Other Columns by Mike Bayham
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Four days have now passed since Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans and the surrounding areas, yet with the exception of the relative high rise of flood waters coming from breaks in the 17th Street Canal and the Industrial Canal, which has caused water in downtown to rise to 3 to 4 feet, the real threat to the citizenry are the human predators that have turned one of America's most fascinating cities into New Mogadishu.

While famed reporter A.J. Liebling likes to compare Louisiana politics to that of 1960s Lebanon, what is transpiring at this very moment in New Orleans is savagery one would need to travel to third-world countries to see.

Charity Hospital, the primary trauma hospital in New Orleans, has been fired upon by snipers. Coast Guard rescue helicopters have also been shot at, as have boats deployed to save the stranded now going on their 5th day without clean water or food. A relief truck was intercepted by armed gunmen on the West Bank. Women have been raped at the New Orleans Convention Center by their fellow evacuees.

These terrible acts of violence are only hampering rescue efforts as more people die by the minute from the elements, disease, and dehydration.

I would wager that present-day Baghdad is a safer city than New Orleans is at the present time.

The delay in putting New Orleans under martial law has taken a toll. Wild looters who have already completely pillaged every place of commerce within sight are now locking their feasting eyes towards abandoned private residences. No doubt the more desperate ranks of the hellish banditti currently plaguing the city will have few reservations in invading occupied homes, leading to further bloodshed.

My question to Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco is this: how the hell could you not see this coming?

New Orleans has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. A recent spate of murders led the mayor into politically murky waters by suggesting a new tax to finance a more aggressive fight against criminals just prior to Katrina's arrival.

Did the mayor really think the criminal element, their twisted minds clouded in many cases with drugs, would all of a sudden reform themselves and lend a hand?

Is Governor Blanco so lacking in foresight and vision that it never occurred to her that looting on a wide-scale was going to be a problem.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour never left any doubt that looters would be dealt with severely before the worst of Katrina hit the Magnolia State's fragile coastline, announcing to the world that such vermin would be dealt with ruthlessly.

Governor Blanco's after-the-fact tough-talk has not been heeded because the state and city have yet to truly take the gloves off.

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