Refusing to fall on the sword Brown defends self..

From here:

WASHINGTON — Drawing fire from members of Congress over his efforts to coordinate the response and prepare adequately for Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA chief Michael Brown (search) told a House committee Tuesday that his biggest mistake was not realizing early enough that local and state governments in Louisiana were "dysfunctional."

A defiant Brown said he should have known two days before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast that preparations were not going well inside state and local agencies.

Brown vigorously defended himself and was quick to point out (rightfully so) the woefully inadequate local and state responses prior to and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Look, I know that Brown & FEMA weren't blameless in this situation; but I applaud the man for calling a spade a spade and not falling on the sword in deference to local and state officials, who have largely been in CYA mode ever since Katrina hit the Louisiana shoreline. Like I've been saying all along, rhetoric from Nagin and Blanco has largely been toned down as of late, because they know that any ensuing investigation resultant of their complaining will most certainly expose their own negligence and incompetence.