Posted on 09/09/2005 2:09:43 AM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
"It looked like Somalia, not the United States of America… There were dead bodies next to the baggage claim. There were guys with machetes trying to protect their families. One guy had an AR-15… People were urinating in buckets… It was like the end of the world. Federal Air Marshals are supposed to be pretty tough, but some of us were breaking down."
Those are the haunting words of a Federal Air Marshal (FAM) with whom I recently spoke, a man just back from a five-day tour of duty as part of a team evacuating victims of Hurricane Katrina out of New Orleans via the Louis Armstrong International Airport. FAMs were among the first law enforcement officers on the scene, tasked with a nearly impossible job: restore order at an airport where thousands were trying desperately to evacuate.
It started early Friday morning (September 2, 2005) with a message on his PDA: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had ordered all FAMs within driving distance of the New Orleans airport to get there as quickly and as safely as humanly possible.
To do so, approximately 30 FAMs from the Houston, Texas, office set out on the six-hour journey traveling in a convoy of Chevy Suburbans with the lights flashing. One group drove in a rented RV -- a choice that would prove critical as this vehicle would end up serving as FAMs command post once the group got to the airport. It would also house the hundreds of weapons the FAMs would eventually confiscate from the evacuees before they boarded passenger planes.
(Excerpt) Read more at womenswallstreet.com ...
snip ----
"By Saturday, the National Guard showed up and by Sunday, the 82nd airborne came with 4,000 soldiers. It was great they finally got there but we sure could have used them Friday. Al Gore came in with a planeload of supplies. Rumsfield was there. There was this one senator, I don't know his name, he shows up with a thing [stethoscope] around his neck, four aides and a photographer. Boy, was he milking it, taking pictures of himself. I thought to myself, this is pathetic. People are dying."
I thought you all might find this interesting.
Any idea on the name of the Senator?
Bill Frist?
Yes I saw him mugging on FNC as the 1st sen/doc on scene.
Sorry no pun intended just saw your screen name as I hit the post button
The senator spent the day treating diabetics for low blood sugar and dealing with cases of high blood pressure and dehydration....After overnighting in Nashville, following his day in New Orleans, Frist planned to return to the Gulf Coast on Sunday to work in storm-ravaged areas of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as returning with supplies [Frist was travelling in his private plane] to New Orleans.
So Frist is taking pictures for his run for the presidency.
Those Marshals described a terribly grim scene.
That was the first thing that popped into my head. At least he wasn't arranging rocks into the form of crosses on the beach. /s
Second thought was that he was documenting his trip in case the Dems get control again & sic the IRS onto him & question the charitable deduction he takes on his income taxes for use of his private plane for charity work...
I have to say that, in the photo, it sure looks like he put in a hard days' work. He looks wrung out.
Note the author of the article. She is the woman who wrote about those people rehearsing hijackings on a plane. Remember, they were musicians or so it was said who were acting suspiciously on a plane and terrifying everyone. And she exposed it, followed it up and kept writing about it.
Good writer and good citizen.
Great article. Thanks for posting it.
Excellent article- thanks!
I hadn't noticed who the reporter was but now that you mention it, she IS the one who wrote that frightening article about the "musicians" who seemed to be staking out an airplane and deliberately frightening the passengers.
Yep. I found their observations ie: Frist interesting. Interesting the media didn't report all this stuff at the Airport.
That was what went through my mind. We saw the Sean Penn scene -- it doesn't help for Republicans to try and do the same thing.
You know she has turned it into a book. Supposed to be released any day now. I read a followup recently where she did finally receive a visit from the FBI this past Spring.
Note Frist was on his "private" plane. If this bum ever intends to run for president his "money" will be his undoing.
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