Mercenaries guard homes of the rich in New Orleans

Guardian UK ^ | 9/12/05

[linkinpunk]

Mercenaries guard homes of the rich in New Orleans

Jamie Wilson in New Orleans Monday September 12, 2005 The Guardian

Hundreds of mercenaries have descended on New Orleans to guard the property of the city's millionaires from looters. The heavily armed men, employed by private military companies including Blackwater and ISI, are part of the militarisation of a city which had a reputation for being one of the most relaxed and easy-going in America.

After scenes of looting and lawlessness in the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck, New Orleans has turned into an armed camp, patrolled by thousands of local, state and federal law enforcement officers, as well as 70,000 national guard troops and active-duty soldiers now based in the region.

Blackwater, one of the fastest-growing private security firms in the world, which achieved global prominence last year when four of its men were killed and their bodies mutilated in the Iraqi city of Falluja, has set up camp in the back garden of a vast mansion in the wealthy Uptown district of the city. David Reagan, 52, a semi-retired US army colonel from Huntsville, Alabama, who fought in the first Gulf war and is commander of Blackwater's operations in the city, refused to say how many men he had in New Orleans but indicated it was in the hundreds.

Asked if they had encountered many looters so far, Mr Reagan said that the sight of his heavily armed men - a pump action shotgun was propped against the wall near to where he was standing - was enough to put most people off.

Two Israeli mercenaries from ISI, another private military company, were guarding Audubon Place, a gated community. Wearing bulletproof vests, they were carrying M16 assault rifles.

Gill, 40, and Yovi, 42, who refused to give their surnames, said they were army veterans of the Israeli war in Lebanon, but had been living in Houston for 17 years. They had been hired by Jimmy Reiss, a descendant of an old New Orleans family who made his fortune selling electronic systems to shipbuilders. They had been flown by private jet to Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, and then helicoptered to Audubon Place, they said.

"I spoke to one of the other owners on the telephone earlier in the week," Yovi said. "I told him how the water had stopped just at the back gate. God watches out for the rich people, I guess."

[Fierce Allegiance]

Bush's fault

[Dallas59]

So?

[rhombus]

Well at least there are some openings for security guards.

[TheBigB]

I'm tellin' Rebelbase on you. ;o)

[pissant]

I'd have no issue with looters being shot thru the head.

[Perdogg]

That's because the LANG is guarding the LA Dept of Oil building. /s

[E Rocc]

Asked if they had encountered many looters so far, Mr Reagan said that the sight of his heavily armed men - a pump action shotgun was propped against the wall near to where he was standing - was enough to put most people off.

Simple logic that has apparently escaped the powers-that-be who are so busy violating the Second Amendment in NO.

-Eric

[FormerACLUmember]

The usual inaccurate Marxist Guardian propaganda. "The most easy going city" was Murder Capital USA, a hellhole of democrat party enslavement, crime and permanent poverty.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Lord helps those who help themselves.

[E Rocc]

I'd have no issue with looters being shot thru the head.

It shouldn't be a problem. It's not like they'd lost their right to vote down there, or anything...

-Eric

[cajungirl]

Hmmmm,,I want a mercenary. To like cook and clean.

They use that word as if it is a bad word and it does have sort of an exciting darkly exotic feel about it.

But really they are just hired help with guns. What is so bad about that?

Perhaps I should arm my maid and call her my mercenary.

[R. Scott]

So now private armed guards - “rent a cops” – are “mercenaries”?
Class warfare instigation at its finest.

[dts32041]

As long as it is a double tap and not excessive five round burst, of course the worms have got to eat.

[Bon mots]

So why can Israelis carry around M-16s in America? Can I?

[Fierce Allegiance]

That's why I did it.

[linkinpunk]

SO?

Listen to these comments from DU:

Thugs What a despicable way to earn a living....maybe the police will mistake them for looters and shoot them ... I know the analogy to Germany's SS troopers will ruffle some feathers but I can't help but think of that when I hear about a privatly trained elite corp of soldiers. If I recall the SS were Hitler's own elite body guard and were seperate from the army and answered directly to him.... If I were ever to wish harm on a fellow human, it would be these thugs... Selling their souls for money... Anyone in this country working as a mercenary here or abroad should have their citizenship stripped from them and thrown in prison for a life sentence... Putting there lives and health in jeapordy and for what? MATERIAL wealth. Stupid I say, stupid

[Little Ray]

There is no dishonor in being mercenary, or in hiring them.

EPITAPH ON AN ARMY OF MERCENARIES.

These, in the day when heaven was falling,
The hour when Earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.

[linkinpunk]

So why can Israelis carry around M-16s in America?

First of all, you must keep in mind that this was written by a reporter who probably never saw a gun in real life.

"M-16" could mean anything from an actual military assault weapon, a mean looking .22 or a pellet gun with a black stock and a scope.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Well at least there are some openings for security guards.

Local security firms here are hiring anybody with past LE or military training. I'd have taken them up, but I have enough on my plate already. I saw the ads in the local paper. I should have checked "Soldier of Fortune", I guess....