Hurricane Katrina disabled Bush's attempts to overcome declining support for the Iraq war on the fourth anniversary of the 11 September attacks. Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington At 8.46am on Sunday 11 September, US networks aired a moment of silence during which many Americans, including United States President George W Bush and his top aides, stood to mark the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. The silence was, however, brief, and TV networks were quick to return to their regular, two-week long, non-stop reporting on the devastating effects and losses inflicted by Hurricane Katrina on the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. There were no discussions or lengthy reports on what the anniversary meant for Americans, none of the usual stories told by relatives and friends, or even an evaluation of whether President Bush's ongoing "war on terror" had succeeded in meeting its main goal of making America and the world safer. Instead, networks focussed on Katrina and the heated debate it has stirred regarding the performance of the federal government and local authorities. The more thorny issues related to race and poverty in America were also addressed. All things considered, the major national US newspapers came out on Sunday with only a few stories related to the fourth anniversary of the attacks. The New York Times hardly mentioned the anniversary on its front page, while The Washington Post used the event to run a story on whether the US capital, Washington DC, was prepared to face a similar terrorist attack, particularly in light of the obvious failure of federal authorities to respond immediately to the disasters caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana -- so far the city most damaged by the horrific winds and flood water. Shortly before the hurricane hit the Gulf of Mexico two weeks ago, there were obvious indications that the Bush administration was building up preparations to make use of the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in an attempt to shore up support for the weakened president, whose popularity ratings fell to unprecedented levels due to growing domestic dissatisfaction over the war in Iraq. Despite his declining popularity, a clear majority -- 56 to 60 per cent -- continued to give Bush credit for his policy in confronting "terror". As the anniversary of the attacks came closer, President Bush and his top aides reiterated how Iraq has turned into the "central front" in their war on terror, highlighting the need to confront terrorists abroad, and their ambitious, generations- long project to spread hope and democracy throughout the Middle East. Yet Hurricane Katrina turned those plans upside down, forcing President Bush to mark the anniversary of the event by conducting a third visit to the devastated regions in the hope of restoring his popularity rating, which dropped even further as many Americans blamed his administration for the delay in rescue efforts. In two polls published on Sunday by Newsweek and Time magazine, Bush's popularity stood at 38 per cent and 42 per cent respectively, the lowest ever since he reached the White House five years ago. In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush devoted most of his remarks to the progress made so far in relief effort and the provision of refuge for the 250,000 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He made brief reference to the anniversary of the 11 September attacks, linking the two events by praising the compassion and solidarity displayed by Americans. "Today, America is confronting another disaster that has caused destruction and loss of life. This time the devastation resulted not from the malice of evil men, but from the fury of water and wind." Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Sunday denied claims of faltering support for the US mission against terror in Iraq and the broader Middle East. Sponsoring what was named as the "Freedom Walk", an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people marched from the Pentagon buildings in northern Virginia to downtown Washington DC where they gathered to listen to country music. The Pentagon, requiring participants to pre-register, tightly controlled the event, and distributed free t-shirts and US flags to those who took part. Police reportedly arrested a few anti-war protesters who tried to take part in or obstruct the march. In a short editorial on Sunday, the New York Times sought to partly explain the reasons behind such a decline in interest on the anniversary of the attacks, particularly after Hurricane Katrina. The paper said that for the past three years, "we [have] looked back on that day's events [11 September] as the most terrible thing that could happen on American soil... But by the time the hurricane died, it became clear that this hurricane would force us to revise 9/11 which, until now, had defined the limits of tragedy in America." It added that "given the area it affected and its potential death toll, Katrina perfectly simulated a much larger terrorist attack than the one that hit New York. It was nearly nuclear in scale." However, the significant difference was that in the response to the hurricane, "leaders did not lead, and on many counts the federal government was less prepared to respond than it had been when the World Trade Center towers still stood."
