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Day 6: Mogadishu On The River
By Mike Bayham
September 2, 2005
Page 2 of 2
What did we hear from the local leadership? Chasing looters would not be a priority they announced to the world, the equivalent of waving a green flag to thugs to begin stealing at will. Because they failed to recognize reality and anticipate the obvious, chaos has spread across the New Orleans area.
The city and state government should immediately cede control of New Orleans to military authorities so they can use all means at their disposal to establish law and order.
Shoot to kill orders must be promulgated and carried out. Fear alone is the only means to communicate to these human vultures that looters will pay a dire price for their activities. Once word gets out that looters have been fired on, through the same media outlets that unwittingly broadcast the ok to let the pillaging begin, the situation will become more tenable and more lives will be saved from the waters and the gun-toting vermin running the streets.
Instead of allowing people to loiter around the Superdome, they should be forced on to buses and driven to an area where the potential for a riot would be easily quelled. Anyone found walking the streets should be sent to a location to be sent off as well. The city needs to become a ghost town ASAP so those who are barely clinging on to their lives can avoid becoming ghosts themselves.
The National Guard must be allowed to step in where the state and city political leadership have failed. Good intentions and harsh words have done nothing to stem the violence as the parts of New Orleans that have not been consumed by the waters of Lake Pontchartrain slip into a Mogadishu-like abyss.
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Mike Bayham is a former St. Bernard Parish Councilman.
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA. >> Back -- Page 1 2
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