E.M.T. At the Superdome recounts what REALLY happened.

The Santa Fe New Mexican ^ | 9/9/5 | Diana Heil

[krb]

The term "AK-47" is used to describe any automatic weapon in some circles.

Yeah, but we don't do that around here :-)

[Just mythoughts]

"By contrast, at Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 82nd Airborne Special Forces carried locked and loaded AK-47s at all times..."


Remember Lawton Childs took his own sweet time asking for Federal help, and there were alot of hot, ticked, hungry, desperate people as a result.

Liberals do have a way of using disasters for their own political gain.

[Daveinyork]

by contrast, the Clinton Administration responded within hours of the Oklahoma City bombing, by blaming, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, and all other Republicans

[Fester Chugabrew]

A circle of people singing hymns.

I'd be curious to know what hymns were sung.

[Hand em their arse]

Welcome to FR... Very good first post, hope you are around for a while...

[Sam Cree]

In South Dade, where I live, the 82nd Airborne set up a camp just 2 short blocks away, on a school athletic field. National Guard was everywhere, the entire neighborhood (and all of South Dade, I believe) was cordoned off and under curfew. All the troops carried M-16's all the time (what the reporter was trying to say), you weren't allowed in the area without going through military checkpoints. It was a great feeling having those guys around. When enough debris was cleared so that out of town visitors could come in, they were shocked to have soldiers with rifles stop their cars to find out who they were and what they wanted.

Yes, it took 5 days before relief arrived in force. Until then we were completely on our own. Roads were impassable with huge amounts of debris, no elec, no phone, no way to call for help, and no way for help to get there short of by helo. But one thing different than NOLA, Dade County was not underwater. You had to already have food and water in reserve, which most people had long known they must do.

A good many homeowners were armed as well.

[Hand em their arse]

"Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goal Posts of Life" and "Oh, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"

[Bob]

"By contrast, at Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 82nd Airborne Special Forces carried locked and loaded AK-47s at all times..."

They must have been the Russian 82nd Airborne. The 82nd Airborne are referred to as Rangers, not Special Forces. They definitely don't carry AK-47's unless they've just taken them away from some bad guys.

[Sam Cree]

The above post refers to Andrew in '92. Sorry.

I have high hopes that NOLA, a city that I like, will come out of this a better place than it was. It has a good chance, IMO, especially if the federal government resists tampering with things too much.

[linkinpunk]

A FEMA convoy from California had come under attack. People threw rocks at it. Bush's fault.

[atomicpossum]

In other disasters where Hesch has worked, people pulled tightly together as a community. But New Orleans didn't seem to know how to do that. "The Dome turned into a den of depravity at some point," he said, noting reports of rapes and people beaten to death.

[linkinpunk]

Hesch said he is disgusted that some Americans, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, are claiming that relief didn't come quickly because New Orleans has a large black population.

"It had nothing to do with race," Hesch said. "It had to do with the fact that New Orleans exists 12 feet below sea level. That is the big problem."

The other big problem, he said, were the high numbers of people trapped in the disaster. He said the city of New Orleans should have organized a more persuasive evacuation, using school buses and other means.

[1Old Pro]

very interesting bttt

[Antoninus]

...locked and loaded AK-47s ... WTF???????

He probably is referring to the Cuban army units that were there. /duh

[Gefreiter]

D,
Wow, mister...comically superior obscure reference.

LOL and well done.

[Wombat101]

I was waiting for someone to point this out. Do you honestly believe a reporter (or his/her editor) knows the difference between an AK and a M-16? Of course not, because all guns are bad, you know.

Anyways, regardless of whether or not said reporter or witness knows anything about guns, there was still a valid point being made: there was no (and still is no)imposition of order, either by consensus of the population (people banding together for the common good)or by brute force (police and Nat'l Guard presence)in New Orleans.

[Dahoser]

Thank you kindly.

[Gefreiter]

W,
Oh, you're absolutely right.

In person my tone and posture would've made it clear that mine was a very minor point in an otherwise important and helpful piece.

Maybe guns wouldn't be so bad if they were more coordinated to these people's outfits? You know, AR 15s get the earth-tone handguards for the fall; every summer the paisley AK buttstocks come out...?

[Wombat101]

Actually, they'd probably prefer "Earth Tones".

Seriously, I wouldn't care if they got the Boy Scouts armed with Brown Bess muskets out there, so long as someone, anyone, was making the point that order needs to be maintained if anyone is to be saved/rescued.

I apologize for my jumping in yer shyte over it, but some of us Freepers have a tendency to get so anal over minor details that we lose sight of the big picture. I was just hoping to avoid the multiple "MSM can't tell the difference" posts.

[Cboldt]

Great post. I was taken by these comments, as well as by the description of the environment inside the ThunderDome complex, while he was delivering medical care and trying to catch naps.

Before he left New Orleans, Hesch was confounded once again. A FEMA convoy from California had come under attack. People threw rocks at it.

Upon advice of others, the New Mexico team removed all signs that connected its vehicles to FEMA. "They told us, 'Be careful not to run over any dead bodies, and keep this as quiet as possible,' " Hesch said.

It wasn't a slow drive out.