The AP article is fatally compromised by its factual errors, and adds nothing to our understanding of the issues surrounding Hurricane Katrina. It also raises an important point about the leaks that form the basis for many news stories these days. The AP took what appears to have been a substantial quantity of leaked material, and turned it into a brief against the Bush administration. Whether the documents themselves contain anything noteworthy, and whether, on balance, they support the AP's tendentious interpretation, is impossible to tell. In view of the fact that no one trusts the AP, the New York Times and other news outlets who make use of leaked documents and other materials to report on them objectively, here is a modest proposal: let us see them. If the AP will release the leaked materials, the rest of us will quickly figure out what significance, if any, they have.

UPDATE:  Flopping Aces tracked back to this post and has more.

UPDATE2:  Captains Quarters has more.  I also heard somewhere that this may not have been a leak, but just a regurgitation of media that the Administration supplied to the media months ago -- this time twisted to make their case that Bush knew and it's all his fault.  If I come across that info I'll pass it on.

UPDATE3:  The AP published a retraction...