Gassed by the Media

With the rise of gas prices we all saw after the Storm that hit the Gulf last week, could have been avoided. The media had played the situation and information from the gas companies to cause the mass panic and rise in prices.
After talking to some people I know from a oil company, it seems the oil companies had told the media that they had lost 25% of our production, and to ask the people to just reduce their usage appropriately, and there would be no problems. Instead the media went out and told the people of prices rising to three and three-fifty and caused a mass panic nation wide. With the damage we took, it was not enough to do serious damage to our production ability, but it did reduce to a substantial amount the production. When the panic hit, and in some places the lines were six blocks long, it forced the amount of drain more than the oil companies could produce. This then caused the rise in prices.
Even now if people could reduce their use of fuel, we could continue to see a reduction in oil prices. There was never a reason for the rise in price, if the people had known the truth, but the media wanted to feed on the situation, and forced another story, the oil story. With the situation this has caused, the media should be relieved of funds that the government gives them for this action and what they in effect did to the country.
This is as cold a action as I have ever seen the media perform, and we have all seen a lot of it. With the prices they had predicted and then went out and worked to make it happen. A whole new form for self-fulfilled prophecy.

New Orleans Mayor: 'It's Going To Be Awful'

As crews worked to drain the putrid floodwaters out of New Orleans on Tuesday, authorities warned of the horrors still submerged in the city.
Mayor Ray Nagin told NBC's "Today" program that he did not know how many bodies would be revealed once the waters recede.
"It's going to be awful, and it's going to wake the nation up again," Nagin said.
Rescuers are still finding stranded residents, as well as people who did not want to leave the devastated city, the mayor said.
"We have to convince them to leave," Nagin said. "It's not safe here."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers patched the ruptured levee along the 17th Street Canal on Monday. Lt. Gen. Carl Strock told CNN it would take up to 80 days to dry parts of the city.
The failures of the levee system after Hurricane Katrina's onslaught left about 80 percent of the city flooded with water up to 20 feet deep - water that became a toxic mix of chemicals, garbage, human waste and human remains.
Lt. Gen. Strock said Tuesday that the Corps was working to minimize the environmental damage to Lake Pontchartrain.
"We will look for real hot spots as we draw the water down, and if we get an area that is particularly toxic we will try to control that instead of dumping it back into the lake," Strock said. "But clearly, the focus is saving lives, and there are still lives to be saved. The quicker we remove the water the better we can do that."
President Bush and Congress pledged separate investigations into the widely panned federal response to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday as Senate Democrats said the government's share of relief and recovery may top $150 billion, the Washington Post reports today.
"Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people," Bush said after meeting at the White House with his Cabinet on storm recovery efforts.
"Governments at all levels failed," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said at the Capitol. She announced that the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee would hold hearings, adding, "It is difficult to understand the lack of preparedness and the ineffective initial response to a disaster that had been predicted for years, and for which specific, dire warnings had been given for days."
Stung by criticism, Bush called congressional leaders to the White House for a meeting, their first since the hurricane spread death and destruction on a fearsome scope along the Gulf Coast and left much of New Orleans under several feet of floodwaters, according to the Washington Post's report.
Congress approved $10.5 billion as an initial downpayment for hurricane relief last week, and Senate Democrats were consulting among themselves in advance of the White House meeting. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was possible Democrats would request as much as $50 billion as a next installment.
"I believe that the recovery and relief operations will cost up to and could exceed $150 billion. FEMA alone will likely require $100 billion in additional funding," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a statement issued after he talked with relief officials and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. An aide to Reid, Rebecca Kirszner, added, "Our priorities right now are targeted assistance for health care, housing and education."
Apart from the investigation announced by Sens. Collins and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the Senate Energy Committee arranged hearings on gasoline prices. The hurricane disrupted oil production and distribution in the Gulf of Mexico, and gasoline prices that had already been rising spiked sharply last week in some areas of the country.
Meanwhile, the military was considering using planes to spray for mosquitoes in areas where standing water could become a breeding ground for the insects, which can carry West Nile virus and other diseases, an official said.
Crews also resumed efforts to recover the bodies of people killed in the storm and its aftermath.
Speaking in Baton Rouge on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warned the body recovery process would be "very difficult" and said it would take some time before officials would have a reliable death toll.
"It's going to be an unhappy number," he added.
Currently, state officials report 71 dead.
Recovery teams are searching house to house in New Orleans for hurricane victims, and helicopters are continuing to circle the city in a search for survivors.
The Coast Guard said Monday its air and water crews have rescued more than 22,000 people in states affected by Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley said that thousands of people are insisting on staying in what he called "a hazard." "We are working with them to try to convince them that there is no reason - no jobs, no food - no reason for them to stay."
Floating on a car tire Monday, a man who identified himself as Robert refused to climb into a rescue boat.
"When this thing happened, you got people shooting each other," he said. "The only thing I trusted was my dog. I'm not going to leave him."
In Mississippi, the death toll stands at 161, according to the state's emergency management agency, but that toll is also expected to rise.
In a meeting with President Bush, Sen. Trent Lott demanded more help for Mississippi and called on the president to authorize sending to his state 20,000 trailers he said are "sitting" in Georgia.
"Mississippians are homeless, hungry and hurting," a statement from the Republican senator said.
Meanwhile, the executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission said casino companies will find it tougher to persuade their shareholders to again operate offshore floating casinos in his state. Casinos are a substantial source of revenue and jobs for the state.
Former President Bill Clinton on Monday joined a long line of critics who have blasted the federal government for not moving fast enough in the days following Katrina's landfall. He said the government "failed" the people in the coastal communities during that period and called for a federal investigation into the matter after the crisis subsides.
Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush announced the creation of a fund to help Katrina's victims during a visit Monday to evacuees in Houston, Texas.
In other developments:
* A plan to house move about 4,000 evacuees from shelters in Texas to three cruise ships was put on hold Tuesday, because the people were not ready to move, officials said in a statement. The evacuees said that they wanted to focus on finding loved ones instead of being uprooted again, the statement said.
* Residents of suburban Jefferson Parish got their first look at their devastated community Monday. Parts of the parish escaped most of the worst flooding; they are on the other side of the 17th Street Canal from a levee breach that flooded downtown. Farther upriver, suburbs like Metairie and Kenner were less fortunate.
* FEMA has taken over and put on hold an airlift operation Texas initiated to send displaced persons to other states, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement on his Web site Monday. The agency is reviewing how to best handle the influx of evacuees to Texas, which Perry said Sunday had reached 230,000. The American Red Cross, meanwhile, said the largest response to a natural disaster in its history has provided housing for more than 130,000 people in 470 shelters in 12 states.
* Shortly after Donna Brazile made an emotional appeal on CNN Monday for rescuers to find her sister in New Orleans, an official with the Louisiana Fish and Wildlife Service sent a boat to the location she described on air and found Brazile's 46-year-old sister and five others alive. Brazile is a CNN political contributor and the former manager of the 2000 Gore-Lieberman campaign.

