Friday - September 02, 2005

Urban Warfare

Approximately 20% of the New Orleans police force have walked off the job, claiming it is too dangerous in the streets. A sniper has been firing at rescuers who have been attempting to evacuate patients at Charity Hospital downtown. Over 4,000 combat-ready military police, armed with M-16’s are starting to arrive this morning at Louis B. Armstrong airport in New Orleans. Here is the rest of the story ....

(CNN)—A fearful Friday has arrived in lawless New Orleans, with police snipers stationed on the roof of their precinct, trying to protect it from the armed thugs roaming seemingly at will through the flood-ravaged city. The surreal scene comes amid wretched chaos, with incredible scenes of desperation for those people still marooned in the city more than three days after Hurricane Katrina struck a deadly and devastating blow.

Adding to the uncertainty Friday morning was a large explosion in the city’s railroad district, possibly from a rail car.Authorities were trying to get a hazardous materials team to the area, a police officer told CNN. The officer said he believed the team could reach the area by vehicle since the water there had receded. He said he believed “several cars blew up,” but it was not known what they were carrying. No other details were immediately available.

Earlier, police officers told CNN that some of their fellow officers had simply stopped showing up for duty, cutting manpower by 20 percent or more in some precincts. Before Thursday night fell, police were stopping anyone they saw on the street and warning them that they were not safe from armed bands of young men who were attacking people and attempting to rape women. A fed-up Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco warned the lawbreakers that extra troops have already arrived in the city, and others are on the way—and “they’re locked and loaded.” She said Thursday night that 300 soldiers from the Arkansas National Guard had arrived—“fresh back from Iraq.”

An effort to evacuate patients and staff from downtown’s Charity Hospital had to be suspended after a sniper opened fire on rescuers. The hospital was caring for about 200 patients with no power or water, and the only food left was a couple of cans of vegetables and some graham crackers, according to a doctor at the scene. Sgt. Mark Mix of the Louisiana State Police told CNN late Thursday that a force of police officers would be arriving in New Orleans soon to beef up the law-and-order effort.

Mix said the officers would be coming from Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, and even Michigan to join with Louisiana law authorities in bringing order to the streets. “The state of civil unrest is probably going to come to an abrupt end in the very near future,” Mix said.

Trying to quell the violence and chaos, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday that 4,200 National Guard troops trained as military police will be deployed in New Orleans over the next three days, which he said would quadruple the law enforcement presence in the city. The first contingent of 100 military police officers arrived at Louis Armstrong International Airport late Thursday—combat-ready for immediate deployment in New Orleans.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/02/2005 at 06:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Outrageous •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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