US Senator Hillary Clinton has insisted on an independent inquiry into the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and sharply rejected President George W. Bush's bid to lead the probe himself.

Clinton told CNN that she doesn't think the government should investigate itself, as the polemics intensified over last week's storm, which left New Orleans in chaos and thousands feared dead on the US Gulf Coast.

The New York Democrat and former first lady said on CBS television that she doesn't believe either the president or the Congress can conduct an objective and independent investigation.

Clinton, considered a potential White House candidate in 2008, has taken a lead role in criticizing the Bush administration for the sluggish early efforts to dispatch troops and relief supplies to hurricane-hit areas.

She wrote Bush a critical letter over the weekend and visited New Orleans evacuees in the Houston, Texas, Astrodome stadium. She held a major news conference on Tuesday before making the rounds of television stations on Wednesday.

Senate Republicans have announced investigations into the government's handling of Katrina. Bush, who has acknowledged shortcomings, promised Tuesday to lead an inquiry into "what went wrong."

But Clinton is pushing for the creation of an independent "Katrina Commission" along the lines of the panel reluctantly named by Bush that issued a voluminous report on the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Source: CRI/agencies