[livius]

What an ass. They should all be fired, if not brought up on charges.

[SE Mom]

God how I detest this.

[mewzilla]

I understand a lot of the NOPD bugged out. Riley had better not be attacking the Guard after so many of his cops were AWOL.

[Echo Talon]

Was it the Race Card?

[flashbunny]

I wonder if this was the same guy I saw on tv saying "Where is the government!??!?!?"

Note to police: YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT!!!

[FreePaul]

When New Orleans deputy police commander W.S. Riley finds his "police force" maybe he can ask them where they were during and after the Hurricane. Does anyone know where they are?

[FlingWingFlyer]

Riley screwed the pooch and now he wants to point his crooked little finger at somebody else. It was YOUR job amigo! Not the National Guard!

[cripplecreek]

The guardsmen are lucky there were any cards left after the cops helped to loot the stores.

[mtbopfuyn]

Or it could be that no one anticipated the gov. and mayor could be such bozos. Could be no one anticipated 25% of the city wouldn't have heeded the warnings. Could be that no one anticipated so many of that 25% would sit on a curb complaining the dropped drinking water was warm rather than walk up the street to shelters. Could be no one anticipated rescuers and doctors would be attacked.

[imskylark]

Some National guard troops were there before the hurricane hit and who calls in the National Guard? Isn't it the Governor? Why are all the local and state responsibilities now being laid at the feet of the federal government?

[SouthernFreebird]

Lordy all this bitching about the help they got has really put me in a giving mode....

[TomGuy]

All the officials are point fingers, trying to cast blame on someone else.

Which is exactly the point that caused the problem in the first place -- no one stepped up to the plate to take responsibility before, during, or days after.

[razzle]

The French just love this stuff.

[Cicero]

The timeline makes it absolutely clear that the riots were due to the failure of the mayor, the chief of police, and the police in general. They were the ones who were there on the spot, and they are the ones who failed to control the situation.

According to some reports posted here, Louisiana police participated in the looting. If true, they should be punished.

Did National Guardsmen play cards? Maybe so. So what? I've been in the military, and the motto has always been "Hurry up and wait." If someone pulled out a deck of cards while waiting for orders or for transportation, so what?

[SeaBiscuit]

BS. This 'police officer' is covering for their own incompetence.. wouldn't doubt he was looting himself.

[syriacus]

A top New Orleans police officer said that National Guard troops sat around playing cards while people died in the stricken city after Hurricane Katrina.

Just the facts, Officer Riley.

Exactly which national Guard troops were playing cards?
and
Exactly where were they playing cards?

[neodad]

"Many officers lost their homes or their families and there are many we have not heard from. Some officers could not handle the pressure and left. I don't know if we have 800 or thousands today."

STFU! The truth will emerge about the state and local debacle that this was.

[whershey]

Poor leadership will do that.

[MNJohnnie]

What a complete moron. This is why N.O. is such a disaster area today. This idiot does NOT even understand how the emergency system HE is suppose to be a vital cog of works. The Guard is UNDER STATE GOVERMENT command. It has NOTHING to do with the "Feds" when it was sent into NO. Couldn't be they played cards because the New Orleans Police had totally lost control of the streets and their was nothing UNARMED National Guards troops COULD do about it.

[SunnySide]

Guardsmen 'played cards' amid New Orleans chaos:
Agence France-Presse

.....

I see the French are PRESSing out NEW cheese. Losers