyalists and pun- So toxic are any campaign donations tied to him ished detractors, his departure is sure to set off that panicked lawmakers from House Speaker not just a fight for his old job but also some ugly Dennis Hastert ($69,000) to Republican Senator score settling. Conrad Burns ($150,000) to Democratic Senator The Coushattas’ tale is only a small piece of an Max Baucus ($18,892) can’t give it away to charities investigation that, with the 46-year-old Abramoff’s fast enough. Even President Bush is giving the agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors, American Heart Association the $6,000 that he could become one of the biggest corruption received from Abramoff, his wife and one of the probes in U.S. history, possibly putting dozens Indian tribes he represented. of lawmakers in legal or political jeopardy. It has The fact that the scandal is breaking at the begin- already netted Scanlon, 35, who pleaded guilty to ning of midterm-election season promises that it similar charges in November and is also cooper- will be amplified in political ads and coverage ating. In an internal e-mail obtained by Time, around the country. Even though he gave away the contributions he took Top 20 congressional recipients of contributions from Jack Abramoff, his wife, the Indian tribes that hired him and SunCruz Casinos, from 1999 to 2005 from Abramoff and his J.D. Hayworth, Ariz. $101,620 clients, Montana Senator J. Dennis Hastert, Ill. 69,000 Thad Cochran, Miss. 65,500 Burns will continue to face Conrad Burns, Mont. 59,590 Richard W. Pombo, Calif. 54,500 questions about every Jim McCrery, La. 52,750 Breakdown of all move he made that helped John T. Doolittle, Calif. 50,000 contributions by Patrick J. Kennedy, R.I. 42,500 political party the lobbyist. “I hope,” said Patty Murray, Wash. 40,980 DEMOCRATS REPUBLICANS Don Nickles, Okla.* 40,000 $1.5 $2.9 Burns, “he goes to jail and Charles B. Rangel, N.Y. 36,000 million million we never see him again.” π Dave Camp, Mich. 35,500 John A. Boehner, 32,500 Harold Rogers, Ky. 32,000 , Ohio 31,500 34% 66% Questions Harry Reid, Nev. 30,500 1. Billy Tauzin, La.* 30,500 What did Abramoff admit Tom DeLay, 30,500 Source: in his plea agreement? Denny Rehberg, Mont. 30,000 *No longer Center for a member Responsive Byron L. Dorgan, N.D. 28,000 of Congress Politics 2. How has this scandal af- fected Tom DeLay?

time, january 16, 2006 3 WHITE HOUSE

Abramoff children with Bush and House Speak- er Dennis Hastert, who is now pushing to tighten When George lobbying laws after declining to do so last year when the scandal was in its early stages. Most of the pictures have the formal look of Met Jack photos taken at presidential receptions. The im- White House aides deny Bush knew Abramoff, ages of Bush, Abramoff and one of his sons appear but photos suggest there’s more to the story to be the rapid-fire shots—known in White House parlance as “clicks”—that the President snaps By ADAM ZAGORIN and MIKE ALLEN with top supporters before taking the podium at fund-raising receptions. Over five years, Bush s details poured out about the illegal has posed for tens of thousands of such shots— and unseemly activities of Republican lobby- many with people he does not know. A ist Jack Abramoff, White House officials sought Abramoff knew the game. In a 2001 e-mail to a to portray the scandal as a Capitol Hill affair with lawyer for tribal leader Lovelin Poncho, he crows little relevance to them. Peppered for days with about an upcoming White House meeting he had questions about Abramoff’s visits to the White arranged for Poncho and says it should be a price- House, press secretary Scott McClellan less asset in his client’s upcoming said the now disgraced lobbyist had “The President re-election campaign as chief of Loui- attended two huge holiday receptions does not know siana’s Coushatta Indians. The e-mail, and a few “staff-level meetings” that [Jack Abramoff]....” now part of a wide-ranging federal were not worth describing further. investigation into lobbyists’ relation- “The President does not know him, —Scott McClellan, ships with members of Congress, nor does the President recall ever White House offers a window into Abramoff’s will- meeting him,” McClellan said. press secretary ingness to invoke Bush’s name to The President’s memory may soon impress clients. be unhappily refreshed. Time has seen five Abramoff was once in better graces at 1600 photographs of Abramoff and the President that Pennsylvania Avenue, having raised at least suggest a level of contact between them that Bush’s $100,000 for the President’s re-election cam- aides have downplayed. While Time’s source paign. During 2001 and 2002, connections to the refused to provide the pictures for publication, White House won him invitations to Hanukkah re- they are likely to see the light of day eventually ceptions, each attended by 400 to 500 people. because celebrity tabloids are on the prowl for The White House describes the number of them. And that has been a fear of the Bush team’s Abramoff’s meetings with staff members as “a for the past several months: that a picture of the few,” even though Bush aides have precise data President with the admitted felon could become about them. Pressed for particulars, McClellan the iconic image of direct presidential involvement said with brio, “People are insinuating things in a burgeoning corruption scandal. based on no evidence whatsoever.” Senate mino- In one shot that Time saw, Bush appears with rity leader Harry Reid of Nevada has demanded Abramoff, several unidentified people and Raul details, saying in a letter to Bush that Abramoff Garza Sr., a Texan Abramoff represented who was “may have had undue and improper influence then chairman of the Kickapoo Indians, which within your Administration.” π owned a casino in southern Texas. Another photo shows Bush shaking hands with Abramoff in front Questions of a window and a blue drape. Three other photos 1. Describe the photos of Abramoff and Bush. are of Bush, Abramoff and, in each view, one of the 2. How much money did Abramoff raise for Pres- lobbyist’s sons. A sixth picture shows several ident Bush’s re-election campaign?

