A Sept. 5 interview with Charmaine Neville, a member of the third generation of New Orleans' legendary Neville musical family, contains a first-hand account of how she helped many of her neighbors escape the stricken city—first with a flat boat, then with a commandeered bus, and with no help from the authorities. "Alligators were eating people. They had all kinds of stuff in the water. They had babies floating in the water. We had to walk over hundreds of bodies of dead people... [W]e couldn't understand why the National Guard and them couldn't help us, because we kept seeing them but they never would stop and help us." She sheds some light on the reports of residents firing on rescue helicopters:

Juan Gonzalez of the NY Daily News Sept. 6 calls out FEMA for promoting the newsworthy Rev. Pat Robertson's private charity for Katrina disaster-relief donations—and recalls the group's links to the sleazy African diamonds trade, unearthed by a law enforcement investigation a few years back...

Saudi special forces overran a seaside villa in Damman Sept. 6 where Islamic militants had been holed up, ending three days of heavy fighting that left at least nine dead. For two nights, special forces pounded the villa with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire before launching the major assault. One of the five militants killed in the fighting was identified as No. 3 on the country's most-wanted list, Zaid Saad Zaid al-Samari, a Saudi sought in connection with terror attacks launched in the kingdom. King Abdullah, who took over the throne last month after the death of his half brother, Fahd, has vowed to push ahead with the crackdown on Islamic militans, and some suggest he plans to intensify it. (AP, Sept. 7)

A front-page story in Army Times Sept. 2, "Troops begin combat operations in New Orleans," states:

Combat operations are underway on the streets “to take this city back

The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so. KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees. (Houston Chronicle, Sept. 1)

If the uncorroborated quotes here are accurate, this reality is almost too horrific to comprehend. What is most alarming is that the refugees are effectively captives. This is turning into human warehousing of the same type practiced against the Japanese-Americans in World War II—and under much harsher conditions, if smaller scale. (Emphasis added.)

NEW ORLEANS, Sept 3 (Reuters) - People left homeless by Hurricane Katrina told horrific stories of rape, murder and trigger-happy guards in two New Orleans centers that were set up as shelters but became places of violence and terror.

President Bush has ordered 7,000 active duty troops into New Orleans, including 2,500 from the 82nd Airborne Division in North Carolina, 2,700 from the 1st Cavalry Division in Texas, 2,000 from the 1st and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Forces. "I think you can expect to see the first plane land in New Orleans before sundown today," said Major General Joseph Inge, deputy commander of the US Northern Command. "I would estimate that the main part of the force will close within 72 hours."

Inge said the active duty troops will be used to reinforce National Guard troops that have been sent in to secure the city but will not be used for law enforcement operations. "Their purpose is to contribute to the effort to bring about a more stable environment," Inge said in a video conference from the Northern Command's headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. "They will not take on a law enforcement role nor have they been directed in any way to do so."

September 3, 2005

Don't You Know Me, I'm Your Native Son...

Notes from Inside New Orleans

By JORDAN FLAHERTY

I just left New Orleans a couple hours ago. I traveled from the apartment I was staying in by boat to a helicopter to a refugee camp. If anyone wants to examine the attitude of federal and state officials towards the victims of hurricane Katrina, I advise you to visit one of the refugee camps.

In the refugee camp I just left, on the I-10 freeway near Causeway, thousands of people (at least 90% black and poor) stood and squatted in mud and trash behind metal barricades, under an unforgiving sun, with heavily armed soldiers standing guard over them. When a bus would come through, it would stop at a random spot, state police would open a gap in one of the barricades, and people would rush for the bus, with no information given about where the bus was going. Once inside (we were told) evacuees would be told where the bus was taking them - Baton Rouge, Houston, Arkansas, Dallas, or other locations. I was told that if you boarded a bus bound for Arkansas (for example), even people with family and a place to stay in Baton Rouge would not be allowed to get out of the bus as it passed through Baton Rouge. You had no choice but to go to the shelter in Arkansas. If you had people willing to come to New Orleans to pick you up, they could not come within 17 miles of the camp.