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Saudis Storm 'Militant Hideout'

Saudi security forces have stormed a building where suspected Islamic militants have been holed up in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Dammam. The attack comes after a three-day gun battle that led to the deaths of five alleged militants and four police officers. Ten officers were wounded.
Witnesses said gunfire and blasts could be heard for hours as forces moved in on the villa but all was quiet by noon.
Security officials said the building was now under their control.
Ambulances and civil defense vehicles were seen entering the area, and security forces were said to be checking for any unexploded devices.
"Charred remains" had been found at the site, a statement on state television said without giving details of how many militants might have been killed in the raid.
Residents had been allowed to return to their homes, said a correspondent at the scene for Saudi's Al-Ikhbariyah TV.
Earlier, security forces said three suspected militants and two policemen had been killed in overnight clashes at the scene. The deaths brought to five the number of suspected militants killed in the fighting that began on Sunday. A police officer also died in earlier clashes.
The clashes began when security forces targeted two militants they said were wanted by the authorities. One of the alleged militants was killed in the fighting on Sunday and another died later in hospital, sources said.
Zaid al-Samari, a 31-year-old Saudi, was named in local media reports as one of the two killed. He is thought be on a list of 36 most wanted people sought in relation to several attacks in the kingdom since May 2003.
The U.S. temporarily shut its consulate in neighboring Dhahran city as a result of the stand-off in Dammam. Both cities lie on the east coast close to huge oilfields.
The Saudi security forces have been engaged in a campaign against Islamic militants for the last two years. Last month, the interior ministry said a man believed to be the leader of al-Qaeda in the kingdom was killed during a police raid in Medina.
Saleh Awfi, one of the country's most wanted men, reportedly died in a shoot-out with forces after a series of raids in three cities, including the capital Riyadh.
Since May 2003, militants have frequently targeted Westerners and Arab residents in suicide bombings and kidnappings. More than 140 people have been killed and more than 100 militants have died in the government's crackdown.

