Bush visits Kansas town devastated by tornado (Roundup)

Washington - US President George W Bush on Wednesday toured a Kansas town virtually wiped out by a tornado last week, getting his first look at devastation in which 10 people died. Television images showed Bush smiling and shaking hands with residents of Greensburg, where the courthouse and a grain elevator reportedly were the only structures left intact by Friday's twister. 'A lot of us have seen the pictures about what happened here and pictures don't do it justice,' Bush said after touring the area. 'There is a lot of destruction.' Bush wanted to comfort survivors in the small Midwestern town and pledge the federal government's support for rebuilding, the White House said. Too many people died in the disaster, Bush said, but added he was impressed by residents' willingness to rebuild and how they had helped each other through the tragedy. The Republican president has been on the defensive about the government's reaction to natural disasters since the bungled federal response to Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the iconic Gulf Coast city of New Orleans in 2005. 'Our role as government officials is to work with the states and local folks to get whatever help is appropriate here, whatever help is in the law be here as quickly as possible,' Bush said. 'My mission is to - today, though, is to lift people's spirits as best as I possibly can and to hopefully touch somebody's soul by representing our country, and to let people know that while there was a dark day in the past, there's brighter days ahead.' The Bush administration has fought charges by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, that relief efforts were hampered because many of the state's National Guard units were deployed in Iraq. Sebelius and Bush's national security adviser Frances Townsend discussed the matter by telephone Tuesday, and the governor said there were 'no shortages,' White House spokesman Tony Snow said. National Guard units are part-time troops who can be called out by states to help in emergencies but also sent abroad on combat duty. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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SighMay 9th, 2007 - 20:06:35

Oh yeah, where are those National Guard troops anyway? Oh, right, fighting war in Iraq who had nothing to do with 9-11 and posed no imminent threat to the US or our allies. Gee I hope there aren't any major natural disasters when GWB tries to push for war in Iran...

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Kansas1May 9th, 2007 - 21:40:18

You are a moron. What have you done to solve these problems you speak of? You are what is wrong with American today.

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LibMay 9th, 2007 - 23:46:05

Bush is a disgusting, immoral, lying, incompetant, phony, evil (in)human being who must be impeached NOW, before he harms the country further. He should be in prison for what he has taken part in, and/or directly ordered while in office.
Get involved. Save the country. Work to impeach.

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Something wrong? ...May 10th, 2007 - 04:28:03

I'm surprised there's only 3 comments on an article that has bush in the title, and only just 2 of them talkin about how much they hate him and not talking about the article's subject matter at all.

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Bush visits Kansas town devastated by tornado (Roundup)

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