Cheney/Bush find a way to get National Guard back into New Orleans

Military Occupation is their goal. Beginning with New Orleans.


The presence of about 100 Guard members patrolling the city's hurricane-devastated and largely deserted neighborhoods will free as many as 300 police officers to concentrate on crime in more heavily populated areas, officials said.

"We're just trying to give a hand to the city of New Orleans," said Lt. Melvin Edwards, 32, a guardsman and juvenile probation officer in Baton Rouge.

Edwards, a member of the 239th Military Police Co., said he was called up about 5:30 p.m. Monday, within hours of Gov. Kathleen Blanco announcement that troops would be sent to the city.

Mayor Ray Nagin called for the National Guard and state police on Monday, saying "we've had enough" after five teenagers were gunned down together Saturday and another man was stabbed to death Sunday.

"The situation is urgent," Blanco said in responding to the request. "Things like this should never happen, and I am going to do all I can to stop it."

In addition to the 100 National Guard members with law enforcement experience, 60 state police officers are expected to be sent to the city, Blanco's office said. It marked the first time soldiers had been used for law enforcement in the U.S. since the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina late last summer.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren J. Riley said Monday he had asked in March to have the troops sent in this summer, when the population is expected to jump because FEMA assistance to displaced hurricane refugees ends June 30.

Riley insisted his department is capable of controlling crime, and the request for troops wasn't driven by the weekend crime spree.

"This is not a situation where anything is out of control," Riley said.

No deadline has been set for the National Guard's mission, which did not require a special order because Louisiana is still under a state of emergency 10 months after Katrina. Blanco said reinforcements would cycle in-and-out of the city.

"I'm just delighted," said King Milling, a New Orleans banker. "The powers that be recognize that this is an issue that we must deal with."

Frustration over a rise in crime reached a tipping point on Saturday when five teenagers in an SUV were shot and killed in the city's deadliest attack in at least 11 years. Police said the attack was apparently motivated by drugs or revenge. Also, a man was stabbed to death Sunday night in an argument over beer.

The killings brought this year's murder toll to 53, raising fears that violence was back on the rise in a city that was plagued by violent crime before Katrina drove out half the city's population of 465,000.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060620/ap_on_re_us/new_orleans_national_guard