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Guardsmen 'played cards' amid New Orleans chaos: police official
Agence France-Presse ^ | September 3, 2005

Posted on 09/03/2005 4:07:38 PM PDT by HAL9000

NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - A top New Orleans police officer said that National Guard troops sat around playing cards while people died in the stricken city after Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans deputy police commander W.S. Riley launched a bitter attack on the federal response to the disaster though he praised the way the evacuation was eventually handled.

His remarks fuelled controversy over the government's handling of events during five days when New Orleans succumbed to lawlessness after Katrina swamped the city's flood defenses.

The National Guard commander, Lieutenant General Steven Blum, said the reservist force was slow to move troops into New Orleans because it did not anticipate the collapse of the city's police force.

But Riley said that for the first three days after Monday's storm, which is believed to have killed several thousand people, the police and fire departments and some volunteers had been alone in trying to rescue people.

"We expected a lot more support from the federal government. We expected the government to respond within 24 hours. The first three days we had no assistance," he told AFP in an interview.

Riley went on: "We have been fired on with automatic weapons. We still have some thugs around. My biggest disappointment is with the federal government and the National Guard.

"The guard arrived 48 hours after the hurricane with 40 trucks. They drove their trucks in and went to sleep.

"For 72 hours this police department and the fire department and handful of citizens were alone rescuing people. We have people who died while the National Guard sat and played cards. I understand why we are not winning the war in Iraq if this is what we have."

Riley said there is "a semblance of organisation now."

"The military is here and they have done an excellent job with the evacuation" of the tens of thousands of people stranded in the city.

The National Guard commander said the city police force was left with only a third of its pre-storm strength.

"The real issue, particularly in New Orleans, is that no one anticipated the disintegration or the erosion of the civilian police force in New Orleans," Blum told reporters in Washington.

"Once that assessment was made ... then the requirement became obvious," he said. "And that's when we started flowing military police into the theatre."

On Friday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin denounced the slow federal response as too little, too late, charging that promised troops had not arrived in time.

"Now get off your asses and let's do something and fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country," the mayor said in remarks aired on CNN.

Blum said that since Thursday some 7,000 National Guard and military police had moved into the city. President George W. Bush on Saturday ordered an additional 7,000 active duty and reserve ground troops.

Blum said any suggestion that the National Guard had not performed well or was late was a "low blow".

The initial priority of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard forces was disaster relief, not law enforcement, because they expected the police to handle that, he said.

The police commander was unable to give a death toll for New Orleans.

"We have bodies all over the city. A federal mortuary team was supposed to come in within 24 hours. We haven't seen them. It is inhumane. This is just not America."

Riley said he did not even know how many police remained from a normal force of 1,700.

"Many officers lost their homes or their families and there are many we have not heard from. Some officers could not handle the pressure and left. I don't know if we have 800 or thousands today."



TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: dirtyrats; filthyrats; hurricane; hurricanekatrina; katrina; nationalguard; neworleans; neworleanspolice; wsriley
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To: Socratic
"Damn these fools make Rudy look good. Yeah, good enough to be a Presidential candidate."

Okay, off topic and you can whip up on me, but I though Gov. Perry of Texas looked mighty sharp in his interview with Greta, also he has enough hair that some Dems might vote for him thinking he's one of their big hair candidates :-)

141 posted on 09/03/2005 5:17:49 PM PDT by pepperdog
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To: dfwgator

silence is deafening! :)

Check the other thread -- answered you about what I think happened in the game today and my son agrees.


142 posted on 09/03/2005 5:18:26 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- Allen in 2008)
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To: DocRock
personal bump post 64
143 posted on 09/03/2005 5:18:46 PM PDT by zlala ("History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." -Dwight D. Eisenhower)
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To: HAL9000

This from a representative of the nation's most corrupt police force.

Let's see, when disaster struck, some New Orleans police officers participated in the looting, many others simply walked off the job, most of the rest did nothing to maintain or restore order. There were some who did something, though. Some people trying to escape from the city were stopped at gunpoint (by New Orleans police officers), and forced to return.

Nobody from New Orleans has any business pointing a finger at anybody from the rest of the country.


144 posted on 09/03/2005 5:19:52 PM PDT by 3niner
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To: DJ MacWoW

I'm trying to get my head around the concept of the NOPD doing regular shifts when they've got evacuation orders going and Armageddon's bearing down on them. That doesn't make sense.

The more I hear, the more it sounds like these guys really screwed up.


