As I was listening to the Laura Flanders show on Air America Radio this afternoon, I was absolutely sickened by live reporting from independent Journalist, Jeremy Scahill about what is actually going on in New Orleans and what the real plans for rebuilding are.
I recommend you to go to Air America Radio and play the archive for today’s program.
As much as I thought I was as sick at heart and overwhelmed by what has already happened in New Orleans, this is just too much.
While you’re at it, you may very well find this article from Common Dreams.org equally disgusting. Take a look at the future GWB Co has planned for our country.
CLICK HERE to read the full article
Deploy in New Orleans
by Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo
NEW ORLEANS — Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been “deputized” by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms.
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/
” Blackwater USA is comprised of five companies; Blackwater Training Center, Blackwater Target Systems, Blackwater Security Consulting, Blackwater Canine, and Blackwater Air (AWS). We have established a global presence and provide training and tactical solutions for the 21st century.
Our clients include federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Transportation, local and state entities from around the country, multi-national corporations, and friendly nations from all over the globe.
We customize and execute solutions for our clients to help keep them at the level of readiness required to meet today’s law enforcement, homeland security, and defense challenges. Any and all defense services supplied to foreign nationals will only be pursuant to proper authorization by the Department of State.
Come to Blackwater, where the professionals train.”
“This is a totally new thing to have guys like us working CONUS (Continental United States),” a heavily armed Blackwater mercenary told us as we stood on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. “We’re much better equipped to deal with the situation in Iraq.”
What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater mercenaries we spoke with that they are here under contract from the federal and Louisiana state governments.
Officially, Blackwater says it forces are in New Orleans to “join the Hurricane Relief Effort.” A statement on the company’s website, dated September 1, advertises airlift services, security services and crowd control. The company, according to news reports, has since begun taking private contracts to guard hotels, businesses and other properties. But what has not been publicly acknowledged is the claim, made to us by 2 Blackwater mercenaries, that they are actually engaged in general law enforcement activities including “securing neighborhoods” and “confronting criminals.”
That raises a key question: under what authority are Blackwater’s men operating? A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, Russ Knocke, told the Washington Post he knows of no federal plans to hire Blackwater or other private security. “We believe we’ve got the right mix of personnel in law enforcement for the federal government to meet the demands of public safety.” he said.
But in an hour-long conversation with several Blackwater mercenaries, we heard a different story. The men we spoke with said they are indeed on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and the Louisiana governor’s office and that some of them are sleeping in camps organized by Homeland Security in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. One of them wore a gold Louisiana state law enforcement badge and said he had been “deputized” by the governor. They told us they not only had authority to make arrests but also to use lethal force.
I hope someone can please tell us how to get these murdering criminals out of office and NOW. . .
Yes, I know we have heard about Blackwater and the private “Army”. . .but no one has brought it so clearly home to me as Mr Scahill did today on AAR. There is an absolute plan to keep Poor Blacks, and it’s okay if the rest of the poor are also kept from returning to NOLA… It is so disgusting I really don’t know what to say about any of this.
Our Country is in BIG trouble.
I agree. New Orleans will be a homogenized version of a once-great melting pot of a city. It will be like Disneyland, or Palm Beach, with only the wealthiest and whitest people able to afford to live there. I think they plan on conducting a great social experiment, eliminating low-cost housing and having only “hard-working” people (read that: white)living there. Poor blacks will never come back, but instead will suffer the same fate in cities across the nation where they have been scattered like leaves in the wind.
Oh how I wish I could disagree with you, but those are the plans. Some can come and work there for minimum wage, but where will they be able to afford to live?
Don’t many of the poor who’ve been evacuated own their own homes? they’ll be dispossessed to make way for luxury condo’s – an outrage!
There are many disturbing things happening in New Orleans if one cares to look beneath the rhetoric being spewed by Bush, and the use of mercenaries is only one.
I cannot find a link to this. Maybe someone els can, but it was reported earlier in the week that Bush signed out of existence a law that made sure that workers, such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc., the kind needed to rebuild N.Orleans, had to be paid a minimum wage of at least, I believe, $9.00 per hour. Not much to begin with. So now those companies such as Halliburton who are already recieving no bid contracts for the N.O. restoration will be able to dictate to desperate workers what amount they will be paid. Sounds like something straight out of a turn of the 20th century union busting exercise. I wonder what Howard Zinn thinks of all this. I guess I already know.
As to the use of the Military on American soil, I found this article this morning laying out Bush’s plans to eliminate the Posse Comitatus Act and possibly modifying the Innsurrection Act.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/D8CM6FB00.html
We are witnessing the militarization of our country where in the future it will apparently become more and more difficult and dangerous for American citizens to address their grievences with their government, and public protesters will be threatened with violence by their own military.
I know Hurricane Katrina was a natural occurence but with the way the Bush Admins. is using it to rewrite laws and mold America into an increasingly fascist state it’s almost as if the somehow were able to manufacture this disaster such as the way the, I believe, manufactured 911.
Scary, scary shit.
I really need to use spellcheck don’t I?
This law, from the 20s or 30s, does not set a minimum wage, but required the companies being brought in for these projects to pay workers the “prevailing” wage for the job.
For example, if the going rate for carpentry in your town is $30/hr, the Davis Bacon act would require that carpenters hired by the outside companies for this government funded project be paid that prevailing rate.
By suspending Davis-Bacon, however, Bush has empowered Halliburton to increase its profit by paying whatever they wish, subject to minimum wage regulations.
Thanks for clarifying that.
I don’t care what they call it, in plain english it’s called raping the worker.
Here’s a link on that:
Yes, the setting aside of the Davis-Bacon Act. . .the requirement to pay prevailing wages for government contracted work.
And On the night of the Disaster pummeling New Orleans, our compassionate Republican friend, Grover Nordquist was sending a memo to the President to immediately act to set aside Davis-Bacon for the disaster area. Most important thing to do in light of this devastation. . .
If I were capable of hatred, these people would be very high on my list. I just cannot believe all of these wingnuts have absolutely no connection to people or their suffering. . .they are, however, very strongly, deeply and emotionally connected to the almighty DOLLAR.
Disgusting!
Amy Goodman on Democracy Now has addressed this issue as well. You are right, this is scary stuff! Remember what happened in the latter 30″ in Europe and primarily Germany…..does things seem the same to you???
I certainly remember. Unfortunately, it seems the majority of Americans are in the “I don’t want to believe it could happen here” frame of mind. I wish I could understand the part of human nature that thinks if it is too bad to think of, not thinking of it or not taking action to stop it is the best thing to do.
Very scary stuff indeed.