Bush orders "shoot to kill". Brig. General likens New Orleans to "Little Somalia".

[destruction]

"Shoot to kill" ordered by Bush.

“This place is going to look like Little Somalia, We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.â€

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1077495.php

September 02, 2005

Troops begin combat operations in New Orleans

By Joseph R. Chenelly

Times staff writer

NEW ORLEANS — Combat operations are underway on the streets “to take this city back†in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,†Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.â€

Jones said the military first needs to establish security throughout the city. Military and police officials have said there are several large areas of the city are in a full state of anarchy.

Dozens of military trucks and up-armored Humvees left the staging area just after 11 a.m. Friday, while hundreds more troops arrived at the same staging area in the city via Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters.

“We’re here to do whatever they need us to do,†Sgt. 1st Class Ron Dixon, of the Oklahoma National Guard’s 1345th Transportation Company. “We packed to stay as long as it takes.â€

While some fight the insurgency in the city, other carry on with rescue and evacuation operations. Helicopters are still pulling hundreds of stranded people from rooftops of flooded homes.

Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and police helicopters filled the city sky Friday morning. Most had armed soldiers manning the doors. According to Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeremy Grishamn, a spokesman for the amphibious assault ship Bataan, the vessel kept its helicopters at sea Thursday night after several military helicopters reported being shot at from the ground.

Numerous soldiers also told Army Times that they have been shot at by armed civilians in New Orleans. Spokesmen for the Joint Task Force Headquarters at the Superdome were unaware of any servicemen being wounded in the streets, although one soldier is recovering from a gunshot wound sustained during a struggle with a civilian in the dome Wednesday night.

“I never thought that at a National Guardsman I would be shot at by other Americans,†said Spc. Philip Baccus of the 527th Engineer Battalion. “And I never thought I’d have to carry a rifle when on a hurricane relief mission. This is a disgrace.â€

Spc. Cliff Ferguson of the 527th Engineer Battalion pointed out that he knows there are plenty of decent people in New Orleans, but he said it is hard to stay motivated considering the circumstances.

“This is making a lot of us think about not reenlisting.†Ferguson said. “You have to think about whether it is worth risking your neck for someone who will turn around and shoot at you. We didn’t come here to fight a war. We came here to help.â€

* It is a crime for the Government to allow people to die because of their race and class.

* to treat people like they are the enemy because they are black and poor.

* to spend billions on war and cut budgets at home, resulting in death and destruction.

By now it is clear who is dying on the streets of New Orleans and throughout the area hit by Hurricane Katrina. Those with the money and resources were able to flee the city in plenty of time, while the poor were left behind to face flooding, and lack of water, food, and medicine. Now they are facing the prospect of being shot down in the street by troops sent in by the government to "restore order."

The difference between those who got out and those who were abandoned to die is a difference of class and race.

Hurricane Katrina is not the cause of the thousands of deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The system that says poor people and black people are expendable is responsible. The government refused to prepare for the hurricane they knew was coming. They made no provision to evacuate to poor, the elderly, and the handicapped, knowing that more than 100,000 would be left behind. They made no effort to get food, water, or medicine to survivors, while dead bodies piled up on the streets on New Orleans. FEMA actually turned back aid trucks as they attempted to get into New Orleans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05blame.html?ex=1283572800&en=1d14ebfbd942a7d0&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Rather than mobilizing to provide the aid that should have been in place a week ago, the Bush Administration has sent troops into the streets with orders to "shoot to kill."

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/9/2/104216.shtml

Brigadier General Gary Jones told the Army times, that "[New Orleans] is going to look like Little Somalia, We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.â€

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1077495.php