New Orleans is going from bad to worse. It’s taken days for federal government to respond, albeit ineffectually even now. Bush has been his normal blissfully ignorant self and hasn’t led the response, he flew over the area and reportedly said: “It’s devastating. It’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground.” No shit, Sherlock. [news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4203302.stm]
A running webcam and blog about trying to survive in the city is on www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/ - and it’s not pleasent reading. The city is wiped out so what do people do? Ransack, loot and burn. Armed groups are roaming the city, looting a building then burning it. The police seem screwed, no comms or vehicles.
I am going to debrief the police officer completely in the morning. He was utterly fatigued, thirsty, and wanted to find out what the hell was really going on.
Security has become a major concern now, because the NOPD is ineffective and the looters terrorists are roaming the streets. Word is now that they’re lighting buildings on fire, but I can’t confirm that. Anyway, we have to run guard shifts and patrol and it limits our downtime.
It is a zoo out there though, make no mistake. It’s the wild kingdom. It’s Lord of the Flies. That doesn’t mean there’s murder on every street corner. But what it does mean is that the rule of law has collapsed, that there is no order, and that property rights cannot and are not being enforced. Anyone who is on the streets is in immediate danger of being robbed and killed. It’s that bad.
Where was the strategy in place for this disaster? It existed, academics and the government knew that this could happen and had looked into it. So why hasn’t the response been swift, co-ordinated and effective? Why does the response make America (the government and those looting for gain) look like a third world nation?
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