4 time, january 30, 2006 WHITE HOUSE

testimony to the grand jury. Specifically, he mis- represented his conversations with nbc’s Tim Did Libby Lie? Russert, Time’s Matt Cooper, and Judith Miller of How a smart and loyal aide to Vice President the New York Times. He told the grand jury that Dick Cheney got indicted for allegedly lying Russert had asked him whether he knew Wilson’s about his role in defending the Iraq war wife worked for the cia and that he was surprised to learn this from Russert. But according to the By JEFF CHU indictment, Libby did not in fact discuss this with Russert, and he already knew about the identity of he chief of staff to vice president dick Wilson’s wife. The indictment also alleges that Cheney, I. Lewis Libby, has been indicted on Libby lied in testifying that he told both Cooper and Tcharges of obstruction of justice, perjury and Miller that he had learned about Wilson’s wife making false statements. The indictment was from other reporters. Miller served 85 days in jail handed down by a federal grand jury investigat- for refusing to reveal her source, and, earlier this ing the leak of the identity of a covert cia opera- month, testified to the grand jury about her con- tive. Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who heads versations with Libby only after he granted her a the two-year-old investigation, believes that Libby personal waiver. Plame’s identity was first revealed lied about how he learned—then to the public in July 2003, by shared with reporters—the iden- “Mr. Libby gave the Robert Novak, a syndicated tity of Valerie Plame, a covert cia FBI a compelling story,” columnist who referred to her as operative who is married to Joseph Special Counsel Patrick “an Agency operative on weapons Wilson, a former diplomat who of mass destruction.” has been fiercely critical of the Fitzgerald said in a Tensions between the Admin- Bush Administration’s claims press conference. But istration and the cia grew in mid- about weapons of mass destruc- that story “was not true. 2003 along with doubts over the tion (wmd) in Iraq. “Mr. Libby Administration’s claims that Iraq gave the fbi a compelling story,” It was false….” was seeking nuclear weapons. Fitzgerald said in a press conference. But that Wilson went public with the news that, more than story “was not true. It was false … and he lied a year earlier, he had privately refuted, on behalf of about it afterwards, under oath and repeatedly.” the cia, claims about an African connection to Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s senior Saddam Hussein’s alleged wmd arsenal. Wilson advisor and deputy chief of staff, was not indicted, suggested that Cheney knew before the war that the but in a sign that Fitzgerald's two-year investigation claims were bogus. People who worked with Libby is not yet over, Rove remains under investigation. tell Time that he regarded Wilson’s criticisms as part Libby submitted his resignation shortly after the of a wider effort by the cia to shift blame to the indictment was announced but denies any wrong- White House for the faulty pre-war claims about doing; the case is expected to go to trial in 2007. Iraq’s wmd. The indictment contains five counts against Libby served as the right-hand man to one of Libby—two for perjury, for allegedly lying to the the most powerful Vice Presidents in U.S. histo- grand jury; two for making false statements to fbi ry. For the moment, Libby has been thrust into the investigators; and one for obstruction of justice, for spotlight. In that glare, prosecutors hope to find allegedly impeding the grand jury’s investigation. answers. “As soon as we can get it done, we will,” If found guilty, Libby could face 30 years in prison said Fitzgerald. “We need to know the truth.” π and a fine of $1.25 million. The indictment alleges that Libby made a “false, Questions fictitious and fraudulent statement” when he was 1. Who is Valerie Plame? questioned by the fbi. It also says that he lied in his 2. On what grounds was Libby indicted?

time.com, october 28, 2005 5 WHITE HOUSE Has Bush Gone Too Far? The President’s secret directive to let the National Security Agency snoop on American citizens without warrants sets off a furor

