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| Scene in New Orleans resembles Haiti |
| 2005-09-02 |
| Rotting bodies littered the flooded streets of New Orleans on Thursday and mounting violence threatened to turn into all-out anarchy as thousands of survivors of Hurricane Katrina pleaded to be evacuated, or even just fed. The historic jazz city has fallen prey to armed looters since Katrina tore through and it now more closely resembles Haiti or another Third World trouble spot in a refugee crisis than one of America's most popular vacation centers. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters late on Thursday that National Guard troops were under her orders to "shoot and kill" if needed to restore order. "These troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." Several corpses lay in nearby streets. The body of one elderly woman was simply abandoned in her wheelchair, covered with just a blanket. Officials feared thousands of people were killed but they could still only guess at the death toll. With much of New Orleans flooded and electricity cut off, hospitals struggled to evacuate critically ill patients who were dying for lack of oxygen, insulin or intravenous fluids. One effort to transfer patients was frustrated when a sniper opened fire on doctors and National Guard troops at the Charity Hospital and they had to retreat back into the building. At a city airport, scores of people, many of them seriously ill, waited for flights out to shelter and proper medical care before more of them perish. Experts warned of another possible health catastrophe in coming days as diseases flourish in filthy, contaminated floodwaters on streets covered in garbage and human feces. Sporadic gunfire hampered chaotic and widely criticized rescue efforts throughout Thursday. Residents complained police and troops had failed to tackle the looting and shootings or help in the rescue effort. "We found this one old lady who was sick. We tried to pick her up but the police just drove by. They won't even help sick old ladies," said one man who identified himself as Tracy. Military reinforcements descended and armored personnel carriers patrolled Canal Street, which borders New Orleans' famous French Quarter district of bars and clubs. Search crews were in a desperate race to pluck stranded residents from their homes, some clinging to the roof or any spot they could find above the water line. Survivors were still being pulled out, but the corpses were left behind. Senior Pentagon officials said the National Guard force on the storm-ravaged Gulf coast would be raised to 30,000, and 3,000 regular Army soldiers may also be sent in to tackle armed gangs that have looted stores across New Orleans. "We will not tolerate lawlessness, or violence, or interference with the evacuation," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said. The boost would bring to nearly 50,000 the number of part-time Guard and active-duty military personnel in the biggest domestic relief and security effort in U.S. history. On the ground, however, there was still no sign the mayhem was being brought under control, and residents feared further violence and bloodshed once darkness fell. Thousands waited hours or waded through floodwaters to seek rides out of New Orleans. Buses began shipping survivors from the Superdome 350 miles west to another stadium, the Astrodome in Houston, although not as quickly as hoped. A million people fled the New Orleans area before Katrina hit but tens of thousands of others were unable to get out or could not afford to make the journey. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #20 I've just begun my second Hurricane Season with the SBA-Disaster Assistance Office in Ft. Worth. I'm slated to head out next week to one of the remote field offices. However, I have already spent some time dealing with some of the Disaster "victims". Even my Black coworkers HATE these NO blacks with a passion. One even says that these worthless *NI**ERS* need killing. We need some old fashioned death squads in this country, and they need to start with the Demos and Libs. Homey |
| Posted by: Homer 2005-09-02 22:52 |
| #19 CrazyFool---LTC Kurilla is recovering from his gunshot wounds from Mosul. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-09-02 22:46 |
| #18 Bet on it, you're very shortly going to be hard-pressed to find anyplace that is willing to take this last group of people left in NOLA. It won't take long for word to spread about what is happening elsewhere in places that accepted Superdome and Convention Center refugees. No city administration wants a bunch of potentially violent, crime-prone poor blacks coming to their town. Many of these people are going to be in "temporary" shelters for years to come; no one is going to want the responsibility for managing and funding that problem. Could we be seeing the birth of the American Palastinians here |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2005-09-02 14:52 |
| #17 But ZF, in your analysis you forgot all the New Orleans COPS that are criminals. That should lower the ratio of cops to criminals significantly. : ) |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-09-02 13:03 |
| #16 The scene WOULD resemble Haiti if there weren't a bunch of 400 pound poor folks shambling around. As an American, I have to say, that we have the fattest poor folks in the world. |
| Posted by: Leigh 2005-09-02 12:42 |
| #15 Where's Rudy? Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-09-02 11:48 |
| #14 Header: Scene in New Orleans resembles Haiti Some day, they might get to saying this - scene in Haiti resembles New Orleans. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-09-02 11:21 |
| #13 So what is Kruilla doing these days? Put him in charge - he'll be better then any of the asswhipes in there now..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-09-02 11:01 |
| #12 Did they heli-drop some PBR's in there? Besides getting around quickly, a couple of Ma Deuces can give you a very nice...edge in an urban combat environment. |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-09-02 10:28 |
| #11 Whomever is "leading" this effort for FEMA should be fired TODAY! They need Chuck Horner to come in and take charge of the logistics. Bottom line is they need a Doer and not a planner. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-09-02 10:17 |
