Fearing riots, Guard rejects food airdrops

[ECH1969]

ARLINGTON, Va. — Authorities are avoiding airdropping provisions into New Orleans — the traditional way of supplying disaster victims — out of fear of sparking riots, a state official said.

While the military has used helicopters to drop provisions to some stranded in New Orleans, authorities have not launched the massive supply airdrops seen in Afghanistan at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Airdropping supplies could actually worsen the situation, said Army National Guard Lt. Kevin Cowan, with the state Office of Emergency Preparedness. “Just like Afghanistan, you drop food, it creates chaos,” Cowan said.

He said authorities are looking for a more controlled way to get badly need food and other supplies to people in the hurricane-ravaged region who need it.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?article=31346§ion=104

[xultar]

1. I can say I do agree with that assesment. I thought of that when we were

pushing for the drops.

The people with the guns would have gotten the food first. The people without weapons wouldn't have gotten anything.

[LivingInTheBubble]

5. So do nothing?

Drop nothing? Wow that is a great idea.

A better idea would be to drop enough for everyone. Humans have a finite capacity for food.

[patdem]

6. Thats bullshit....there are just a few drug crazed idiots ...not the

freeking religious militias who are trying to stop the populace from benefiting from the invadors...that is tooooo idiotic to even believe!

[xultar]

7. Nahhh I'm sorry. I believe it. It only takes a few asshats to ruin shit.

[patdem]

16. Bull fricking crap...it only takes a few with rifles to starve the

population...so...if we are invaded..the military will turn tail and run away and let us all starve to death cause a few invaders have rifles...that is so much crap I cannot believe you believe that crap.....NOT YOU!

Maybe a few who cause riots in a line for the sale of tickets for some crap pop band could ruin it for the many..but starvation is not an alternative ....AT ALL!

[HEyHEY]

19. Either way, if they aren't going to do that... they need to do something

fast

[xultar]

Absofuckinglutely

[maddezmom]

18. so a few asshats means no one should be dropped food/water?

disagree with passion

[Eloriel]

22. Yeah, well, some of those looting asshats were

handing out the food they looted at the super dome the other day. I'm surprised at you, frankly.

This is bullshit. The reporters on cable have gone OUT OF THEIR WAY the last 2 - 3 days to show and tell how orderly, docile, compliant, etc. the people in those two facilities have been. The violence has been greatly exaggerated, IMO.

[xultar]

28. True. I won't deny that.

[maddezmom]

32. just so I understand, you think they should withhold food/water

because it may be..huh, ... dangerous? :shrug:

[xultar]

34. I said True DAT to the post I replied to. They said some looted goods

were being passed out @ the convention center and superdome.

I saw that on teev.

Read the post prior to the one I replied to. Then read my reply to that post.

[Karenina]

60. IF they were to bring in

more than enough for EVERYONE, those who need would get and those who need to hoard would get too. Win-win.

[xultar]

63. True Dat.

[jazzjunkysue]

54. Right. Don't want them banged up, just dying slowly.

Compassionate Conservativism.

I think we've got the south, what's left of it, in 06. They won't vote for these bigots again.

[Nostradammit]

43. Your presence here is evidence of that

.

[notadmblnd]

46. I think this entire situation and how officials are dealing with

it, shows just how much white people are afraid of the brown skin people.

I remember as a child my mother saying to us kids once when she had to drive through a predominately black neighborhhod, "lock your doors or the jiggaboos will get you". At the time us kids just asked what a jiggaboo was, we didn't know but that is something that has stuck in my head all through my life.

I'm hearing the same thing now, we can't to in and rescue these people, or give them food because they're afraid once again that the "jiggaboos" are going to get them?

My mother has worked hard to overcome her racist attitude over the past 40 years. But I see our government is still living in the past. this is blatent racism going on here, and people can use any excuse they like to disguise it.

[stickdog]

69. You believe WHAT, specifically? I saw 100 food/water drops

and ZERO violence associated with them on TV this week.

Are your assumptions about "asshats" so strong that you'd rather let people die than give them a chance to live?

[bribri16]

44. Like, starvation won't cause a riot? Hmmmmmm

The point is there should have been "boots on the ground" to organize and handle the air drops.

[valerief]

49. The PNACracy is trying to make it look like…

…black people in general are wild hooligans. We know it's just the few druggies with guns, but the PNACracy spin is to make it sound worse. That will air well on the state-owned news, and the middle-class whites will hate blacks again. With that race war in place, no one will point fingers at the PNACracy's abuse of power.

Why won't the Guards let anyone into NO? They don't want them to see the truth. After all, an army with tanks and machine guns can indeed control a few gun-totin' druggies.

[maddezmom]

13. they have to try something

to do nothing would be and is more criminal.