By RICHARD LACAYO when at least one party to the exchange was in the U.S.—the circumstance that would ordinarily n the aftermath of the september 11 trigger the warrant requirement. For four years, attacks, White House officials were haunted by Bush’s decision remained a closely guarded secret. two questions. Were there other terrorists lying In the weeks since December 16, 2005, when the in wait within the U.S.? And, given how freely program was disclosed by the New York Times, it the 19 hijackers had been able to operate before has set off a ferocious debate in Washington theyI acted, how would we know where to find and around the country about how the rule of them? It didn’t take long before an aggressive law should constrain the war on terrorism. That idea emerged from the circle of Administration development ensures that the President will hawks. Liberalize the rules for domestic spying, start the new year preoccupied for a while with they urged. Free the National Security Agency a fight over whether his responsibility to prevent (nsa) to use its powerful listening technology to another attack gave him the power to push aside eavesdrop on terrorist suspects on U.S. soil without an act of Congress—or, to use the terms of his having to seek a warrant for every phone number harshest critics, to break the law. it tracked. But because of a 1978 law that forbids The nsa intercepts are just one instance of the the nsa to conduct no-warrant surveillance inside Bush Administration’s effort to pursue the war on the U.S., the new policy would require one of terrorism unhindered by some long-established two steps. The first was to revise the law. The legal norms. In the White House version of how other was to ignore it. that struggle must be conducted, it’s acceptable to In the end, George Bush tried the first. When hold captured suspects indefinitely without trial, that failed, he opted for the second. In 2002 he hand them over for questioning to nations known issued a secret Executive Order to allow the nsa to to torture prisoners, define American citizens as eavesdrop without a warrant on phone calls, enemy combatants who can be detained without e-mail and other electronic communications, even charges, resist efforts by Congress to put limits on the rough interrogation of detainees and allow the cia to establish secret prisons abroad. Any and all of those things may be necessary, but this is shaping up as the year when we take a long, hard look. Because they required the President to plainly bypass an act of Congress, the no-warrant wiretaps may be the sharpest expression yet of the Administration’s will- ingness to expand the scope of Executive power. When the nsa was established, in 1952, there were few legal limits on its power to spy within the U.S. Then came the intelligence-gathering abuses of the Nixon years, when the nsa as well as the

6 time, january 9, 2006 WHITE HOUSE

fbi were used by the White House TIME POLL nsa to work without a warrant to spy on civil rights and anti-Viet- when it chooses to, the agency has nam War activists. In 1978 Con- Looking For Change continued in many cases to apply ■ Would you like the next President to gress passed the Foreign Intelli- be similar to George W. Bush in for them. Last year it sought 1,754.) fisa terms of policies and programs or gence Surveillance Act ( ), which completely different? But the court has been subjecting required the nsa to obtain a warrant the applications to closer examina- Similar 36% any time it wanted to monitor com- tion. It substantially modified 94 of Different munications within the U.S. (Out- 60% last year’s requests—reducing the side the U.S., it still enjoys a free Don’t know 5% scope, timing or targets in the orig- hand.) The new law created the ■ There will be elections for the U.S. inal application. House of Representatives next year. If the fisa court, an 11-member secret elections were held today, would you be The White House says Congress more likely to vote for the Republican or panel whose job it is to hear the the Democratic candidate in your implicitly gave Bush the power to nsa requests and issue—or deny— district? approve the no-warrant wiretaps the warrants. In the event that the Republican 36% in a resolution it passed on Sep- nsa comes upon a situation that Democrat 48% tember 14, 2001. That measure seems to require immediate action, Other 4% authorized the President to use “all the law permits the agency to Don’t know 11% necessary and appropriate force eavesdrop without a warrant so long against those nations, organizations, ■ President Bush’s approval ratings in as it applies for one within 72 hours. the past few months have been among or persons” involved in the 9/11 at- the lowest of his presidency. Do you But the Administration says that think the President can recover from tacks. Tom Daschle, then the Senate fisa recent setbacks and regain his higher advances in technology since approval ratings in the final three years Democratic majority leader, says was passed make the court’s pro- of his presidency? the Administration knows it did not cedures too slow to contend with Can recover 46% have that implicit authority because Not likely the immense flood of electronic to recover 49% White House officials had sought chatter that now passes in and out Don’t know 5% unsuccessfully to get congressional of the U.S. and which the agency leaders to include explicit language ■ Have any of the following had a has much improved means of negative impact on how you rate approving no-warrant wiretaps in capturing and analyzing. Justice President Bush’s job performance? the resolution. Attorney General fisa Percentage saying “very negative”: Department officials say a sur- Policies in Iraq 45% Gonzales says the Administration veillance request can take up to a Higher gas/energy prices 45% decided to go forward with the pro- week to prepare, even for seasoned Federal budget deficit 39% gram anyway because it was con- Putting people close to him in lawyers. “When you get a terrorist’s high places in the government vinced that the President possessed regardless of their experience 39% cell phone and there are 20 num- Handling of hurricane- the inherent power to act. recovery efforts 37% bers in it,” a former Administration Handling of economy 35% When we talk about trade-offs official says, “you can’t fill out one Failure of Social Security between freedom and security, it’s initiative 32% of these for every one of them.” Investigations and indictment a mistake to assume they will be surrounding outing of CIA The White House insists that the agent 26% short-term adjustments. The emer- nsa is looking into only the com- Proposals dealing with illegal gency powers that we agree to now immigrants 24% munications of people who have may well become the American This TIME poll was conducted by telephone Nov. 29–Dec. 1 among 1,004 known links to al-Qaeda. If that’s so, adult Americans by SRBI Public Affairs. The margin of error for the entire way for years. We may still agree to the program’s critics ask, then why sample is ±3 percentage points them, but it is essential to know not just apply to the fisa court first for a warrant, es- exactly what costs they come with. π pecially when the court has rarely stood in the way of any warrant request? According to the Justice Questions Department, from 1979 to 2004 the court approved 1. When and why was fisa passed? 18,724 wiretaps and denied only three, all in 2003. 2. What two options did the Bush Administration (Despite the 2002 presidential order allowing the have for expanding surveillance in the U.S.?

