Criticisms of federal relief effort rejected by Bush

US: President George W. Bush's tour of New Orleans yesterday was one of the most unusual presidential visits a major American city has ever witnessed. There no cheering crowds, no protesters, no police outriders to clear traffic and no civic ceremonies.

Mr Bush toured the city-centre in an open-topped army personnel carrier, crammed beside Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and ducking occasionally to avoid a slack electricity cable. Almost the entire population of New Orleans has left the city, so the only onlookers were soldiers, police officers, recovery workers and journalists.

The president had a briefing on the recovery operation aboard an aircraft-carrier before meeting fire-fighters and other emergency workers. Talking to reporters afterwards, Mr Bush denied that the rescue effort in New Orleans had been too slow because so many of those left stranded in the city were African-Americans or people on low incomes.

"The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort. When those coast guard choppers, who were often the first on the scene, were picking people up off roofs, they didn't check the colour of a person's skin. They just wanted to save lives," he said.

Half of New Orleans is still under water and in some districts, such as Slidell, houses remain submerged up to the gables. But much has improved over the past few days, with a lot of the rubbish having been cleared from the streets and power returning to parts of the city's business district.

Mr Bush said that the disaster could offer lessons on how America might prepare better for threats such as terrorist attacks with biological weapons. He suggested that the federal government could gain the right to intervene in disasters without an invitation from the affected state.

"We need to make sure that this country is knitted up as well as it can be in order to deal with significant problems and disasters. Meantime, we've got to keep moving forward. And I know there has been a lot of second-guessing. I can assure you I'm not interested in that. What I'm interested in is solving problems. And there'll be time to take a step back and to take a sober look at what went right, what didn't go right," he said.

Michael Brown, the replaced head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, waited until Mr Bush had left New Orleans before resigning yesterday.

FEMA has been blamed for the slow federal response and for a lack of co-ordination in the rescue operation, and Mr Brown faces claims that he doctored his CV before getting the job.

In New Orleans, Mr Bush gave no hint of Mr Brown's impending resignation but snapped at a reporter who asked if the president was disappointed with the federal relief effort.

"Look, there will be plenty of time to play the blame game. That's what you're trying to do. You're trying to say somebody is at fault. And, look, I want to know. I want to know exactly what went on and how it went on, and we'll continually assess inside my administration."

Aircraft began spraying New Orleans with the insecticide Naled yesterday afternoon.

This spraying is expected to continue for six weeks to reduce the number of mosquitoes.

The city's water treatment plant was back in operation yesterday and New Orleans Airport will start limited passenger flights today.

As power returned to parts of the city-centre, neon lights were burning again at the casino and outside the Hard Rock Café at Jackson Square. Business owners were allowed to return to the city-centre briefly yesterday to make emergency repairs and retrieve essential items.

The authorities have quietly dropped a threat to use force to evacuate all remaining residents from New Orleans. Lt-Gen Russel Honore, who commands the military operation in the city, said that his forces would not take part in any such operation, which he said was a matter for state and local officials.

The massive national guard presence has effectively snuffed out crime in New Orleans, a reassuring development for business owners.

More than 3,000 national guard soldiers came home to Louisiana from Iraq at the weekend to help with the relief effort and rejoin their families.

Mr Bush dismissed claims that the invasion of Iraq had left the US armed forces too overstretched to deal with natural disasters at home.

"We've got plenty of troops to do both. It is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there weren't enough troops. We're moving on, we're going to solve these problems," he said.