Overlooked

The news cycle is almost literally on fire right now, and these are the times when stories tend to fall through the cracks. Rehnquist passing away last night is competing for space with the neverending barrage of stories about relief finally arriving in New Orleans, and who was to blame for the colossal fuck-up in handling the disaster. Meanwhile, off to the side where few were looking, we've got some wannabe Rambo action going on in NOLA away from the main relief and evacuation centers and the levees which may or may not be under repair.

Troops begin "Combat Operations" in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS Combat operations are underway on the streets "“to take this city back"” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,"” Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National GuardÂ’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. "“We'’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control."

Jones said the military first needs to establish security throughout the city. Military and police officials have said there are several large areas of the city are in a full state of anarchy.

Right off the bat, I want to say murderers murderes, rapists and looters (aside from "looters" who are just trying to get food, water and medicine) are a bunch of scumbags who deserve severe punishment for trying to capitalize on human suffering in such a massive scale. And if any of them are stupid enough to come out, guns blazing, when they see armed troops moving into the area, they won't get much sympathy from me if they get their fool heads shot off.

With that said, however, I think that it's vitally important for this General to make sure that he doesn't go in there imparting a Rambo type mentality to his troops. Keep in mind, General, you're not in Somalia. No matter what it may look like today, this is still New Orleans, an American city, and the vast majority of those people are American citizens who still have their full constitutional rights.

I truly believe that, while there may be some hard core, heavily armed anarchists running around down there who will require a military solution, the majority of them are probably just desperate opportunists who behaved very badly in an unsupervised situation. Most of them, seeing the troops moving in to restore order, will likely just toss their guns in the nearest flooded gutter and wander out, saying, "So... are the buses here yet? Get me out."

Yes, this will likely mean that in the chaos and confusion which will doubtless reign in NOLA for weeks or months to come, that many guilty people will get away without facing prosecution. Is this a good thing? Obviously not. But I'm afraid it is still the lesser of two evils and better than having large numbers of people shot and killed who were often guilty of only misdemeanor offenses.

The important fact for our troops to keep in mind is that everyone left in New Orleans who didn't voluntarily leave on those buses is not automatically some type of "insurgent" like in Iraq who qualifies for a shoot to kill on sight order. I understand that sorting them out will make the job facing these troops terribly difficult. It is a difficult job, but it's one that our National Guard troops are supposed to be trained to do. Establishing the mindset of these soldiers, particularly the ones just returning from the hell hole of Iraq, to reinforce the fact that they are dealing in a rescue and recovery situation involving Americans, and not a hostile foreign force, should be job one for that general. Treating New Orleans like Somalia is not the right way to start.