Posted on 09/11/2005 1:26:47 PM PDT by jmc1969
NEW ORLEANS -- To troops, he's the "Ragin' Cajun," an affable but demanding general barking orders to resuscitate a drowning city. To his country, he's an icon of leadership in a land hungry for a leader after a hurricane exposed the nation's vulnerability to disasters.
With a can-do attitude and a cigar in hand, Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore arrived after Hurricane Katrina and directed troops to point weapons down in respect for a stunned and stranded population lacking food, electricity and safety.
Each morning, Honore (pronounced AHN'-ur-ay) boards a Blackhawk helicopter at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, 100 miles north of New Orleans, for a humanitarian mission as head of the military's Joint Task Force Katrina.
"He's a man of action," said Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C. "He knows the area, understands the people and doesn't take no for an answer."
He views Katrina as an enemy that pulled a "classic military maneuver," speeding toward land with overwhelming force, surprising and paralyzing the city and countryside and knocking out communications, electricity, water and roads in a "disaster of biblical proportions."
The hurricane, he says, reminds him life is fragile and makes him glad he passed on more lucrative pursuits to serve his country.
"I'd rather be in the middle of the game, playing hard with little hope of winning than to be an observer," he says.
No one calls him "Ragin' Cajun" to his face.
"But the troops like it, so why not?" he adds.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I'm glad his Commander-in-Chief President Bush picked him. Louisiana needed a leader during this time of crisis and LG Honore was just the right person to fill the vacuum left by Louisiana's elected "leaders." That giant sucking sound was Louisiana's bureaucrats and politicians headed for Texas.
I loved it when they said he got off the chopper cussing.
Mayor buys house in Dallas.
Wonder why Dallas? Why not in northern Lousyanna? This is too curious.
General gets off the chopper cussing....mayor gets on the chopper and goes to Dallas house shopping.
I imagine Blanko will be after Perry's job and Landrieu will be going after one of the two Senate jobs in Texas. I wouldn't be surprised. After all, Texas is where their "voter base" is now located.
He wanted to get his debit card that he had coming to him.
Honore is leader of the shovel brigade following the Louisiana Dimocrats fiasco. This guy bears watching closely. He was condoning the looting in NOLA the other day.
I was just going to suggest--hold the accolades until we see what he does. He knows how to play the Louisiana power game, maybe a little too well.
Extradition procedures was the first thing that crossed my mind. I wonder why that would be.
In reference to the "John Wayne" moniker that someone put on him, he said: "John Wayne was an actor. I am a soldier."
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