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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 9-12-05
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New Orleans Activist Points to Neglected Corpse as U.S. Military
Passes Off Blame
New Orleans Resident Discusses Race and Looting at Circle
K
New Orleans "Holdout" Compares U.S. Military Evacuating
Residents to Nazi Germany
New Orleans Resident Outlines the Seven Betrayals by Government
and Rescue Operations
New Orleans Evacuee Compares Louisiana Shelter to Jail
Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans
NY Firefighter in New Orleans : "This Is Much Worse,
This Dwarfs 9/11"
New Orleans Activist Points to Neglected Corpse as
U.S. Military Passes Off Blame
Democracy Now! reports from the streets of New Orleans.
We speak with community organizer Malik Rahim who points out
a dead body in his neighborhood that has been neglected since
hurricane Katrina hit and we ask soldiers and police why it
hasn't been picked up. [includes rush
transcript]
Democracy Now! broadcasts from Baton Rouge, Louisiana -
a city that has been flooded with people pouring out of New
Orleans and its surrounding area since before Hurricane Katrina
hit. We have spent the weekend traveling around New Orleans,
surveying the devastation, talking to scores of people.
The city remains under a curfew and there are police and
military checkpoints everywhere. In the time we have been
here, we have encountered law enforcement officers from nearly
every possible agency under the sun. New Orleans has been
transformed into a complete militarized zone. There are still
areas of the city that have not been reached by rescue workers
and there are a number of large makeshift morgues that have
been set up. There is still no firm death toll. Last night,
President Bush reportedly slept aboard the USS Iwo Jima and
he is touring the area once again beginning here in Louisiana.
In New Orleans itself there are people who are refusing the
evacuation order and are calling on the government to restore
their gas and electricity. But most areas remain like a ghost
town.
We spoke with community organizer Malik Rahim in the Algiers
neighborhood. He is one of those who has refused to leave.
- Malik Rahim, a veteran of the Black Panther Party in
New Orleans. For decades he has worked as an organizer of
public housing tenants both there and in San Francisco.
He recently ran for New Orleans City Council on the Green
Party ticket.
New Orleans Resident Discusses Race and Looting at
Circle K
New Orleans resident Mike Howell is a "holdout"
- one of those refusing to leave his home - in the French
Quarter. He discusses the looting of a local grocery store
saying, "this could happen in Santa Monica, California,
it could happen on Long Island, New York, it could happen
in Palm Beach, Florida...if people felt they were going to
run out of food and water." [includes rush
transcript]
- Mike Howell, New Orleans resident.
New Orleans "Holdout" Compares U.S. Military
Evacuating Residents to Nazi Germany
A New Orleans resident discusses why she is refusing to
leave her home in the French Quarter and describes how soldiers
approached her house and asked her to leave: "It was
kind of like being in Nazi Germany, [the U.S. military] came
with guns and told us we had to leave our home. Very, very
nasty, and said they would come back the next day and drag
us out of our homes." [includes rush
transcript]
- Sandra, New Orleans resident.
New Orleans Resident Outlines the Seven Betrayals
by Government and Rescue Operations
New Orleans resident Mike Howell discusses how the federal
and state government, relief organizations and aid agencies
betrayed the people of his city in the aftermath of hurricane
Katrina. [includes rush
transcript]
- Mike Howell, New Orleans resident.
New Orleans Evacuee Compares Louisiana Shelter to
Jail
We go to Gonzales - between Baton Rouge and New Orleans
- where a shelter has been set up for evacuees. One New Orleans
evacuee compares the shelter to jail and says, "It ain't
our fault that the hurricane came and we had to come here.
Like we had to end up in a place that we got to be told what
to do." [includes rush
transcript]
- L.C., evacuee from New Orleans speaking in the Lamar
Dixon center in Gonzales, LA.
- William Ansardi, evacuee from New Orleans speaking in
the Lamar Dixon center in Gonzales, LA.
Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in
New Orleans
In addition to the thousands of military troops patrolling
the streets of New Orleans, there are also scores of private
soldiers that are now spreading out across the city, like
those from the Blackwater Security firm. Democracy Now! correspondent
Jeremy Scahill reports. [includes rush
transcript]
NY Firefighter in New Orleans : "This Is Much
Worse, This Dwarfs 9/11"
As the eyes of the nation remain focused on these devastated
Gulf States, people across the country marked the fourth anniversary
of the Sept. 11 attacks. In Baton Rouge, some 300 New York
Police and Firefighters held a commemoration ceremony. We
speak with one firefighter about hurricane Katrina and 9/11.
[includes rush
transcript]
- New York firefighter, speaking in New Orleans.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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