[HEyHEY]

17. I agree too, but they need to think of something five days ago

To get food to these people and not cause a riot

[Gormy Cuss]

29. I agree with that for drops on Thursday or Friday.

If they had their marching orders and were doing drops by Tuesday evening or even Wednesday morning for the people congregating in large numbers like at the convention center (or in anticipation of large numbers if they had yet to appear,) it would have save those people from a whole lot of misery, the government would have an established base of operations, and there would be an island of order. If supplies were dropped after personnel, military and law enforcement would be the ones with guns and in charge and an evacuation could have begun on Wednesday.

The people out in the neighborhoods would be out of luck for just the reason you gave. Food drops might not be effective. Of course, if we had already taken care of the massive numbers at the dome, the convention ctr, the hospitals, we would have one less mess and a whole lot of people out of harm's way. A cot in the Astrodome is heaven after the hell we put these people through.

For the first time in five years I'm beyond simply disliking, disagreeing, and disapproving of this administration. Now I hate them.

[Zhade]

41. If we blanket the area with food-and-water drops, that'll prevent that.

The armed people won't be able to control the food and water if it's EVERYWHERE.

[struggle4progress]

52. Yep. There's plenty of solutions to this supposed problem. eom

[stickdog]

68. Your assumptions are so racist and full of shit.

HAVE YOU SEEN ONE THING ON TELEVISION TO CONFIRM YOUR BULLSHIT RACIST ASSUMPTIONS?

[KittyWampus]

72. you do know that Xultar is black don't you and has family unaccounted for

in New Orleans?

[stickdog]

75. I'm white trash and I have family unaccounted for in NO as well.

I agree with Xultar 95% of the time. That doesn't mean I can't strongly disagree with him 5% of the time.

Sorry if that hurts anyone's sensibilities, but I've been in every Parish in NO more than once and I'm sick and tired of anyone ASSUMING that tired, thirsty and hungry people who are literally DYING to be rescued should shoulder even a SHRED of blame for BushCo's GENOCIDAL inaction and MURDEROUS aid prevention.

[zippy890]

2. WTF? fear of riots? with all those NG on the ground?

talk about RACIST

This is CRAP. They should drop the F***king food to the people!!!

[jus_the_facts]

8. think they'll riot with these gestapo paradin' about.....

[patdem]

3. Another bogus gd mf excuse for not acting...better to starve to death than

to be killed in a riot??? Is that that excuse..if they just drop enough gd mf food...why would people riot??? gd mf racist, classist gd mf idiots

[dansolo]

31. Are they covering up the lack of supplies?

With all of these excuses, it really seems to me that all of this is a facade, and that there is no real food or supplies ready to be dropped. Maybe the pallets and crates are merely empty props, put out there to give the impression that they are ready to be deployed. But, since there is nothing there because thay haven't got a single clue, they keep making up excuses for not dropping in the nonexistant supplies.

[catnhatnh]

4. Yep...VERY DANGEROUS.....

...Remember the Berlin Riots of '48?????

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Bwa ha.

Good observation!

FSC

[JustSayNO 2 Sheeples]

10. A steady stream of bullshit

Man, the floodwaters are nothing compared with this administrations steady stream of total bullshit coming out of their mouths.

I've heard that some are already saying the aid has been slow because the NOPD failed to maintain order in the wake of 2/3rds of the officers not reporting for duty. Excuses, excuses.

Hey, it worked to blame the privates for Abu Ghraib, it might just work in New Orleans.

What is that I hear from the Whitehouse? Whoooosh, the sound of sucking air through a sphincter.

[stillcool]

..I heard that also...

what day was it that the police started turning in their badges...day 3?

[moondust]

11. How about just dropping enough for everybody?

Duh.

[kath]

67. Yeah, if there's plenty to go around, no riots.

F'in scumbag pieces of shit.

[VegasWolf]

12. They are rioting because they have no food, so Bush's answer is

to deny them food? Scratching head.

[H5N1]

21. It took them this long to think up this absurd excuse

utterly fucking rediculous

[patdem]

24. Yes, good catch..that is his EXACT policy in Iraq,...if we have some

killed we must prove we support the dead by having more killed...at least his logic is consistant!

[FlaGranny]

14. Insanity -

And at this point, if people are without food, being killed in a riot is probably a better way to go than starvation and dehydration.

[skids]

15. Translation:

"Our military technology allows us to blow up a compact car hundreds of miles away, but we still haven't developed a system to airdrop food in a way that prevents rioting."

It would seem to me that A) dispersing the airdrop so that small quantities of supplies are scattered around over a large area would cut down on the "stampede" factor and B) dropping 2-3 times the necessary supplies would prevent contention for resources by making it obvious that there was plenty for everyone and C) having the supplies on the ground would actually cause less rioting than forcing people to fight over what is in the convenience stores.