time, january 9, 2006 7 SUPREME COURT Judging Mr. Right An inside look at a judge who walked a careful path to the top

By NANCY GIBBS kind of boy whose eighth-grade math teacher kept his birthday in her birthday book all these years, o listen to people who have known alone among her generations of students. “I like to him longest, what sets John Roberts apart think that was an omen for wonderful things to is not so much his individual virtues but come,” says Dorothea Liddell. He was way clever, how they fit together: a great talker who she recalls, so much so that if he didn’t get a concept T listens well, a natural talent who works she knew she had to teach it again, but “he never unnaturally hard, a regular guy who moonlights as flaunted his intelligence over the other kids.” For a legal star. He was originally nominated to fill the high school, Roberts applied to La Lumiere, a vacancy created by the pending retirement of competitive Catholic boarding school about 12 Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. But following the miles away in La Porte, Indiana. “I won’t be content death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Presi- to get a good job by getting a good education,” he dent Bush quickly named Roberts to take over the wrote at age 13 in an application letter. “I want to court’s top spot. The Senate confirmed him as get the best job by getting the best education.” Chief Justice on September 29, in a 78–22 vote. Roberts made it through Harvard in three years, Roberts’ resume reads so perfectly that it is easy summa cum laude, on his way to Harvard Law to find the little flakes of destiny littered through his School. Cambridge in the mid-1970s was a less storybook life. Born in Buffalo, New York, he was unruly place than it had been during the height of raised in Long Beach, Indiana, a small town on the the war protests, and while Roberts was known for southeastern edge of Lake Michigan. He was the being personally conservative right down to his un- varying choice of chocolate-chip ice cream, he was never rigid or doctrinaire. He rose to become the managing editor of the Law Review, sometimes sleeping overnight in the office. “There were a few people on the Law Review that were social conservatives, [with] very strong views about abortion and separation of church and state. John was not one of them,” recalls classmate Steve Glover. “John’s approach, as I recall it, was very lawyerly, in the sense that he was very much focused on case law and the precedent that courts had set before.” That mind-set prepared him well for the appren- ticeship that followed Harvard and that he cherished above all: his clerkship with Judge Henry Friendly, a Second Circuit judge known for his careful, almost handcrafted, opinions and for being mindful of what his legal forebears had laid out. In some ways

