Posted on 09/03/2005 9:04:58 AM PDT by NavySEAL F-16
(CNN) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls Lt. Gen. Russel Honore a "John Wayne dude" who can "get some stuff done."
"He came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving," Nagin said in an interview Thursday night with a local radio station. (See the Nagin video where he demands feds 'get off their asses' -- 12:09 )
The three-star general directed the deployment of an estimated 1,000 National Guard troops from a New Orleans street corner Friday, making it clear that it was a humanitarian relief operation. (Watch the convoy slog through floodwaters -- 3:33)
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
If it's easy, it would have been done already."
Good, maybe the mayor will learn a little something about leadership. When their is a crisis people look to their leaders for confidence and staying cool. The mayor showed neither. Bush while touring the damaged area and talking to the people that will resolve the problem look calm, cool and confident.
Obviously the mayor couldn't.
No! Barney Fife would have nipped it in the bud.
LOL
But Jesse Jackson complained that there aren't enough blacks in high enough positions of authority in the rescue effort.
You mean Jesse is wrong? Say it isn't so!
I agree with his display of leadership. It was sorely needed. But I don't agree with his orders to lower weapons. As has been pointed out in earlier posts, there is complete lawlessness and anarchy, with many people heavily armed. While the citizens don't need to feel threatened by the troops, neither should the troops on patrol be in any position other than ready to return fire and gain control quickly.
I saw one video where he was ordering soldiers and police to shoulder their rifles instead of keeping them at the ready.
As he did this, the crowd cheered. One policewoman looked at him as if to say, "Are you nuts?" But she obeyed.
CNN was having an orgasm this morning because they caught Gen. Honore telling a guardsman to put down his weapon as he rode near him in a jeep. They have found a new hero...a general who doesn't want his troups to look threatening while in a war zone. I do hope none of our guys get killed because of the PC general.
This will never be mentioned by the MSM or Sharpton or Jackson.
The truth for them just won't fit their agenda.
"By-and-large, these are families that are just waiting to get out of here. They are frustrated; I would be, too. I get frustrated at the cash register counter when the paper runs out."
Thanks for the link.
I would say it is that ease... the problem being that the local people in charge like the NO Mayor and the people under him and even local citizens should on been doing something just that easy...
you don't need to wait on a three star general to come tell you the obvious and kick someone it the ass for you Mr Mayor
Is the Mayor missing a father figure in his life? He seems to do nothing but whine until he's in the presence of a strong manly man, then he gets all swoony.
I.E. The NO Mayor and his staff are useless limp Peters
All of the above are true. And the sad thing, he'll probably be reelected.
Reelected to what?
His "city" is gone.
By the way, it looks like a FReeper has contributed to the Mayor's biography on the Wikipedia Web site. Read the last paragraph under "Hurricane Katrina". The [1] at the end of the paragraph links to a photo of all those flooded school buses!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Nagin
That deserves it's own thread. LOL
ping
ping
See post #23.
And he would have used the one bullet in his shirt pocket that Andy allowed him.
I agree, and in any hostile area, which New Orleans is at the moment, a soldier patrolling must always be at the ready to respond instantly. Carrying weapons in any other way is not responsible.
I concur. The General was using good psychology.
There was a similar incident in 2003 in the early days of the Iraqi invasion. US troops were conducting a sweep through some town when a rumor was started that they planned to attack the local mosque. A huge menacing crowd of townspeople surrounded the American troops and things appeared as if they were about to get violent.
The officer in charge evaluated the situation and gave the order to his unit to "take a knee", which meant to drop to one knee and lower their weapons so they were pointed at the ground instead of the crowd. It seemed like suicidal order.
The angry crowd, however, stopped in amazement at the sight of a military force they knew could probably kill them all, instead moving snappily and with precision into a non-threatening position which in their culture denoted respect. No other military they had ever seen or imagined, especially Saddam's, would have made such a gesture.
The angry Iraqi crowd immediately fell silent, and then began to disperse. A few even waved at the soldiers. The pressure had been released, safely, and the troops went on to complete their mission.
That's what this General in New Orleans was doing. To people in abject misery who have lost everything else, he at least gave them back a little dignity and respect, and they responded accordingly. It's called leadership.
some DUers were claiming Nagin contributed 1000 dollars to Bush in the last election....is this true?
"some DUers were claiming Nagin contributed 1000 dollars to Bush in the last election....is this true?"
Yep, but in '99, not '04: (and more to Dems)
http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/Ray_Nagin.php
read "to" as "two" sorry..long night
I REALLY wish they had offered Jesse the job of getting help in there and getting the folks evacuated. He would certainly have to put up or shut up!
Thanks for that story.
That was the whole point. You didn't have to make that gesture of respect. You knew it, and the Iraqis knew it. You did it from a position of strength, and it immediately drove home to them the point that you were indeed liberators, not conquerors. The great majority of Iraqis still know this, despite what our lying media says.
General Honore knows that if the folks in New Orleans don't take the hint he has the resources to immediately go into full suppression mode, but he understands there's no need to rub their noses in it.
Thanks for the reminder about An-Najaf, and most of all, thanks for your service to your country.
I am amazed at how you sugarcoated your analysis of the worthless NO mayor. The guy looks like a gang member to me.;)
War Zone? This isn't Iraq, this is New Orleans, Louisiana. This is NOT A WAR ZONE.
...this guy is not a "PC" leader...I worked with him and I know him...he would have been a four star long ago if he had been politically correct, but he called his own shots, and told it like it was, which really, really assed up the command structure at Ft. Hood (he served under a guy named Byrne, who's been in the news lately)...he's the only general who took us to NTC, and did not play the politically correct game of letting the "contract maintenance" assholes at Ft. Erwin dick the division out of division money by charging us with maintenance faults on NTC equipment that predated our rotation- this guy is a serious feckin' hero...he's the real deal...
He was my brigade commander when I was in Third Infantry Division. He knows how to cuss, yell and most importantly, GET THE JOB DONE ASAP ! ! !
Oh yeah. I knew him as Colonel Honore when we went to NTC. We actually defeated the OPFOR more than the OPFOR defeated us, which at NTC is nearly impossible.
He's definately an ass kicker. Certainly not PC. One of his mannerisms back then was calling everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY (including whole groups of people) a dick. It wasn't even a bad word for him, it was almost a term of endearment. Pretty soon, most of the officers in the brigade were calling each other "dick" !
I just watched the CNN clip of LTG Honore on the CNN website. It was just his voice. I remember as a 23 yr old 1LT, just hearing his thundering voice with that Louisiana accent scared the hell out of me lol
he had that effect on the whole division...I was a CW3, and I always unassed the AO when he was around...better to not be a target of opportunity...
that's the guy...he was hard as hell on soldiers, especially hard on leaders- but in our business (as you well know) if you couldn't cut it, you had no business being in the business...he defined the concept of "tough love"
I took great pleasure of informing the young man about Colonol Honore and that there are a lot of men out there just like him.
The amazing thing is, outside Honore's world, the world he comes from, people aren't used to being treated like that, especially civvies. People aren't used to being cussed at the top of someone else's lungs. I've had that treatment. It sucked at the time, but in retrospect, I sure as hell learned a lesson!!!
The thing is........there aren't enough Honore's out there. I get in trouble at work all the time for being "hard core" "Cottonbalers" "hoorah" with the "employees". Little do they know what REAL abuse is........lol
"One of his mannerisms back then was calling everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY (including whole groups of people) a dick."
Haha...like to be there when he meets Senator Durbin.
Do you remember the phrase "The only easy day was Yesterday"? I can picture this guy running with THOSE guys! :)
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