Bush: New Orleans Will Rise Again

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush vowed on Thursday night that storm-battered New Orleans and the Gulf Coast would rise again with extensive federal dollars and he ordered a review of emergency planning to avoid a repeat of the chaotic response to Hurricane Katrina.

"Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," Bush said in a televised prime-time speech in the heart of the French Quarter.

Bush's first major speech on the hurricane came as he reels from record-low public approval ratings and faces a public with less confidence in the government's ability to respond to crises, a major theme of his 2004 re-election campaign.

Even many in his own Republican Party had hoped he would have delivered the speech much sooner.

The August 29 hurricane killed more than 700 people in the U.S. Gulf Coast region and displaced 1 million. More from Reuters...

Via the Hurricane Katrina Live News Coverage aggregator.