8 time, august 1, 2005 SUPREME COURT that training was even more informative than the clerkship that followed, with Justice William Rehnquist. ALITO SWORN IN AS Those poring over the Roberts record will have a tough time finding an ideology. Law professors 110TH SUPREME can afford to offer grand theories; practicing lawyers want to win. The very best players—and Roberts is COURT JUSTICE unquestionably one—can argue all sides of any Samuel Alito was sworn in as the nation’s 110th issue, because that is what they get paid to do. So Supreme Court justice on January 31 after being all the selective readings of his case file obscured confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 58–42. The vote the point that he argued for and against affirmative was the closest confirmation for a nominee since action, for and against environmental regulations, Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed 52-48 in argued that Roe v. Wade should be overturned 1991. Alito, 55, replaces retiring Justice Sandra Day when he was representing a Republican President O’Connor, a moderate swing vote and the first woman and then described it as settled law when speaking appointed to the high court. as a nominee to become an appellate judge. The confirmation vote came a day after an at- Roberts seemed on a fast track to judicial glory tempt by some Democratic senators to filibuster his in 1992, when George H.W. Bush tapped him for nomination fizzled. In the end, only 24 of the cham- the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ber’s 44 Democrats went along with the filibuster, a at the age of 36. But he encountered his first set- maneuver allowed under Senate rules to block a back when the bid died in the Senate with Bill vote by extending debate indefinitely. Sixty votes are Clinton’s victory. Then George W. Bush tried in needed to pass a motion to end debate, called a 2001 and finally succeeded in 2003. In the mean- cloture motion; the Senate voted 72–25 to cut off de- time, Roberts spent most of the 1990s biding his bate, thereby killing the filibuster. time, getting rich as a corporate lawyer at Hogan Arguing against cutting off debate, Sen. John & Hartson, one of Washington’s largest firms, Kerry—who spearheaded the filibuster effort with his where he quickly emerged as the supreme com- fellow Massachusetts Democrat, Sen. Ted Kennedy— mander of Supreme Court battles. Between his said Alito’s record during his 15 years on the 3rd government and corporate jobs, he argued 39 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given “the extreme cases before the high court and won 25 of them. right wing unbelievable public cause for celebration. At 50, Roberts is by far the youngest member of That just about tells you what you need to know,” the court. Only Clarence Thomas, 57, is close, Kerry said. “The vote today is whether or not we will while all the rest are over 65, and John Paul take a stand against ideological court packing.” Stevens is 85. The burning question now, with But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said the O’Connor and Rehnquist gone, is, How will the move to cut off debate fulfilled a “very straightforward court rebalance? principle—a nominee with the support of a majority of When Roberts spoke during the confirmation senators deserves a fair up-or-down vote.” process of the lump in his throat whenever he —From CNN.com, February 1, 2006 climbed the marble stairs of the Supreme Court building, it rang true to anyone who had ever the law is shaped to ride in and blowtorch it. He watched him in action. And it would match the may just prove willing to conserve even opinions history and mystery of the court if it turned out he faults. If that is so, then it will not be the liberals that Roberts ultimately alienates conservatives who come to wonder at George Bush’s choice. π and not those who fear any Republican appointee. Roberts may agree in spirit with those who see the Questions past 50 years of jurisprudence as too expansive 1. For what judges has John Roberts clerked? and too intrusive but respect too much the way 2. Why is Roberts’ ideology hard to pin down?

time, august 1, 2005 9 HURRICANE KATRINA An American Tragedy How the U.S. failed the city of New Orleans in its greatest hour of need

By NANCY GIBBS Watching helpless New Orleans suffering day by day left people everywhere stunned and angry ew orleans lives by the water and and in ever greater pain. These things happened fights it, a sand castle set on a sponge nine in Haiti, they said, but not here. “Baghdad under feet below sea level, where people made water” is how former Louisiana Senator John music from heartache, named their drinks Breaux described his beloved city, as state officials for hurricanes and joked that one day told him they feared the death toll could reach as Nyou’d be able to tour the city by gondola. high as 10,000, spread across Louisiana, Missis- A city built by rumrunners and sippi and Alabama. No matter what slave traders and pirates was never the final tally, the treatment of the going to play by anyone’s rules or living, black and poor and old and plan for the future. So as Katrina, sick, was a disgrace. The problem wicked and flirtatious, lingered in with putting it all into numbers is the Gulf with her eye on the town, that they stop speaking clearly once many citizens decided they would they get too big: an estimated half a stay, stubborn or stoic or too poor to million refugees, a million people have much choice. As for the ones without power, 30,000 soldiers, up packing up to go, officials told them to $100 billion in damage. “This is to take a look around before leav- our tsunami,” said Mayor A.J. Hol- ing, because it might never be the loway of Biloxi, Mississippi. same again. Around the country, people By the time President Bush touched down in the watched the scene in growing horror, as babies tormented region, more than just the topography and old people and diabetics and those worn out had changed. Shattered too was a hope that four surviving the storm died on live television for all years after the greatest man-made disaster in our to see. Churches started assembling comfort kits; history, we had got smarter about catastrophe. Is it Red Cross volunteers prepared 500,000 hot meals really possible, after so many commissions and a day. commitments, bureaucracies scrambled and The private response was all the more urgent rewired, emergency supplies stockpiled and because the public one seemed so inept. Somehow prepositioned, that when disaster strikes, the whole Harry Connick Jr. could get to the New Orleans newfangled system just seizes up and can’t move? Convention Center and offer help, but not the It may be weeks before the lights come back on National Guard. Bush praised the “good work” on and months before New Orleans is mopped out, a Thursday, then called the results “not acceptable” year before the refugees resettle in whatever will on Friday. By then, 55 nations had offered to pitch come to function as home, even without anything in—including Sri Lanka, whose disaster scars are precious from the days before the flood. But it still fresh. may take even longer than that before the nature of But it was in New Orleans where the cameras this American tragedy is clear: whether the storm converged, a city that had braced for the worst, then of 2005 is remembered mainly as the worst natural briefly exhaled when it looked as if the threat disaster in our history or as the worst response to had passed. Several hours after the storm moved a disaster in our history. Or both. through on Monday, August 29, some streets were

