Hurricane's trail of anarchy
David Nason and Geoff Elliott
September 03, 2005
THOUSANDS of National Guardsmen were heading for New Orleans last night with orders to shoot to kill as heavily armed African-American gangs terrorised the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The gangs, some armed with AK-47 automatic rifles, had the run of most of the city, raping and looting with impunity and shooting at police, rescue workers and the National Guard.
And last night a series of massives explosions rocked the southwest of the city, sending acrid black smoke into the air. One of the explosions was reported to be in a chemical plant.
Just five days after Hurricane Katrina lashed the US Gulf Coast, killing thousands and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, the city once known the world over for laughter and music is facing the growing threat of anarchy.
New Orleans has no water, no power, no mobile phone network and no sewage system. There are no organised communications and no plan of action, and the almost total absence of law and order has left the city paralysed by fear. Officials said the death toll was certainly in the hundreds and probably in the thousands, but details remained sketchy. "Call it biblical. Call it apocalyptic. Whatever you want to call it, take your pick," resident Robert Lewis said.
One New Orleans resident, who is still trapped in his home in the city's famous French Quarter, told Fox News last night that he saw a policeman shot dead by a looter on Tuesday.
Shots were also fired at a Chinook helicopter taking part in rescue operations, and a National Guardsman was shot outside the Superdome.
Rescuers in flat-bottomed boats are now refusing to enter some parts of the city for fear of being fired on by gangs, leaving to fend for themselves possibly thousands of people who may have survived the hurricane and flooding that followed.
President George W. Bush vowed "zero tolerance" towards the armed gangs, saying that emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina meant "the citizens ought to be working together".
But with the situation deteriorating rapidly, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin vented his frustration with state and federal officials.
"You would think on day five of the worst natural disaster in the history of the nation, and possibly the world, we would not still be waiting for troops and buses," he said. "It's a disgrace.
"I am pissed. I am absolutely pissed off," Mr Nagin said.
"People are frickin' dying every day. They (state and federal officials) need to get off their arses."
Hundreds of exhausted police officers had been diverted from vital search-and-rescue duties to fight the gangs, Mr Nagin said.
He also demanded more buses to evacuate the estimated 40,000 people -- mostly African Americans from poor parts of New Orleans -- waiting in filthy conditions at the convention centre and Superdome football stadium, staging posts that have become a nightmare for police and for tourists.
At the convention centre, the living have been sharing space with dead bodies in wheelchairs or wrapped in sheets on the ground, while at the Superdome the scale of the evacuation nightmare was evident from the numbers.
As thousands of refugees boarded buses for Houston, Texas, others took their places in the queue, so that by Thursday evening, 11 hours after the military evacuation began, the Superdome held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn.
Police chief Eddie Compass told tourists to stay clear of the convention centre, after 88 police were forced to retreat in the face of an angry mob when they went to investigate reports of widespread rape.
"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," Chief Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."
Louisiana state police chief Henry Whitehorn said many New Orleans police officers had turned in their badges. "They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives."
Canadian tourist Larry Mitzel summed up the feelings of visitors, among them 50 Australians, when he said: "I'm not sure I'm going to get out of here alive. I'm scared of riots. I'm scared of the locals. We might get caught in the crossfire."
Police escorted a group of white tourists, including Australian Anthony Hopes, 30, away from the Superdome after they were subjected to race threats. The tourists are now under armed guard in the foyer of the Hilton hotel.
About 3000 National Guardsmen are trying to maintain order in New Orleans and at the same time continue to conduct rescues. That number is expected to rise by about 1500 a day.
But Louisiana Governor Louise Blanco said 40,000 troops were needed immediately. She warned that 300 National Guardsmen freshly landed in New Orleans from Iraq would shoot to kill.
"These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so," she said. "And I expect they will."
The lawlessness has exposed the inadequacy of the Department of Homeland Security, which is co-ordinating the response of emergency services, and raised serious questions about the focus of the Bush Administration on domestic issues.
The head of New Orleans emergency operations Terry Ebbert said the response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was a "national disgrace". "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans," he said.
FEMA officials said some operations had to be suspended in areas where gunfire had broken out and claimed they were working overtime to feed people and restore order.
On CNN's Larry King Live, Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff said the evacuation of New Orleans should be completed by the end of the weekend, while President Bush promised a $10billion recovery bill in Congress, the biggest in US history.