Plus, we still don't have an answer as to why food airdrops were not made along the coastline towns where the populance is too widely dispersed to riot.

This is doublespeak, and with all admiration and respect for the armed services, it is disappointing to here such talk from the NG. This is the sort of talk I would expect from a stuffed shirt "official," not our men in uniform.

[meganmonkey]

20. All they need is food and water!! Give them the fucking food and water

These people are dying!

:cry:

[Kittycat]

23. JESUS!!! If they drop enough, there won't be a problem!

n/t

[Mz Pip]

25. Thank you!

How hard can this be? We do it in other parts of the world and have never used that lame excuse.

Yeah, if you drop one case of water in a crowd of hundreds, you might have some problems. So drop hundreds of cases.

This shouldn't be rocket science.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[truedelphi]

27. We NEED TO GET IT - ThEY ARE STARVING THESE PEOPEL OUT!

Look Randi Rhoades was saying on Air America that when she was in the service, she had received training in air drops.

you can precision target this, people. Our satellites are taking pictures in which you can view the chrome mirror on a smashed up van - and there are set pick up points in the city of new orleans where people are waiting for someone to come.

Some of these pick up points are only surrounded by forty or firfty people.

And there are at some of these sites police and or other security gurads.

The Berlin Air Lift of 1948 was a success. And yes, I imagine a few COmmies got supplies. And maybe some of the snipers.

But it saved the people of Berlin.

Carol

[uppityperson]

33. This happens all the time in other countries

Need military support, people with guns, to keep the crowds back so they can offload and distribute supplies. We are no better of a country. People are people, they are we and we are they and it is all horrible. I agree that they need to just simply get a whole bunch and drop it off so that there won't be riots. I think this is revolution time. I am so angry

[stickdog]

70. What happens all the time in other countries?

Jesus Christ, these are AMERICAN CITIZENS we are talking about. They are hot, sick, tired, hungry and literally dying of thirst. But we don't drop them any water because we ASSUME that they'll murder each other because someone is finally HELPING them?

The way Americans blithely judge their fellow Americans to be a bunch of vicious killers WITHOUT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE sickens me beyond words.

[JoFerret]

35. Drop enough in enough locations

Got to say - this sounds like more BS. Maybe drop enough supplies with enough troops and armoured vehicles to dispense in an orderly fashion.
They managed to drop scattered chicken kiev to the Kurds back when.

[Vinca]

26. If these people don't get food and water one way or another

IMMEDIATELY, they're going to die. Pure and simple. If I were among the victims, I'd rather die in a riot trying to get food than just fading away in a virtual cesspool. If they air drop a handful of supplies there will be riots. If they inundate the city with food and water, there probably won't be. Let's face it, even the criminal element is getting too tired to function at this point.

[JustSayNO 2 Sheeples]

30. Definition of a riot

Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
ri·ot
Function: noun
: a disturbance of the peace created by an assemblage of usually three or more people acting with a common purpose and in a violent and tumultuous manner to the terror of the public;


Source: Bush Administration
ri·ot
Function: noun
: a frenzied and unorderly movement towards airdropped food by Godless refugees who are starving and desperate

[Child_Of_Isis]

36. So, we let them starve? eom.

[sakabatou]

37. Man, this is so screwewd up...

[ima_sinnic]

38. I really do believe poster somewhere above who says * just ain't

got nothin to drop. They squandered the budget on who knows what boondoggles for themselves and their life of idle luxury and just don't have the supplies, they didn't budget for them. Could this be true??

[gkhouston]

39. these would be the same sort of folk who "rioted" at the Superdome

standing in line for the buses? I saw some footage on MSNBC and there were tons of people there but there wasn't any pushing, shoving, swearing, nada. There were just waiting.

Fucking A, the Guard is in Iraq getting their asses shot at and blown off every day of the week and they're afraid of setting off a food riot? If they do set off a riot, some folks may die. If they don't send in the food, some people will die, perhaps even today. I don't see that they really have a choice.

[Zhade]

40. Like there won't be riots IF THEY DON'T GET FOOD AND WATER???

This is bullshit!

[KeepItReal]

42. It is B.S.

This is just fucking sick.

[Zhade]

45. And I'm starting to believe it's intentional.

The more they pull this heartless shit, the more entrenched that idea will become in the minds of many.

I mean, for fuck's sake, we can't pull off a humanitarian "shock and awe" to help these people? Really? The alleged "greatest country on Earth" can't even airdrop enough supplies to ensure there is no rioting?

BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT A THOUSAND FUCKING TIMES!