145 posted on 09/03/2005 5:20:07 PM PDT by RichInOC ("The coffee is strong at Cafe du Monde, the doughnuts are too hot to touch..." Save the Big Greasy!)
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To: HAL9000
I used to work for Steve Blum when he was a Colonel in the Maryland National Guard. Personally, I think he is an a-hole, but I know he is a very smart and very aggressive a-hole. He would do everything in his power to help his Guardsmen do the job, up to and including leading them in personally with an M-16 in one hand and a phone in the other. However, he can not move people in without orders and without coordination from the locals. We learned this from past hurricanes - the locals who know the terrain MUST cooperate for help to get where it needs to go.
146 posted on 09/03/2005 5:20:09 PM PDT by RebelBanker (To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!)
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To: Vermont Lt
its not a week.....the storm didn't hit til Monday, and even then, people had time to get out and to organize.....and to think that the main part of the storm didn't even hit NO........

all in all......a truely amazing feat when you really think about it.....over 80 miles of horrendous damage...no land communications...no water...no electricity...and apparently, no police or firemen.....

all the more credit to NYC and its heroes....

want to know how many t-shirts I'll be buying about the NO police?.............

147 posted on 09/03/2005 5:20:37 PM PDT by cherry
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To: HAL9000

If the National Guard went in there armed right away, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the usual suspects would be on TV right now talking about the heavy handiness of the Federal Government against the poor Black People of New Orleans.


148 posted on 09/03/2005 5:21:32 PM PDT by msnimje (CNN - Constant Negative Nonsense)
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To: RichInOC
wouldn't ALL leave be cancelled, and wouldn't every policeman and fireman be required to report to duty, ala 911??????

yet, the police commander had no control over his troops?....

no wonder people died.....

149 posted on 09/03/2005 5:22:07 PM PDT by cherry
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To: HAL9000

150 posted on 09/03/2005 5:23:20 PM PDT by maggief (No 'luffs)
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To: Torie
I should add, that most of Riley's force quit and abandoned their posts. They got the hell out of Dodge. The few left ended up defending their police stations from the armed mob. He ended up with nothing to command, and nothing to control.

The police were content to collect their paychecks for eating donuts for years. When the time came to actually earn their pay and fulfill their oaths, they ran.

When it came down to it, the LAPD also ran during the LA riots

When it hits the fan, citizens, you are on your own

As I keep saying, anybody who does not own at least one firearm, and at least a thousand rounds of ammo for it, is a fool. And if he has kids whose safety he's responsible for, he's derelict in his duty as a parent

151 posted on 09/03/2005 5:25:00 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor
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To: HAL9000

Some New Orleans police officers surrendered their badges and joined the looters. He's not one to talk.


152 posted on 09/03/2005 5:25:10 PM PDT by weegee (The lesson from New Orleans? Smart Growth kills. You can't evacuate dense populations easily.)
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To: HAL9000

Once again, it is the most culpable who blames the loudest. This so-called cop is nauseating.


153 posted on 09/03/2005 5:26:24 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: cherry

Yes, what's been accomplished is truly amazing. We need to be told how great it is to see the troops arriving rather than how terrible troops weren't there sooner. We need to hear how heroic our Coast Guard was, rescuing people within hours, busting holes in roofs and pulling people out of their attics. We need to hear how heroic average people were, like the young man who drove a school bus to Houston and picked up 70 people along the way, and how all the people in that bus worked together to get gas (and diapers). Instead what we get is the whining mayor, the crying governor and a chief of police who is going bananas.


154 posted on 09/03/2005 5:29:40 PM PDT by pepperdog
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To: HAL9000
The GOVERNOR must request the national guard to activate.

How many times does this have to be noted.

Perhaps if we print it in french, english, cajun, creole, etc. They'll figure it out.

155 posted on 09/03/2005 5:30:52 PM PDT by OldFriend (MAJ. TAMMY DUCKWORTH ~ A NATIONAL TREASURE)
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To: Torie
He ended up with nothing to command, and nothing to control.

The true mark of a leader of men!

156 posted on 09/03/2005 5:31:40 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: DocRock
This is a lie. I taped the following report on FoxNews Tuesday evening.

Thanks! I knew when I was reading the story that I had seen the rescues going on long before this jerk claims they were.

157 posted on 09/03/2005 5:34:55 PM PDT by feedback doctor (Going to war might mean terrorism, NOT going to war means slavery and death)
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To: jwalsh07

Well he lacked certain qualities that George Washington had it would seem. The more I read about George Washington, the more I admire him. He was no genius and poorly educated (which he slowly made up for with the sweat of his brow, it did not come easily to him like Lincoln, with his genius), but he had an iron will, and self discipline, and absolute courage, and sense of duty, and certain theatrical talents. In the end, that is what counts in a leader, when the rubber meets the road, and only you can keep it from falling all apart.


158 posted on 09/03/2005 5:36:46 PM PDT by Torie
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To: HAL9000

New Orleans deputy police commander W.S. Riley launched a bitter attack on the federal response to the disaster though he praised the way the evacuation was eventually handled.

My biggest disappointment is with the federal government and the National Guard.

Debbie Durso of Washington, Michigan, said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "Go to hell - it's every man for himself."

Hey Chief...What about your force running away????


159 posted on 09/03/2005 5:37:23 PM PDT by Wolverine (A Concerned Citizen)
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To: atomicpossum
Some of them were at WalMart.

Hell, then blame WalMart. It was the price cuts.

160 posted on 09/03/2005 5:37:47 PM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights (Sooner or later Ted is going to swing the camera over to Orlando's head!)
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