ITALY: Controversial director Spike Lee says the U.S. is not prepared for another major hurricane and denounced U.S. President Bush's recent visit to New Orleans

Just days after the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, film director Spike Lee unveiled his latest film at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, (September 1), "When the Levees Broke" - a documentary about the aftermath of one of the worst hurricanes to impact New Orleans, Louisiana. Responding to questions if Katrina could happen again, Lee said: "It's gonna happen again. I mean if, thank the Lord that Ernesto did not hit New Orleans because the flood walls or levee system can't take it..so...what's amazing is that a little country like Holland, the Netherlands have a state-of-the-art levee system and the United States can't do what they do." To mark the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, U.S. President George W. Bush visited New Orleans on Tuesday (August 29) and took full responsibility for the federal government's response to the devastation; however, Spike Lee wasn't impressed "President (George W.) Bush... made all these false promises to people, people are still destitute, people are still off in a bad way and I think it is very important that this film is here to show the world that despite what President Bush, it is not the way it seems," Lee said. Approximately 1,500 people across the U.S. Gulf Coast died due to the storm. New Orleans flooded due to breached levees, and canals that protect the city, which is located below sea-level. The storm is attributed with causing the deaths of almost 1,500 people and 80 billion U.S. dollars in damage across the Gulf Coast.

ITN Source | September 4, 2006

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