How "Battle Hardened" Nation Guard are responding: gun point

HamdenRice

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Fri Sep-02-05 09:04 AM
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How "Battle Hardened" Nation Guard are responding: gun point

I am grateful to and thank all the first responders, NG and military who are in NO. But the atmosphere is so poisoned at this point, and the militarization of the NG has gone so far, that I fear that the NG is no longer able to respond to the citizens of NO as civilians.

Here is a first hand report from NO by a blogger trying to survive in that city. He was on the phone with someone at the convention center, where bodies are piling up, and the victims of the disaster are being treated not unlike Iraqi prisoners:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

"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.

How "Battle Hardened" Nation Guard are responding: gun point

Orwell would understand. And we need to ask: Dick Cheney is still on "vacation." What's he REALLY doing?