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Putin Rejects Third Term Talk

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied planning to change the Russian constitution to stay in office for a third term.
Speaking to journalists in Moscow, he said Russia needed stability, and the best way to ensure that is by leaving the constitution unchanged.
Putin has repeatedly said he will step down at the next presidential elections in 2008. Even so, there had been speculation that a way might be found for him to stay on.
Recent polls suggest more than 60% of Russians would like him to stand for a third term.
BBC News' Russia analyst Steven Eke says that whatever has gone wrong in Russia on Putin's watch, ordinary Russians blame his ministers, or parliament, but not the president himself.
Putin's critics say that, well into his second term, he has failed to fulfil pledges to reform housing, healthcare, education and the army.
"I plan to leave the Kremlin in 2008, but I have no plans to leave Russia. And this is also a stabilizing factor," the Russian president was quoted as saying.
At the meeting with journalists, Putin also denied that a new generation of oligarchs was emerging among state bureaucrats.
"They do not own shares in these companies and do not earn dividends or salaries there," he said.
Still, he admitted that corruption is a serious problem saying, "... all countries with transitional economies and unstable political systems suffer from corruption".

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Oil Shock Threatens Key Economies

High world oil prices are here to stay and price shocks pose threats to key economies, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reports today.
Britain and Germany's prospects for 2005 are less favorable as a result, the OECD said in its latest interim report; but even after Hurricane Katrina's impact, the U.S. economy should expand fast, the economic think-tank said.
Its growth forecast for Britain is down from 2.4% to 1.9%, but U.S. growth is still predicted to reach 3.6% this year.
Germany's growth outlook has weakened from 1.2% to 1% since the Paris-based OECD last published its forecasts in May.
This was largely because of the soaring cost of oil, which has risen by about $20 a barrel since then, the OECD said. Its chief economist, Jean-Philippe Cotis, told a news conference that the price of oil was not far from the level reached at the end of the 1970s.
"There is a major shock, and there is no evidence it has reached its conclusion," he said.
However, not all the countries covered by the latest OECD report have had their growth figures revised downwards.
Italy's economy, which had been predicted to shrink, is now expected to grow slightly, while France and Japan are also now seen as likely to enjoy higher growth. The OECD said the cause of the disparity was the fact that different countries are at different stages of their business cycle.
The U.S., benefiting from broad-based expansion and stable inflation, is better placed to cope with adversity than Britain, where household consumption has faltered of late and core inflation is rising, it said.
Japan's economy had also been experiencing strong momentum before the latest shocks, with the labor market "healing" and the recovery taking hold, the report added.
However, the OECD said it is hard to assess the effect of Hurricane Katrina at this stage and U.S. growth might be "somewhat more subdued" in the second half of 2005.
Cotis said the U.S. Federal Reserve should continue to raise interest rates, "although possibly at a more mesaured pace than hitherto".
On the other hand, the European Central Bank had "no urgent need" to tighten rates and should maintain "a very accommodative stance", he added.

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Hariri Murder Investigation Could Topple Lebanon and Syria Leaders

