Ambushed by Nature --Khaleej Times Online

Khaleej Times Online: "PRESIDENT George W. Bush managed to rough it through the worst terrorist attack on the United States and come out looking stronger than ever. He launched two wars in the Middle East — Afghanistan and Iraq — and still held his ground, politically and in the polls. But in the end it was Mother Nature that did the most harm to President Bush and his administration.

In the final analysis it was not the war in Iraq — the absence of weapons of mass destruction, allegedly the reason over which the country went to war only to find out they didn’t exist; nor was it the Abu Ghraib prisoners abuse scandal; and neither was it the mounting death toll that now stands past 1,800 dead American servicemen and women; nor was it the quagmire that Iraq has become.

Neither was the president greatly disturbed by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a 24-year-old slain soldier camped outside his Texas ranch. No, in the end it was Mother Nature that vanquished him and lost him many of his followers.

Mother Nature in the form of Hurricane Katrina has caused massive devastation across a large swath of the southern US, drawing heavy criticism for the president, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross, as well as at a number of local, state and federal agencies. The criticism of the president is the harshest he has seen thrown his way since he began his first presidency in 2000."