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Bush to Visit Hurricane Areas
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(http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=ED16F2:3919ACA

President will visit three hardest-hit states: Mississippi, Alabama,
and Louisiana, including New Orleans





Scene near Superdome in New OrleansPresident Bush will tour the
hurricane-ravaged U.S. Gulf Coast on Friday. Mr. Bush says it is one
of the worst natural disasters the nation has ever faced.

The president will visit the three hardest-hit states: Mississippi,
Alabama, and Louisiana, including the flooded city of New Orleans.

Aides say he will make multiple stops, and will survey the damage from
the air and on the ground. They say he will travel with the smallest
entourage possible, so as not to disrupt rescue and relief efforts.

The White House also announced Mr. Bush has asked former Presidents
George Bush and Bill Clinton to lead a national drive to raise private
funds to help the hurricane victims. It will be similar to the
fund-raising effort the president's father and immediate predecessor
led after the Indian Ocean tsunami.







George W. Bush speaks to Diane Sawyer on Good Morning AmericaShortly
before those announcements were made, the president made an
unscheduled appearance on the ABC television program Good Morning
America. He said the government is conducting a massive relief effort,
but added he understands the frustration of those still waiting for
help.

In some cases, that frustration has led to lawlessness and looting.
The president stressed such action will not be tolerated. He made
specific mention not only of looting, but price gauging by gasoline
stations, and insurance fraud, in essence, any action that takes
unfair advantage of the situation.

The White House says Mr. Bush has personally ordered the Justice
Department to take action necessary to deal with lawbreaking related
to the storm. He is also directing his aides to start assessing the
economic impact of the disaster in preparation for making an emergency
budget request to Congress.




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