[KeepItReal]

47. FEMA is turning down aid that hasn't been CONTRACTED

According to some folks in Florida that offered scores of airboats to help rescue folks. There is a DU thread on that.

This is now a get-money scheme for Bush & Co's cronies I fear.

[philosophie_en_rose]

48. ** STUPID EXCUSE #59654078235 **

Look, if people knew that they could rely on the government to come back -- they would easily let providers disperse rations and then leave.

[Zynx]

50. So drop a couple guys with rifles along with the food to keep order.

[Gregorian]

51. I know- if you wait long enough, you won't need to drop food.

EVERYONE WILL BE DEAD!








Republicans and their THEORIES. Can we please find someone who is a leader? AWOL AGAIN can't handle it.

[mom cat]

53. Well why dont they f'im think about it for a week or so. I'm sure they

can come up with a food distribution scheme after everyone is dead!

[prohemp]

55. It seems crazy

And I somewhat suspect purposeful trying to kill these people. But on the other hand New Orleans is the roughest town I've ever visited. I was robbed twice in 2 days when I went. My friends said many of the people they knew got hit in the heads with bricks or steel poles, woke up later on the sidewalk bleeding with their wallets missing so I guess i got off easy. I have also heard of some criminal gang that stole a bunch of water at gunpoint and then was forcing women to have sex for a drink. Maybe a rumor but I don't doubt it at all. Still I agree that we could overwhelm them with drops so that violent gangs could not control the goods there would simply be too many. This excuse is inexcusable, and is no excuse for not doing anything. I'm a progun liberal and this only confirms my beliefs that when you make guns illegal only criminals have guns. The cops do to but they fled. Good people often think they shouldn't own a gun, for they are peaceful and not wanting to hurt others. However, when order breaks down, you really see there are some dispicable people out there. When there are people all around needing assistance, and an able bodied man goes around stealing from the weak, raping, etc, instead of helping others, that person should simply be removed from the gene pool in my opinion.

[mom cat]

57. Welcome to DU prohemp! I think that the media has overblown the

violence angle. Some of the reports such as the shooting at choppers have been discredited. Mostly i just see people in despair, confusion and justifiable anger.

[Judi Lynn]

59. Your respect and concern for your fellow man and woman

are inspirational. You are not an opportunist trying to avail yourself of an opportunity to throw in unsolicited malicious remarks hoping to pile even more hateful suspicion on people you don't know.

I'm sure you'll be repaid in life for the bright light you bring to the world.

[Judi Lynn]

76. I believe I overlooked adding the sarcasm smilie.

I really hope the point was lodged, somehow.

We all know how to recognize slugs in sheeps' clothing.

[stickdog]

71. I've been in NO a dozen times. Yes, stupid tourists often get ripped off.

But people take care of their own with the utmost compassion and humanity.

[chomskysright]

56. Wat is the GODDAM BULL SHIT?

[Gyre]

58. They're waiting for

the volunteer corps of young white christians to hand out bibles along with the MREs. Otherwise, what's the point?

Gyre

[daleo]

61. This doesn't make sense

Let people starve, to make sure they don't get hurt? That's a bogus excuse. Also, why are we only hearing now that it created chaos in
Afghanistan? They said it went smoothly then.

[magellan]

62. THIS IS A LIE

They're not withholding supplies to avoid "chaos". According to the Red Cross, who aren't being allowed in to provide aid, FEMA are withholding supplies to "avoid encouraging people to remain in NOLA". IOW, starve them out.

To make sense of their rationale you have to assume as BushCo does that people long to stay trapped in a flooded, non-functioning city.

IS THERE ANYONE SANE IN CONTROL??

[Zhade]

73. Uh, at the same time, they won't let people LEAVE!

WTF is going on?

[magellan]

77. Exactly.

:wtf: indeed. Incompetence or intentional cruelty, the results are the same.

[mcg]

64. This is Bush starving his opposition to death.

One way to reduce the number of Democratic votes: kill them.

[tom_paine]

65. It worked on 9-11

LIHOP or MIHOP, the Bushes will always let Democrats die with (privately expressed, of course) glee.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

66. If our own people won't save our own people

then we need to ask the UN to intervene. Who are these crazy f!@#$s in charge? LOOKING FOR (as in they don't have one currently but what the heck difference does more time lost matter) a more controlled way? Death, death and more death at the hands of these people.

[deep_thwart]

74. Really? Lt. Cowan!

Let me guess. Perhaps Army National Guard Lt. Kevin Cowan wrote a dissertation on, "How to Start a Riot in 13 feet of Water" !!

[MellowOne]

78. A pile of crap

If they had sent the necessary troops in to start with they wouldn't have a problem. Bush can't even run the country he was elected to...I mean, stolen to lead.