Matt Welch, at Reason magazine, interviews Louisiana National Guardsman Major Ed Bush, and some of the answers will surprise you:
Reason: Which gets me back to the specific helicopter thing. That report came out on September 1 or so; it was, you know, “Evacuation Halted at Superdome Because of Shots Fired at Military Helicopter.”
Bush: Yeah. In eight days inside the Superdome, there was no gunfire, there were no battles. There was one incident where…somebody had a pole from one of the cots, and I think [our] security guy might have surprised him; they opened the door and he came at him. And the Guardsmen got hit, and there was water down there, and I think slipping and pulling and this and that, and three rounds went off and one of them went into the Guardsmen’s legs. More or less he shot himself.
Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, things continue to get worse for New Orleans residents:
The mayor of this battered city said Tuesday that about half of its 6,000 public employees would be laid off because there was not enough money to meet the payroll.
“Today it’s with great sadness that we announce that we were unable to hold on to some of our dedicated city workers,” Mayor C. Ray Nagin said.
The layoffs – emergency leave without pay – will begin Oct. 8 and leave about 3,000 nonessential workers unemployed when completed in about two weeks. Final paychecks will be issued this month.
Workers in essential services like fire, police, emergency medical, and sewage and water services will not be affected, the mayor’s communications director, Sally Forman, said.
How long is going to take for this city to recover? Will it recover?
More here from the Instapundit.
Mark-NC
So you’re saying that the Fox News version of rape, shootings, gangs running wild, helicopters being shot at, etc. was pure bull?
What a shock!
Mr Furious
FOX News and Oprah. This was bulllshit that cut across all the media.
I actually had a big fight with my wife about this the other night. She is sticking by what she saw on Oprah (baby rapes, baby’s throats slit, etc.) until I can prove otherwise. And my wife is no dummy. She has a Masters in social work, and believes that, as is often the case, rapes and crimes against women and children are vastly underreported and unverifiable. Especially in scenarios such as war zones and places close to that like NO.
She was willing to concede that in that terrifying, dark, uncertian to survive environment, rumor and untrue tales of horror might spread throughout like wildfire, but that reporters and public officials (Nagin and the police chief) recanting their stories after the fact does not cancel out what was said during the event. She is right—they have reason to cover their asses and an agenda. Why should she (or I or us) believe a bunch of public officials going in after the fact and saying “there seems to be no evidence” or “we will investigate and reports.” Frankly, I’m not willing to take that as fact.
Personally, I believe the truth lies somewhere in between. Probably closer to what we are hearing now than what was on Oprah, but in between nonetheless. Never as bad as Oprah, but not as incident-free as the current meme seems to be tracking.
TallDave
Lake New Orleans will rise again!
Seriously, I don’t know why they would bother to rebuild the heavily flooded sections. Seems like a pretty stupid idea, all things considered; they should just condemn them, like they did to housing developments on flood plains after the Midwest floods. I’m seeing reports today that much of the city experienced only relatively minor flooding.
Lines
How many billions was promised to the Gulf Coast, yet none of it can be used to fund essential city workers?
I’m so happy that Halliburton stock is going up, I’m sure those 3000 formerly employed will be proud of that fact as well.
Horshu
O’Reilly had some security guy on last night (the one he always has with the sports coat and black turtleneck), and this guy was saying that the regular looters are now gone, and all there are are security people and “serious” gangsters than moved into NOLA after the flood. It got funny (sorta) when he said that his people were being shot at by these “serious” gangsters…with a pellet gun. It’s amazing that in one sentence, I’m supposed to be worried about the anarchic forces in NOLA, but the very next sentence, I’m put at ease with the knowledge that they’re packing pellet guns.
jobiuspublius
Among the things I find interesting is that GOP calculation, that Russert refered to, about fewer blacks in LA meaning more elected offices for GOP in LA. Hmm, interesting timing. Lots of interlinking BS out there.
An interesting aside:
Mr Furious
Nice point, Lines.
jobiuspublius
I’m glad I never bought into the looters BS. It’s a credit to the people stranded by Katrina that they were so peacefull when facing such dire need. But, let’s have a serious discussion on race, with Bennett no less.
jobiuspublius
Trevor
Lines, that’s funny because the mayor is calling them non-essential. Read the post. Seriously.
Lines
Oops, I missed the non part of it and saw the essential part.
Still, out of billions of dollars isn’t any going to the cities themselves to continue paying its employees?
a guy called larry
There are conflicting reports on the shooting-at-the-recue-helicopters meme. In Sunday’s Monterey Herald story linked to in the Reason article, it says:
In today’s Washington Post, the story is:
None of this has anthing to do with “shots fired inside the Superdome,” as Maj. Bush (couldn’t they get someone with a different name, fer Cris’sake) states.
As an aside, the Herald story identifies the Guardsman that first passed on the rumor of a shot fired as Lt. Pete Schneider. An APF story on Sep.1 says he was a Colonel, and ABC, also on Sep. 1, put his rank as Lt. Colonel.
jobiuspublius
Interesting questions about gov response to Katrina. One of them is for Nagin.
Trevor
Paying 3,000 people to do nothing is a serious drag on the economy that hurts in two ways. There’s only so much relief money out there, and who knows how long it will be before those 3,000 could even begin to do productive work. How many of them have left Lousianna and don’t plan to return? How many of them were phantom employees (I have no idea, but that is a problem in every state.) It’s far better for those people to bite the bullet now, find other work, and get about to contributing instead of receiving. If they sit around being a drag, then they will take away necessary funds from worthwhile relief efforts. That may be harsh, but everyone will be better off in the long run.
a guy called larry
Jobius, thanks for that earlier link. I have a bit of interest in American-Vietnamese affairs prior to the Tonkin Gulf non-incident. If today’s politicians were running that war now, instead of running away from it then, this guy would be pilloried. Egad, I think he’s French!
scs
I read the Guardian and Times of London onlne. It was interesting to hear how the British tourists stuck in the dome talked about their experience. They said it was HELL. They said they were constantly harrassed and the women groped. They were told by the National Guard to sleep in a circle with the men on the outside and always have a man accompany a women where ever they went. They said the police were terrible, asking to see the women flash, but that the National Guard was their life savers. And when they were finally evacuated, they lied about where they were going and had to sneak out as they didn’t want the Americans to get jealous. No one said they were raped though. Anyway, doesn’t sound like a good experience.
wufnik
At the time of the reported gunfire, some blog (I can’t remember which one, unfortunately) had a news report from the FAA saying that it had received absolutely no reports of anyone firing at helicopters or planes, and they actually sounded a little irritated about the whole thing, since they knew exactly what was in the air the whole time. No one picked this up, though.
Stormy70
Keep the old New Orleans and let the the flooded parts go back to nature.
jobiuspublius
Fill in Lake Ponchatrain and raise the lowest parts of the city. That’s a monumental task.
jobiuspublius
Yes, a French man, now you see why they are so loathsome. His parents were Austrian. Wiki has an entry.