10 time, september 12, 2005 HURRICANE KATRINA

essentially dry. Then shortly after midnight, a air, no working toilets. Reports came that four of the section almost as long as a football field in a main weakest died that first night. Members of the city's levee near the 17th Street Canal ruptured, letting ems team made their way there only to find anar- Lake Pontchartrain pour in. The city itself turned chy. “We tried to start triaging and getting the spe- into a superbowl, roadways crumbled like soup cial needs in one section,” a technician recalls, but crackers as the levees designed to protect them his team was overwhelmed by the hungry crowd were now holding the water in. Engineers tried and retreated with armed guards to Army trucks. dropping 3,000-pound sandbags, but the water Only by Friday did some palpable help arrive, in just swallowed the bags. the form of thousands of National Guard troops and The levee breach left 80% of the city immediately lumbering convoys of supplies. Virtually alone, submerged and 100,000 people stranded. Canal Lieutenant General Russel Honore, commanding Street lived up to its name. As the temperature Joint Task Force Katrina, seemed to be moving rose, the whole city was poached in a vile stew of pieces into place. He was out in the streets with his melted landfill, chemicals, corpses, gasoline, snakes, troops, directing convoys and telling anxious canal rats; many could not escape Was Katrina the worst Guardsmen to keep their weapons their flooded homes without help. pointed down. Among those who could, only a natural disaster in U.S. Americans sometimes ask what final act of desperation would drive history—or the worst the government does and where them into the streets, where the response to a disaster? their tax money goes. Among other caramel waters stank of sewage things, it pays for all kinds of in- and glittered with the gaudy swirls Or both? visible but essential safety nets and of oil spills. A New Orleans TV station reported life belts and guardrails that are useless right up that a woman waded down to Charity Hospital, until the day they are priceless. Following Katrina, floating her husband’s body along on a door. furious critics charged that the government had not For the first time ever, a major U.S. city was heard the warnings. Instead, it cut the funds for simply taken offline, closed down. Food and water flood control and storm preparations and mangled and power and phones were gone; authority was all the chain of command. An angry debate opened but absent. Most of the people left to cope were about how much the demands of the Iraq war, least equipped: the ones whose Social Security on both the budget and the National Guard, were checks were just about due, or those who made for eating into the country’s ability to protect itself at the Greyhound station only to find it already closed, home. Just one month after Katrina struck, Hurri- or those confined to bed or who used a wheel- cane Rita devastated portions of Louisiana and chair. “We’re seeing people that we didn’t know Texas, causing an estimated $9 billion in damage. exist,” declared Federal Emergency Management (Read more about Rita and hurricanes on pages Agency (fema) director Michael Brown in a mo- 26 and 27.) Republican Congressman Jim Mc- ment of hideous accidental honesty. Rescue work- Crery of Louisiana argues that Katrina and Rita ers could hear people pounding on roofs from the have revealed how much doesn’t work. “Clearly,” inside, trapped in attics as the waters rose. The said McCrery, “with all the money we’ve spent, lucky ones were able to cut holes with knives and all the focus we have put on homeland security, we axes to reach the open air. Emergency workers are not prepared for a disaster of this proportion hovered from house to house, plucking out the whether it’s induced by nature or man.” π living, leaving bodies behind. The seething center of the angry Crescent City Questions was the Superdome, refuge of utterly last resort for 1. What event caused by Hurricane Katrina led to 25,000 people who had waited out the worst of the the massive flooding in New Orleans? storm while the sheet-metal roof peeled like fruit, 2. According to critics, what did Katrina reveal letting the rains pour in. Soon there was no light, no about decisions made by the government?

time, september 12, 2005 11 WHEN THE AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY LEVEE BREAKS New Orleans is surrounded by a 350-mile (563 km) system of levees that hold back the waters of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. When three levees New Orleans Under failed, the city filled like a bathtub 17th STREET CANAL Helicopters dropped giant sandbags in an effort to seal the initial breach a /abac t Canal

is heying—kr Levee Levee walls v tra

1 OVERTOPPING 17th St. Floodwaters may have risen past the tops Canal of the levees. The city’s pumping system, breach Lakeview designed to handle smaller storms, lost Metairie power and failed ve. Canal

Orleans A Interstate 10

17th St. Canal

NEW

2 BREACHING Jefferson Memorial Medical Because the flooding didn’t begin Center until after the hurricane, some suspect the levees may have leaked from within. The water Water- pressure would have turned tiny Levee University treatment Hospital cracks into gaping holes plant

