Braised Lambchop
a nurse trying to work while suffering with chronic pain - she rambles a bit

In another installment of Hurricane Katrina - The Aftermath, here is the story of two paramedics from California attending an EMS conference in New Orleans. Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky document the atrocious manner in which the Louisiana National Guard and other law enforcement officials prevented them and others from leaving New Orleans after the storm.

You need to read the whole thing, but here are two excerpts. In the first, they're at Day 4 after the storm, and their group has decided to camp by the police command center after being denied access to the Superdome and the Convention Center. They came to this decision so media would see them, thereby embarrassing local leaders and gaining attention for their cause:

In short order, the police commander came across the street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge where the police had buses lined up to take us out of the City. The crowed cheered and began to move. We called everyone back and explained to the commander that there had been lots of misinformation and wrong information and was he sure that there were buses waiting for us. The commander turned to the crowd and stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses are there."

(snip)

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

After this, they decided to build an encampment on the median of a freeway, so they could see any relief convoys and relief convoys could see them:

All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on foot. Meanwhile, the only two City shelters sank further into squalor and disrepair. The only way across the bridge was by vehicle. We saw workers stealing trucks, buses, moving vans, semi-trucks and any car that could be hotwired. All were packed with people trying to escape the misery New Orleans had become.

(snip)

From a woman with a battery powered radio we learned that the media was talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their way into the City. Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.

Eventually they make it to the airport, where everything soon shuts down for hours due to Bush's self-promoting photo-op, and out to San Antonio where the humiliation and abuse continued at the hands of 'relief' efforts.

Read the whole thing. Unfortunately there are dozens of accounts like this. And yet, Bush asks, "What didn't go right?"

Blogborygmi has another account from New Orleans, this time from one of the rescuers who arrived there around August 31. Things like this shouldn't happen anywhere, much less in the United States.

Some firefighters from Bartlesville have left for Atlanta, to get the FEMA training I blogged about here, thinking they're going to fight fire or rescue people. Who knows what those guys will actually get to do.

Perhaps sitting around uselessly in an Atlanta hotel will motivate some of them to use their brains when they vote instead of blindly following the preacher's orders.