| #10 mac: The reality is that blacks commit a vastly disproportionate amount of violent crime relative to their numbers in this country. The Federal crime statistics show it year after year. NOLA was a badly crime-ridden city before, with most of its crime committed by blacks on other blacks. The Katrina-caused chaos has only exacerbated an already existing trend and brought it out into the open. For political reasons neither Blanco nor Nagin wants to admit that and neither wants to face the liberal opprobrium that would follow a hard shoot-to-kill-on-sight order to stop looting. Consequently, the looting will continue with extremely pernicious effects both in NOLA and wherever the next hurricane hits. Correcto. New Orleans has 300 cops per 100,000 population, whereas NYC has 500 cops per 100,000 population. But NO's population is 67% black, whereas NYC's is only 20% black. A minority of blacks males are criminals. (I don't say a tiny minority because liberals, citing this number as an example of society's (i.e., the white man's) inhumanity to the black man, say that 1/3 of black men have been through the criminal justice system). But if we assume - from the numbers above - that black males are 33,000 per 100,000 of NO's population, you have 11,000 criminals per 100,000 of its population. If we assume - again from the preceding numbers - that black males are 10,000 per 100,000 of NYC's population, we have have 3,333 criminals per 100,000 of its population. Thus, NO has 300 cops per 100,000 people to deal with 11,000 black criminals per 100,000 people, whereas NYC has 500 cops per 100,000 cops to deal with 3,333 black criminals per 100,000 people. Bottom line - each NO cop has to deal with 37 black criminals, whereas each NYC cop has to deal with only 7 black criminals. Bottom line - NYC's coverage is almost 6 times NO's. What NO needs is either more cops or really draconian penalties that are enforced. But when 11% of the electorate is composed of criminals, how are you going to either get additional funding for cops or political support for the stiffening of penalties for criminals? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-09-02 10:16 |
| #9 Many of these people are going to be in "temporary" shelters for years to come... Why does that remind me of the UN program for the Paleos in the West Bank and Gaza? Maybe time for harsh reality to set in. Tell those who've lost everything [no insurance, no resources] that they have nothing to go back to now anyway. Then resettle small groups in medium to large communities through out the US. Its either that, or when your time runs out, kick them out of the shelter. I think most will opt for relocation. |
| Posted by: Thinenter Phineque8219 2005-09-02 09:25 |
| #8 Ah, the evil of PC raises its ugly head even here. Most--the vast majority--of NOLA looters are black. If the National Guard/NOLA police shot every looter they saw, you'd soon have some bastard like Jesse the Jack or Rev. Al claiming it was all racially motivated and "the Man was putting the 'Final Solution' on the poor blacks of NOLA." The reality is that blacks commit a vastly disproportionate amount of violent crime relative to their numbers in this country. The Federal crime statistics show it year after year. NOLA was a badly crime-ridden city before, with most of its crime committed by blacks on other blacks. The Katrina-caused chaos has only exacerbated an already existing trend and brought it out into the open. For political reasons neither Blanco nor Nagin wants to admit that and neither wants to face the liberal opprobrium that would follow a hard shoot-to-kill-on-sight order to stop looting. Consequently, the looting will continue with extremely pernicious effects both in NOLA and wherever the next hurricane hits. Bet on it, you're very shortly going to be hard-pressed to find anyplace that is willing to take this last group of people left in NOLA. It won't take long for word to spread about what is happening elsewhere in places that accepted Superdome and Convention Center refugees. No city administration wants a bunch of potentially violent, crime-prone poor blacks coming to their town. Many of these people are going to be in "temporary" shelters for years to come; no one is going to want the responsibility for managing and funding that problem. |
| Posted by: mac 2005-09-02 07:00 |
| #7 ..The first troops in at least had specific orders NOT to fire, even though the terror was well underway. God willing, that will lead to a few impeachments afterwards. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-09-02 06:55 |
| #6 Article: Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters late on Thursday that National Guard troops were under her orders to "shoot and kill" if needed to restore order. "These troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." Nowhere in the governor's statement did she say she had authorized the troops to shoot looters. The reporter infers that she gave the order. But Blanco herself appears not to have said that she has given this authority. What this means is that she is hoping that the soldiers will act on their own authority, giving her an out, and getting themselves in trouble, for unauthorized shootings. Blanco is some piece of work. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-09-02 03:26 |
| #5 NOPD is incompetent at best it looks like, and the National Guard don't want to end up shooting they're own family who could be in there. You need to bring in out-of-state Guard and have them systematically sweep up and down the city looking for trouble. Word gets around quick about looting sites, so a couple of hoodlums getting shot in the head should spread fast too. |
| Posted by: Charles 2005-09-02 01:45 |
| #4 Sporadic gunfire hampered chaotic and widely criticized rescue efforts. Someone took the time to actually criticize rescue efforts? From the video that I've seen, they seemed pretty good at it. Can't blame them for retreating when confronted with gunfire though. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-09-02 00:59 |
| #3 One effort to transfer patients was frustrated when a sniper opened fire on doctors and National Guard troops at the Charity Hospital and they had to retreat back into the building. This guy should be hunted down and made an example of in the most horrifying of ways. Good practice for Navy SEALs. Get them in there. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-09-02 00:51 |
| #2 These troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." Gads, she's incompetent... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-09-02 00:49 |
| #1 They have M-16s and are locked and loaded "loaded and locked" was the original but nobody says that anymore after John Wayne reversed the order. Back to the point...at this point, why bother stopping the looting? Most of the stuff will go to the garbage during clean up anyway. Concentrate on protection for the rescuers. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-09-02 00:48 |