We Got A Nice Quiet Beach Community Here, And I Aim To Keep It Nice And Quiet…
Words fail:
We questioned why we couldn’t cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. [The sheriffs] responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City… All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on foot. Meanwhile, the only two City shelters sank further into squalor and disrepair. The only way across the bridge was by vehicle.
Whole thing here, via Samizdata.
I didn’t even excerpt the worst bits. If this story checks out, heads should roll.
Looks like the NYT is taking the claims seriously enough in this article.
username: dontbugme0
password: dontbugme
I don’t much care about the nomenclature, really. But I agree with your general point.
Scepticism is very much in order, of course, although as de Havilland points out:But as we are talking about events with literally hundreds of witnesses, I cannot see how the truth (or otherwise) of this account will remain in doubt for long.It’s an interesting thread. (Featuring Tim!) The justification offered by the Gretna resident in the Samizdata comments is telling, I think: they didn’t want to allow people from NO into Gretna because they didn’t want mayhem, looting, etc to break out. But it’s very difficult to simultaneously treat people as refugees in need of humanitarian aid and vicious thugs poised to rob and beat you. It’s easy to second-guess from a dry spot a long way away, but this reads to me like a calamitous misidentification of the former group with the latter.
(And yes, I said “refugees”. Nyah.)
Check out the Samizdata comments, it may or may not be an entirely true story.