NOLA Flood walls ‘structurally flawed’?

Preliminary word via New Scientist: Flood walls in New Orleans were 'structurally flawedÂ’:

Concrete flood walls that were supposed to protect New Orleans were not overwhelmed by high waters during Hurricane Katrina as federal officials have claimed, but ruptured because they were structurally flawed, according to Louisiana scientists.

The Bushies are running around trying to prove that environmentalists were to blame for the failure to develop robust levees. R's blame corrupt locals. D's blame R's for slashing budgets. Now it looks like the levees were poorly designed, poorly built, and not maintained well. Not only that, but there is a report (that I can no longer find) that the land beneath New Orleans was subsiding much faster than anyone knew -- meaning they didn't even have as much protection as they thought.

What a mess.