Tulane University Memorial Loyola Medical University Center Audubon St. Charles Park Hospital 3 REPAIR Tulane Crews have been trying Hospital to plug the collapsed levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers. Once the levees are sealed, the LOUISIANA SUPERDOME challenge of As aid began to trickle into the city, draining the city thousands waited for evacuation Mississippi River j

begins. That job a could take mes nielsen—afp/get months

TIME Graphic by Ed Gabel and Lon Tweeten; text by Kristina Dell ty images Sources: Dean Gesch, U.S. Geological Survey; Army Corps of Engineers; Digital Globe; New Orleans Times-Picayune. Inset model of downtown New Orleans “Intelligent 3D Map” provided by ITspatial, imagery provided by Sanborn Mapping

12 time, september 12, 2005 Approximate extent of flooding French Quarter The storm passed, and the city had survived. Then a levee broke. Water The worst-case scenario had arrived

Superdome

Lake Pontchartrain University of New Orleans

Pontchartrain London Ave. Park Canal breach

London Ave. Canal DOWNTOWN Second London Ave. City Canal breach MOSTLY DRY Park Much of New Orleans’ main business Mount Olivet district is built Cemetery Interstate 10 on the highest ground in the city. The Superdome Fairgrounds wasn’t so lucky ORLEANS Industrial Charity Hospital St. Claude Canal breach Medical St. Louis Center Cemetery 1 and 2 Canal St.

French Levee Quarter

Arabi

West Bank

WHERE WATER IS HIGHER THAN LAND New Orleans sits in a wide, shallow bowl, with the levees of the Mississippi as one rim and the levees of Lake Pontchartrain Garden District as the other. The bottom of the bowl is filled with small ridges, which created small islands when the city flooded Lake Pontchartrain More than 12 ft. (3.7 m) above City sea level Metairie Park CONVENTION CENTER Lynn Jackson, 46, hugs her daughter john pendygraf after being rescued from her home French Quarter Sea level

t—st. petersburg times Downtown Audubon Park Garden District More than Mississippi River 9 ft. (2.7 m) below Vertical scale is exaggerated sea level

time, september 12, 2005 13 Name Date WORKSHEET✍ The Impact of Hurricane Katrina

In “An American Tragedy” on pages 10 and 11, Nancy Gibbs presents evidence from a variety of sources to help readers understand Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans. Take a closer look at the piece and use the questions below to see how Gibbs uses statistics, quotes and anecdotes to tell the story.

Statistics: The Power of Numbers Anecdotes: The Power of Personal Stories 4. What is an anecdote? Using a dictionary, look 1. As you read “An American Tragedy,” underline each sentence in which writer Nancy Gibbs up anecdote and write the definition here: includes statistics. Then look back at the sen- tences you have underlined. In your opinion, which sentence presents the most powerful and dramatic numbers? Write it here: 5. Now put a box around all the anecdotes that appear in “An American Tragedy.” Select one anecdote that particularly stands out to you and describe it here:

Quotations: The Power of Voices

2. Now circle all the sentences in the article in which Gibbs incorporates quotations. If you 6. Why do you think Gibbs chose to include this were trying to tell a friend about Katrina’s anecdote in her article? impact and had to choose one quotation to convey the storm’s devastating force, which quote would you select? Write it here:

7. Share your work. Exchange worksheets with a classmate and read your partner’s choice of sta- tistics, quotations and anecdotes. Then dis- 3. Why did you select this quotation? Consider cuss: What does each of these elements add to the role of the person being quoted, as well as “An American Tragedy”? Working together, the content of his or her statement. Is this select the one sentence from the article that person an expert? An eyewitness? An ordi- you think best encapsulates the impact of nary citizen? A government official? Katrina. Write it here and be prepared to de- fend your choice:

14 Worksheet Prepared by Time Learning Ventures PERSONS OF THE YEAR An Unlikely Alliance Bill and Melinda Gates have teamed up with Bono, the world’s most famous rock star, to launch a global crusade against poverty

