Friday (9/16), Sheehan, who still refers to whatever her current location is as some variation of "Camp Casey," reported from "Camp Casey III," otherwise known to Americans who have not lost their minds as Covington, LA:
The people in LA who were displaced have nice, if modest homes that are perfectly fine. I wonder why the government made them leave at great expense and uproot families who have been living in their communities for generations.Gee, perhaps large numbers of people were forced to leave because said nice, modest homes were being overrun by several feet of water, and the alternative to leaving was to become one of the floating corpses the media so desperately wants to exploit by publishing them in every imaginable outlet. (This sort of exploitation of the dead is something Sheehan should by now be quite familiar with.)
Sheehan then tells of a trip she and her Veterans for Peace supporters took to the Algiers section of New Orleans:
Algiers had no flooding. All of the damage was from winds. There are trees knocked over and shingles off of roofs. There are signs blown over and there was a dead body lying on the ground for 2 weeks before someone finally came to get it. Even though Algiers came through Katrina relatively unscathed, our federal government tried to force (mostly successfully) the people out of the community. Malik Rahim, a new friend of ours and resident of Algiers, told us stories of the days after the hurricane. The government declared martial law, but there was no effective police presence to enforce it. Malik said the lawlessness was rampant. People were running out of food and water and they were being forced to go to the Superdome. They didn't want to go to the Superdome, because their homes were pretty intact: they wanted to stay and have food and water brought to them.A few things worth noting:
- Cindy's new "friend", Malik Rahim, is a former Black Panther and general all-around radical.
- No matter how often fools like Cindy Sheehan repeat it, the fact of the matter is that martial law was never declared in New Orleans.
- Sheehan and her Veterans For Peace friends did not just choose Algiers by accident. Algiers appears to have become the de facto headquarters for left-wing radical groups and other attention vampires who smell media coverage and have headed down to New Orleans to capitalize.
Why Algiers? I'd guess that for one thing, they are drawn to Rahim, an ideological comrade. Another not-so-small consideration is that Algiers has running water that has been cleared as safe for drinking and bathing in. Natural gas service has also been restored. In fact, starting Monday, Mayor Nagin will be reopening Algiers to the population. So, compared to other more hard-hit areas, Cindy and the VFPers can take advantage of amenities not available elsewhere.
- When you consider the dire situation in other areas of New Orleans compared to the Algiers section, which was not flooded, is it any wonder that relief supplies and rescue personnel were going to other areas first?
One thing that truly troubled me about my visit to Louisiana was the level of the military presence there. I imagined before that if the military had to be used in a CONUS (Continental US) operations that they would be there to help the citizens: Clothe them, feed them, shelter them, and protect them. But what I saw was a city that is occupied. I saw soldiers walking around in patrols of 7 with their weapons slung on their backs. I wanted to ask one of them what it would take for one of them to shoot me. Sand bags were removed from private property to make machine gun nests.So, the city was lawless, but seeing uniformed military patrolling the streets and keeping peace is not comforting for Cindy. Especially when the soldiers' rifles are slung menacingly over their backs.
Please.
Finally, I know that the D-Day museum is in New Orleans, but the idea that the Army has set up machine gun nests in neighborgoods, using sandbags stolen from private individuals no less, smacks of extreme exaggeration at best, and, more likely, outright falsehood at worst. New Orleans as Omaha Beach? I don't think so, Cindy.
Sheehan's recent history of anti-military, anti-soldier statements and antics remove the benefit of the doubt as far as I'm concerned. I don't buy her nonsense, because there is nothing this woman won't say to advance her agenda.
In the end, Cindy reminds us all of what a one-trick pony she really is. She's not really concerned about Louisiana. As usual, everything winds up being about Iraq:
George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.Earlier in her post, Sheehan refers to President Bush an imbecile. Look in the mirror, lady. The imbecile is looking right back at you. It is Cindy Sheehan who needs to stop talking, excuse herself from the spotlight, and let more informed adults with a better-than-childlike understanding of the situation handle things.
If a future need arises for a has-been, America-hating, anti-Semitic hippie with the intellect of a pencil to provide commentary on current events, we know we can track down Cindy Sheehan tagging along on the Veterans For Peace Partridge Family Bus Tour.
Short of that, Cindy, do shut up. As several people have noted, you have jumped the shark. It's over.
Addendum: Looks like Cindy and the Veterans for Peace are leaving Louisiana. Oh, how they'll be missed.
Update 9/19: Looks like everyone may have to leave Algiers anyway .Ray Nagin has called off the "repopulation" of N.O. in the face of criticism from USCG Adm. Thad Allen and President Bush, and the ominous presence of hurricane Rita, which could make landfall in the area by Wednesday, depending on how she tracks.
