No doubt.....at this point any looters stealing anything but food or water should be shot.
Wait until the criminal element starts fighting among themselves
Unfortunately EVERY major big city in the USA has a bountiful supply of the very same types
And the looters aren't going to be so eager to evacuate. Once the city has been evacuated of all that want to leave, I believe they'll be a remnant that don't want to leave.
It will be interesting to see how they go about completely evacuating the city.
I haven't read all the thread, but I have a question about pumping out the city. Suppose they do get the levees fixed in a few weeks, and then begin to pump the water out. Are they going to pump all that polluted water into the lake?
Cleanup of NO will be unlike any attempted cleanup after a hurricane, or even a tsunami. In other cities, runoff happens, and water recedes pretty rapidly, that's just not going to happen in NO.
A caller on the morning talk show in my local area said that after evacuation, they should blow the levees, let the water rise to it's natural level, and only recoup the property that sits above sea level, sort of a Venice of North America. Don't think that's doable (major pollution issues), but don't think rebuilding in a flood plane is doable either.
My Dad and I had a heated discussion about this last night. He agrees with you. IMHO, until there are more Nat'l Guard in there the police should let the looters go. The chain of command in the PD has broken down. Officers on foot don't have communication w/ other officers (from my understanding anyway). And at this point there's nothing the looters could steal that's worth an officer's life. However, once the reinforcements have arrived, I think they should let 'em have it with both barrels.
You know some gangs in the US have merged with al quaeda. I wouldn't be surprised if AQ had the ak-47s and are shooting the guard.