By NANCY GIBBS helped broker that first summit. “He just hap- pens to be a geek who is a fantastic musician.” hese are not the people you expect to And so another alliance was born: unlikely, come to the rescue. Rock stars are designed unsentimental, hard nosed, clear eyed and dead to be shiny, shallow creatures, furloughed set on driving poverty into history. The rocker’s job from reality for all time. Billionaires are is to be raucous, grab our attention. The engi- T even more removed, neers’ job is to make things nestled atop fantastic wealth work. 2005 is the year they where they never again have turned the corner, when Bono to place their own calls or charmed and bullied and defrost dinner or fly on com- morally blackmailed the lead- mercial jets. So Bono spends ers of the world’s richest coun- several thousand dollars at a tries into forgiving $40 billion restaurant for a nice dinner, in debt owed by the poorest; and Bill Gates, the great preda- now those countries can tor of the Internet age, has a spend the money on health trampoline room in his $100 and schools rather than inter- million house. It makes you est payments—and have no think that if these guys can de- more excuses for not doing so. cide to make it their mission The Gateses, having built the to save the world, partner with world’s biggest charity, with a people they would never oth- $29 billion endowment, spent erwise meet, care about causes the year giving more money that are not flashy or dignified away faster than anyone ever in the ways that celebrities normally require, then has, including nearly half a billion dollars for the no one really has a good excuse anymore for just Grand Challenges, in which they asked the very staying on the sidelines and watching. best brains in the world how they would solve a Such is the nature of Bono’s fame that just huge problem, like inventing a vaccine that needs about everyone in the world wants to meet him— no needles and no refrigeration, if they had the except for the richest man in the world, who money to do it. thought it would be a waste of time. It took about For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring three minutes with Bono for Gates to change his politics and re-engineering justice, for making mind. Bill and his wife Melinda, another com- mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring puter nerd turned poverty warrior, love facts and the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and data with a tenderness most people reserve for Bono are Time’s Persons of the Year. their children, and Bono was hurling metrics “Katrina created one tragedy and revealed an- across the table as fast as they could keep up. other,” Melinda Gates said in a speech after the “He was every bit the geek that we are,” says hurricane. “We have to address the inequities Gates Foundation chief Patty Stonesifer, who that were not created by the hurricanes but ex-

time, december 26, 2005 15 PERSONS OF THE YEAR posed by them. We have to ensure that people His rigor has been a blessing to everyone—not have the opportunity to make the most of their least of all Bono, who was at particular risk of not lives.” That just about captures the larger mission being taken seriously, just another guilty white guy she and her husband have embraced. In the poor- pestering people for more money without focus- est countries, every day is as deadly as a hurricane. ing on where it goes. Malaria kills two African children a minute, round The Gates commitment acts as a catalyst. They the clock. In that minute a woman dies from needed the drug companies to come on board, complications during pregnancy, nine people get and the major health agencies, the churches, the infected with hiv, three people die of tb. A vast universities and a whole generation of politicians host of aid workers and agencies and national who were raised to believe that foreign aid was governments and international organizations have about as politically appealing as postal reform. And struggled for years to get ahead of the problem but that is where Bono’s campaign comes in. He goes often fell behind. The task was too big, too com- to churches and talks of Christ and the lepers, cit- plicated. There is no one solution to fit all coun- ing exactly how many passages of Scripture tries, and so the model the Gates (“2,103”) deal with taking care of the Foundation and Bono have em- For rewiring politics poor; he sits in a corporate board- braced pulls in everyone, at every and re-engineering room and talks about the role of aid in level. Think globally. Act carefully. justice, Bill and reviving the U.S. brand. He gets Pat Prove what works. Then use what- Robertson and Susan Sarandon to do ever levers you have to get it done. Melinda Gates and a commercial together for his one The challenge of “stupid poverty”— Bono are TIME’s campaign to “Make Poverty History.” the people who die for want of a $2 Persons of the Year. Bono grasps that politicians don’t pill because they live on $1 a day—was much like being yelled at by activists enough to draw Gates away from Microsoft years who tell them no matter what they do, it’s not before he intended to shift his focus from making enough. Bono knows it’s never enough, but he also money to giving it away. He and Melinda looked knows how to say so in a way that doesn’t leave his around and recognized a systems failure. “Those audience feeling helpless. He invites everyone lives were being treated as if they weren’t valu- into the game, in a way that makes them think able,” Gates told fortune in 2002. “Well, when you that they are missing something if they hold back. have the resources that could make a very big im- This is not about pity. It’s more about passion. pact, you can’t just say to yourself, ‘o.k., when I’m Pity sees suffering and wants to ease the pain; pas- 60, I’ll get around to that. Stand by.’” sion sees injustice and wants to settle the score. There have always been rich and famous people Pity implores the powerful to pay attention; pas- who feel the call to “give back,” which is where big sion warns them about what will happen if they marble buildings and opera houses come from. don’t. The risk of pity is that it kills with kindness; But Bill and Melinda didn’t set out to win any the promise of passion is that it builds on the prizes—or friends. “They’ve gone into interna- hope that the poor are fully capable of helping tional health,” says Paul Farmer, a public-health themselves if given the chance. In 2005, the pioneer, “and said, ‘What, are you guys kidding? world’s poor needed no more condolences; they Is this the best you can do?’ ” Gates’ standards are needed people to get interested, get angry and shaping the charitable marketplace as he has the then get to work. π software universe. “He wants to know where every penny goes,” says Bono, the Irish-born Questions singer whose organization data (debt, aids, trade, 1. What is the aim of the alliance between Bono Africa) got off the ground with a Gates Foundation and the Gates? grant. “Not because those pennies mean so much 2. According to the writer, what makes Bono a to him, but because he’s demanding efficiency.” particularly effective activist?

16 time, december 26, 2005