Fighting 'The Insurgency' in New Orleans

[phk]

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

[John Dibble]

It's rather depressing that there are actually enough people in the area that are making this necessary.

[Jake]

This is simply free combat training against a less effective form of insurgents. Lock and load

[phk]

It will only take a few hours to sort out these black delinquents.

[??????????]

[Storebought]

It's rather depressing that there are actually enough people in the area that are making this necessary.

Or that it all had to come at the instigation of President Bush?

Like I said: when this mayhem is put down with machine-gun fire, Bush will get blamed for killing helpless black people trapped in a flood.

Mark the calandar for it.

[phk]

Bush is ed no matter what.

[Storebought]

Bush is ed no matter what.

Why? Explain

[phk]

Bush is ed no matter what.

Why? Explain

Lets say he does not send these people in, and people die, he will look bad.

He does send these people in, and people die, he will look bad.

[Storebought]

Bush is ed no matter what.

Why? Explain

Lets say he does not send these people in, and people die, he will look bad.

He does send these people in, and people die, he will look bad.

You see: people have died in NOLA at each others' hands for generations, decades before Bush, or Clinton, or any other living president.

Some 200 people were killed in that city even before the hurricane struck.

Blaming Bush for the sadism of the New Orleans underclass, just now being nationally publicised, is beyond ludicrous.

[opebo]

Like I said: when this mayhem is put down with machine-gun fire, Bush will get blamed for killing helpless black people trapped in a flood.

Mark the calandar for it.

Bush certainly is to blame, though so are the long line of plutocratic rulers who have placed the poor of New Orleans (and every other American city) in this condition.

[phk]

If this happened here in Fresno, I could just imagine the Mexican insurgency.

[opebo]

You see: people have died in NOLA at each others' hands for generations, decades before Bush, or Clinton, or any other living president.

Some 200 people were killed in that city even before the hurricane struck.

Blaming Bush for the sadism of the New Orleans underclass, just now being nationally publicised, is beyond ludicrous.

No, it is precisely the point - the underclass was created by the ruling/owning class.  They are of course responsible for the condition of those unfortunates both before and after the hurricane.  The hurricane merely revealed and publicized the extreme inequality and subjugation of the lower classes in America.

[© tweed]

If this happened here in Fresno, I could just imagine the Mexican insurgency.

LOL!  There'd be probably hundred of thousands of illegals in the first week crossing the border.

[??????????]

If this happened here in Fresno, I could just imagine the Mexican insurgency.

LOL!  There'd be probably hundred of thousands of illegals in the first week crossing the border.

So the situation would basically remain unchanged then, correct?

[© tweed]

If this happened here in Fresno, I could just imagine the Mexican insurgency.

LOL!  There'd be probably hundred of thousands of illegals in the first week crossing the border.

So the situation would basically remain unchanged then, correct?

I'm sure you're being saracastic, but no, it would be much worse.

[phk]

If this happened here in Fresno, I could just imagine the Mexican insurgency.

LOL!  There'd be probably hundred of thousands of illegals in the first week crossing the border.

So the situation would basically remain unchanged then, correct?

Well food prices would probably quadruple.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

[Storebought]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

The US armed forces mean absolutely nothing to you, do they?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

The US armed forces mean absolutely nothing to you, do they?

What sort of argument is that?

[opebo]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

The US armed forces mean absolutely nothing to you, do they?

What sort of argument is that?

You should love those creepy macho poors, otherwise you're unpatriotic.

[Storebought]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

The US armed forces mean absolutely nothing to you, do they?

What sort of argument is that?

Expecting the US military to keep civil control of urban rapists, murderers, and lowlifes in an American city is not their job description. That's a local/state responsibility.

The Army, particularly, is better served in Iraq, thank you.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

The US armed forces mean absolutely nothing to you, do they?

What sort of argument is that?

Expecting the US military to keep civil control of urban rapists, murderers, and lowlifes in an American city is not their job description. That's a local/state responsibility.

The Army, particularly, is better served in Iraq, thank you.

So you think that the army is doing a better job of making America secure in Iraq as opposed to New Orleans? You are a fool.

[Storebought]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

The US armed forces mean absolutely nothing to you, do they?

What sort of argument is that?

Expecting the US military to keep civil control of urban rapists, murderers, and lowlifes in an American city is not their job description. That's a local/state responsibility.

The Army, particularly, is better served in Iraq, thank you.

So you think that the army is doing a better job of making America secure in Iraq as opposed to New Orleans? You are a fool.

We can walk and chew gum at the same time, reptile. In fact, we have to

You think terrorists, or just some random nobody, will not threaten us when some other thing occurred?

As much as you may dream they do, the American military does not wait around on US soil for natural disasters to show up. They have many other responsibilities.

[Emsworth]

If the military can deal with 1750 deaths in Iraq for no good reason, they can deal with a few people with 9mm pistols in New Orleans.

The US armed forces mean absolutely nothing to you, do they?

What sort of argument is that?

Expecting the US military to keep civil control of urban rapists, murderers, and lowlifes in an American city is not their job description. That's a local/state responsibility.

I must disagree with here; I will side with jfern on this issue. The Constitution explicitly provides:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence."

Clearly, if the Governor or Legislature of Louisiana requests, the United States would be obliged to maintain order and protect against "domestic violence" in New Orleans; the Armed Forces should be used if necessary. I cannot help but say that the use of the Army in such circumstances was contemplated by the Framers of this clause.