National Guardsmen Pour Into Louisiana
By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS
Thousands of National Guardsmen with food, water and weapons streamed into Louisiana Friday to bring relief to the suffering multitudes in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and put down the looting and violence. "The cavalry is and will continue to arrive," said one general.
The assurances came amid blistering criticism from the mayor and others who said the federal government was bungling the relief effort while people lay dying in the streets for lack of food, water or medicine.
In Washington, President Bush admitted "the results are not acceptable" and pledged to bolster the relief efforts with a personal trip to the Gulf Coast on Friday.
"We'll get on top of this situation," he said before setting out, "and we're going to help the people that need help."
Earlier Friday, an explosion at a chemical depot rocked a wide area of New Orleans and jolted residents awake, lighting up the dark sky and sending a pillar of acrid gray smoke over a ruined city awash in corpses, under siege from looters, and seething with anger and resentment.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. But to the people of New Orleans, it deepened the sense of total collapse in the city since Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore Monday morning.
The blast took place in a section of the city directly across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. It was about two miles from the Louisiana Superdome and less than a mile from the New Orleans Convention Center, the two spots where tens of thousands of hungry, desperate and hostile refugees awaited buses to deliver them from their misery.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum of the National Guard said 7,000 National Guardsmen arriving in Louisiana on Friday would be dedicated to restoring order in New Orleans. He said half of them had just returned from assignments overseas and are "highly proficient in the use of lethal force." He pledged to "put down" the violence "in a quick and efficient manner."
"But they are coming here to save Louisiana citizens. The only thing we are attacking is the effects of this hurricane,"he said. Blum said that a huge airlift of supplies was landing Friday and that it signaled"the cavalry is and will continue to arrive."
As he left the White House for his visit to the devastated area, Bush said 600 newly arrived military police officers would be sent to the convention center to secure the site so that food and medicine could get there.
City officials have accused the government _ namely the Federal Emergency Management Agency _ of being slow to recognize the magnitude of the tragedy and slow to send help.
"Get off your asses and let's do something,"; Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL- AM Thursday night in a rambling interview in which he cursed, yelled and ultimately burst into tears. At one point he said: ";Excuse my French _ everybody in America _ but I am pissed."
Across the city, law and order broke down. Police officers turned in their badges. Rescuers, law officers and helicopter were shot at by storm victims. Fistfights and fires broke out Thursday at the hot and stinking Superdome as thousands of people waited in misery to board buses for the Houston Astrodome. Corpses lay out in the open in wheelchairs and in bedsheets. The looting continued.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the looters "hoodlums" and issued a warning to lawbreakers: Hundreds of National Guardsmen hardened on the battlefield in Iraq have landed in New Orleans.
"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."
At the Superdome, group of refugees broke through a line of heavily armed National Guardsmen in a scramble to get on to the buses. And about 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at the convention center grew ever more hostile after waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead, including at least seven bodies scattered outside the building.
Police Chief Eddie Compass said there was such a crush around a squad of 88 officers that they retreated when they went in to check out reports of assaults.
"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten,"; Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."
A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away.
By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS
Thousands of National Guardsmen with food, water and weapons streamed into Louisiana Friday to bring relief to the suffering multitudes in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and put down the looting and violence. "The cavalry is and will continue to arrive," said one general.
The assurances came amid blistering criticism from the mayor and others who said the federal government was bungling the relief effort while people lay dying in the streets for lack of food, water or medicine.
In Washington, President Bush admitted "the results are not acceptable" and pledged to bolster the relief efforts with a personal trip to the Gulf Coast on Friday.
"We'll get on top of this situation," he said before setting out, "and we're going to help the people that need help."
Earlier Friday, an explosion at a chemical depot rocked a wide area of New Orleans and jolted residents awake, lighting up the dark sky and sending a pillar of acrid gray smoke over a ruined city awash in corpses, under siege from looters, and seething with anger and resentment.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. But to the people of New Orleans, it deepened the sense of total collapse in the city since Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore Monday morning.
The blast took place in a section of the city directly across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. It was about two miles from the Louisiana Superdome and less than a mile from the New Orleans Convention Center, the two spots where tens of thousands of hungry, desperate and hostile refugees awaited buses to deliver them from their misery.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum of the National Guard said 7,000 National Guardsmen arriving in Louisiana on Friday would be dedicated to restoring order in New Orleans. He said half of them had just returned from assignments overseas and are "highly proficient in the use of lethal force." He pledged to "put down" the violence "in a quick and efficient manner."
"But they are coming here to save Louisiana citizens. The only thing we are attacking is the effects of this hurricane,"he said. Blum said that a huge airlift of supplies was landing Friday and that it signaled"the cavalry is and will continue to arrive."
As he left the White House for his visit to the devastated area, Bush said 600 newly arrived military police officers would be sent to the convention center to secure the site so that food and medicine could get there.
City officials have accused the government _ namely the Federal Emergency Management Agency _ of being slow to recognize the magnitude of the tragedy and slow to send help.
"Get off your asses and let's do something,"; Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL- AM Thursday night in a rambling interview in which he cursed, yelled and ultimately burst into tears. At one point he said: ";Excuse my French _ everybody in America _ but I am pissed."
Across the city, law and order broke down. Police officers turned in their badges. Rescuers, law officers and helicopter were shot at by storm victims. Fistfights and fires broke out Thursday at the hot and stinking Superdome as thousands of people waited in misery to board buses for the Houston Astrodome. Corpses lay out in the open in wheelchairs and in bedsheets. The looting continued.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the looters "hoodlums" and issued a warning to lawbreakers: Hundreds of National Guardsmen hardened on the battlefield in Iraq have landed in New Orleans.
"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."
At the Superdome, group of refugees broke through a line of heavily armed National Guardsmen in a scramble to get on to the buses. And about 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at the convention center grew ever more hostile after waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead, including at least seven bodies scattered outside the building.
Police Chief Eddie Compass said there was such a crush around a squad of 88 officers that they retreated when they went in to check out reports of assaults.
"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten,"; Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."
A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away.
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