"Former FEMA Director Michael Brown on Wednesday accepted a greater share of the blame for the government's failures after Hurricane Katrina, saying he fell short in conveying the magnitude of the disaster and calling for help."

"'I should have asked for the military sooner. I should have demanded the military sooner,' Brown told a gathering of meteorologists at a ski resort in the Sierra Nevada.

'It was beyond the capacity of the state and local governments, and it was beyond the capacity of FEMA,' said Brown, former head of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Brown's remarks Wednesday stood in contrast to his testimony at a congressional hearing in September, when he blamed most of the government's failures on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin - both Democrats."