What's the truth on Katrina/Blackwater, etc.

Bush hates blacks... Nothing to see here

Wasn't Chris Kyle picking off dindu's from atop the Superdome as well?

What are your questions, sons?

I've never seen any pictures of anything mentioned in the thread above this post.

When Katrine came. I was stuck on a roof. I told FEMA, "I don't wanna come down; I just wanna get loose"...

I've heard stories from a reliable source that threats against hospitals were neutralized by the SEALS. The part that could not be verified is if those bodies would ever be found. Also heard first hand from someone who housed military personnel at a downtown office building that there were a group of large individuals dressed in all black who they were not allowed to speak to nor ask who they were.

Katrina-related: why do people claim the government blew up the levees? Is there anything to support why people would believe this? I'm genuinely curious, as I have heard people claim this, but I don't have background info since I'm not from the area

I was at Building 35 at Jackson Barracks when the storm passed. For those of you unfamiliar with Jackson Barracks - it is the "end" of the city next to Arabi - it is a thin slice of land that intersects and runs perpendicular to N. Claiborne/W. Judge Perez and St. Claude in the Lower Ninth Ward.

After the levees failed, we were inundated and much of the Louisiana National Guard command and control personnel had to be evacuated, which took much of the rest of Monday. I was evacuated to the Superdome around 2100 or 2200, via boat to the river levee and UH-60 to the dome.

I was at the Superdome through Labor Day and left the city via UH-47 to the Gillis Long Center at Carville, Louisiana. There was 1 shooting indicent at the Superdome during the "crisis week" - and individual fired from one of the interstate ramps - many of us believe he may have been shooting at the helicopters. Fire was returned, and I was told the shooter was killed.

People were at the dome, of course, prior to the storm. I actually slept in some business offices in the Superdome building Monday night - but these were vacant - just carpet and fixtures, no furniture.

People kept streaming in all through Tuesday and Wednesday. We evacuated all military personnel from the dome building on Tuesday, because the crowds were becoming unruly and difficult to manage. They tried to disarm a guardsman which resulted in an accidental discharge/self-injury. There were no working toilets as of Wednesday. Port-a-johns arrived sometime on Thursday (IIRC).

The morgue (I can personally verify) at the Superdome had only a few people as of Wednesday and Thursday of the crisis week. The number that sticks out is 4, but it may have been 5 or 6 - this was after the cat who fell/jumped/was pushed died. There were many elderly patients from hospitals and nursing homes brought in on Monday and Tuesday, and I'm sure at least a couple of those expired just from the stress and heat.

Recall that you had a city the size of 30,000 for over a week, and another impromptu one at the convention center of several thousand for several days.

From my perspective, several things caused problems in the early going:

1. Ridiculous decision for the state headquarters to attempt to ride out the storm in Jackson Barracks - that cost us almost a full day - and the first full day.

2. Terrible federal/state coordination - and not at the agency levels, either - boots on the ground wanted to get the job done. It was political infighting between Blanco/Nagin and Bush. Quite petty. This also led to the whole Landreneau versus Honore divided command (which is undesirable and a last resort).

3. Failure of imagination that the entire city infrastructure would be compromised by so many levee failures. The damage from wind and rain was expected. There was a plan to move people around and bring supplies in. It was unimaginable that we would be not able to get in and out of about 40 to 50 of the city for over a week. I felt like we were caught in quicksand. As a minor functionary, all I could do was work 1 task at a time.

I was a contractor working at Ochsner Hospital main campus on and off for weeks starting 3 days after the storm. The only military presence I saw were the National Guard or Army Reserve unit set up on the front grounds of the medical center, they usually had one or two guys with M16s walking around. We and some of the other contractors had our own security, most of them were guys just out of the service, but they were just ordinary security guards, no body armor, Kevlar,or other tactical gear. I never saw one with a weapon other than a side arm, although the ones with us had a shotgun in their vehicle. We had wristbands to identify us as being cleared to enter the hospital, but overall security was pretty lax, several buildings had the doors blocked open due to no AC. When I could I would walk around outside in a large parking lot in the rear. One night I looked in the back of a pickup and saw two feet sticking out from a tarp with just socks on. I first thought it was a body, later I met the person that belonged to the feet. He was one of the Ochsner physicians, he had lost his home in the storm, and his family had left the state to live with relatives. He was living out of his pickup, and found he was most comfortable just sleeping in the bed when he could get a break.

Listening to news radio that morning there was a call to the station that supposedly originated from a Hospital in New Orleans. The nurse was put on the radio, she pleaded for whomever was shooting at the helicopter trying to leave please stop. Apparently there was a kid fighting for their life, helicopter could not leave because of the gun fire. Was it true not sure. What I do know was true was the phone call on the radio.