Posted on 09/02/2005 5:40:24 AM PDT by Dog
President to speak at 9am ...
The Real News
The following is the result of an interview I just conducted via cell phone with a New Orleans citizen stranded at the Convention Center. I don't know what you're hearing in the mainstream media or in the press conferences from the city and state officials, but here is the truth:
"Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:
Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.
It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.
Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.
There are many infants and elderly people among them, as well as many people who were injured jumping out of windows to escape flood water and the like -- all of them in dire straights.
Any attempt to flag down police results in being told to get away at gunpoint. Hour after hour they watch buses pass by filled with people from other areas. Tensions are very high, and there has been at least one murder and several fights. 8 or 9 dead people have been stored in a freezer in the area, and 2 of these dead people are kids.
The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single file lines with the eldery in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians.
The buses never stop.
Before the supplies were pitched off the bridge today, people had to break into buildings in the area to try to find food and water for their families. There was not enough. This spurred many families to break into cars to try to escape the city. There was no police response to the auto thefts until the mob reached the rich area -- Saulet Condos -- once they tried to get cars from there... well then the whole swat teams began showing up with rifles pointed. Snipers got on the roof and told people to get back.
He reports that the conditions are horrendous. Heat, mosquitoes and utter misery. The smell, he says, is "horrific."
He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever, and he wants to know why they were told to go to the Convention Center area in the first place; furthermore, he reports that many of them with cell phones have contacts willing to come rescue them, but people are not being allowed through to pick them up.
I have "Bigfoot"'s phone number and will gladly give it to any city or state official who would like to tell him how everything is under control.
Addendum: Bigfoot just called to report that "they" (the authorities) are cleaning up the dead bodies at the Convention Center right now.
I may have missed the report but has the mayor or Gov of LA made a trip to NO as of yet?
Well, then give them credit for sticking to it...
Tro The problem didn't get out of hand until Tuesday. On Monday night the MSM were still talking about how NO had "dodged the bullet."
Okay, then he should announce on TV that he's asking congress to declare martial law.
We can play this game all day. Bottom line, in times of national crisis, the buck stops at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
"I just don't understand why Bush's confidence and verve have disappeared: again this morning, he was halting, disconnected, and unsure of himself." Maybe he has bigger things on his mind besides the storm.
Now it is up to the feds to bail them out. It's not fair, but that's the way it is.
And the whole country is watching this, wondering if the administration is up to the task.
I think most people do not realize how close those in the Superdome came to being wiped out.
Had Katrina not weakened a bit and veered east in the last hours, the Superdome would probably have not survived.
That is bad planning.
"Uh, well let's see. Could it be because he (Eisenhower) was enforcing FEDERAL law?"
And "uh, well let's see." Could it be that there are a dozen or so recent federal laws on the books since 9/11 that could authorize the use of troops?
Yeah! He should have summoned Poseidon to pull the waters back. I'm furious!!!
I totally agree. I'm a big Bush supporter, but this is ridiculous. Granted, NOLA has huge problems with crime, and all the inmates are running the show right now like some Mad Max movie. If we can't get a grip on a natural disaster, how will we respond to a terrorist attack?
We should have had military security down there immediately with a bunch of cattle trucks and semis (installed with a porta-potty) to round up all the rioters, gangbangers and looters. When evacuating the SuperDome or the NO Convention Center, leave the felons and convert it to a jail.
Water, first aid, radios, and MREs should be airdropped to the areas of need.
Drop leaflets to warn looters will be shot. Make an example of one.
Get Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson down there calm down the populace.
Restoring order is not rocket science... it just takes initiative and guts.
Then somebody should be saying that. Half of this effort is perception. And the perception is that nobody knows what the hell they're doing.
There are no explanations, there's no reassurance, there's no detailing of logistics, there's no timetables (other than to say that the 30,000 Guardspeople will be in place THREE DAMNED DAYS from now).
Look, I love this president, but he has two people in charge of the worst single disaster to ever face this country who have ZERO experience with disasters.
Forget Blanco and Nagin. They should be shoved to the side, and somebody who will inspire some confidence should become the face of this response. Chertoff is not it, Brown is not it, and, unfortunately, Bush is not it, so far.
Being an avid reader of history, especially WW II history, one thing I have noticed about the US in times of war - the first months are full of general incompentancy and ineptitude. Why? Because we had many years of peace and those in the military are not the warriors we need or the warriors we need are of low rank yet their star and rank grows as the war goes on. Incompetants get demoted and shuffled out. Same thing with FEMA. They have not had to answer to something like this before and now they are in the crosshairs. People will be fired and more compentant people will take their place. Even though the s**t hits the fan in times of crisis, the cream rises to the top.
Welcome to FR.
I don't know, but he should. Part of his job is to manage his image, to appear to be in control, to provide leadership and comfort to the nation in times of trouble. And I *agree* with you that the local officials should bear most of the blame. But the fact of the matter is that most of the country doesn't understand this. All they see is a city looking like Mogadishu and an administration that appears not to be in control.
Dude, even the liberal pollsters at CBS show that only a vast minority of Americans feel the way you do.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1475420/posts
They see that the mayhem in New Orleans is not the President's fault.
The only people who refuse to see it are the shrieking liberals who are lamenting the widescale, televised failure of their social engineering of Black America into a perpetual state of dependence.
Don't blame people who aren't responsible.
hehehehe!
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