The arrest last week of four Lebanese generals on charges of murder, attempted murder and terrorism is an unprecedented event in the Middle East: high-ranking officers have been arrested before - often on trumped-up charges after a quarrel with their political masters - but this time the arrests are the result of painstaking detective work by international investigators.
Even more significantly, it is entirely possible the arrests will lead to the downfall of not one Arab president but two: Emile Lahoud of Lebanon and Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
The murder and terrorism charges arise from the Valentine's Day massacre almost eight months ago, when Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, was blown up in his car along with at least 20 other people as he drove along the Beirut seafront.
Instead of investigating thoroughly, the Lebanese security forces, who at the time were effectively under the control of Syria, blatantly destroyed evidence. In response to that, the United Nations Security Council sent its own team of investigators, headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, and last week's arrests were made by the Lebanese police at his instigation.
We do not yet know what evidence Mehlis has compiled, nor what the generals have to say in their defense, but if they are eventually convicted, the political implications will be stunning.
The four men now in jail awaiting trial are Major General Jamil al-Sayyid, the former head of general security, Major General Ali Hajj, the former chief of police, Brigadier General Raymond Azar, the former head of military intelligence, and Mustafa Hamdan, head of the presidential guard.
To anyone familiar with the way things worked in Lebanon before the Syrian troops withdrew last April, it is obvious that these four security chiefs did not casually get together and decide among themselves that it would be a good idea to assassinate Rafik Hariri; if they were involved, they were acting under orders.
Technically, they were all under the command of the Syrian-backed president, Emile Lahoud, but Lahoud was not really in charge. The generals were agents of Syrian policy in Lebanon, and on all important matters took their instructions from Damascus, not the presidential palace in Beirut.
Nevertheless, Mustafa Hamdan was Lahoud's right-hand man. Lahoud has publicly defended him, and in most democratic systems that would be enough to trigger the president's resignation.
The situation in Lebanon, however, is more complicated, partly because Lahoud seems determined to cling on but also because Lahoud is a Christian and there are fears that his departure would upset the delicate political balance of power between the country's religious factions.
Even so, it is difficult to see how Lahoud can survive until his term ends in 2007, especially if the newly elected government carries out its threat to have no further dealings with the president.
So far, the Syrian aspects of the murder investigation have not really come into play, but that will change on Saturday when Mehlis - after a good deal of procrastination from Damascus - will travel to Syria to question five officials there.
The officials, who are described as witnesses, include Ghazi Kanaan, the interior minister, Rustom Ghazaleh, the former head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, and his two chief assistants, Mohammed Khallouf and Jameh Jameh.
The fifth Syrian "witness" has not been named, giving rise to speculation that the person in question is the president, Bashar al-Assad, himself. This is a logical assumption to make because of a conversation - or an altercation - that took place last year between Assad and Hariri last year.
During the 10-minute meeting, Assad allegedly threatened physical harm against Hariri and the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, saying he "would rather break Lebanon over the heads of Hariri and Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken". In the light of what happened to Hariri a few months later, it is not unreasonable for the U.N. to want to hear Assad's side of the story.
Looking a little beyond the interrogations on Saturday, it is not difficult to imagine a scenario where Mehlis asks the Syrian authorities to arrest one or more of their security chiefs and hand them over for trial alongside the Lebanese generals. He might even attempt to summon Assad as a witness in the case. Syria would then have to decide whether to comply - and failure to do so would be a breach of Security Council resolution 1595, which set up the Hariri investigation.
This would dramatically shift the investigation from straightforward detective work into the realms of international politics, creating a situation reminiscent of the standoff with Libya over the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, which rumbled on for more than a decade.
It is possible, of course, that at this point diplomacy would take over from detection and some sort of compromise might be worked out in order to avoid a confrontation - though in the present climate of American politics, that is extremely unlikely.
Elements in the U.S. have been trying to "get" Syria for years - over its support for Palestinian factions and Hezbollah, over its now-abandoned military presence in Lebanon and more recently over cross-border activity in Iraq.
One way or another, Syria has managed to fend off all these attacks with its regime relatively unscathed, but the Hariri case has presented a fresh opportunity. If there is a silver bullet in Mehlis' briefcase when he delivers his final report to the U.N., the Americans will surely not hesitate to use it.

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Think Tank: Iran Could Make Nuclear Weapons In 5 Years

Iran could develop nuclear bomb-making capability within five years, but a longer timeframe is more likely, a leading thinktank said today.
A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies found that international political opposition to Tehran pushing ahead with its nuclear program made it probable that a 10-15 year timescale was more realistic.
"In a purely technical basis, Iran has a number of obstacles it needs to overcome before it can produce enough material for a nuclear weapon," the report's editor, Gary Samore, told the BBC. "We estimate that if they threw all their effort into solving the problems they might be able to produce enough weapons grade uranium to produce a single weapon within five years.
"But Tehran is acting in a political way to limit international opposition to its activities. It is more likely that Iran would try to accumulate production capability over a much longer period of time, 10 or 15 years, before it makes a decision about whether it wants to produce nuclear weapons," he said.
The evaluation comes two weeks before the United Nations atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discusses whether to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council, possibly prompting sanctions against Iran.
Iran resumed sensitive nuclear work last month, bringing two years of talks about its atomic program with the European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany close to collapse.
Despite denials from Tehran, the E.U. and the United States suspect Iran wants to use a civilian nuclear program as a cover for developing atomic weapons.
"When you talk to Iranians, there seems to be a consensus that Iran needs to have a latent nuclear weapons capability; in other words, an option," Samore said. "But there is much less agreement about whether it makes sense for Iran to produce nuclear weapons."
He said the E.U.'s efforts over the past two years had had some success in limiting Iran's nuclear ambitions before the election in June of a conservative government triggered a harder nuclear stance.
"What remains to be seen is whether the threat of referral to the U.N. Security Council will be enough to persuade Tehran to keep some limits on its program," Samore said.

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Student Hero's Save 7 - Witness Disgraceful Scene

A trio of Duke University sophomores say they drove to New Orleans late last week, posed as journalists to slip inside the hurricane-soaked city twice, and evacuated seven people who weren't receiving help from authorities.The group, led by South Carolina native Sonny Byrd, say they also managed to drive all the way to the New Orleans Convention Center, where they encountered scenes early Saturday evening that they say were disgraceful."We found it absolutely incredible that the authorities had no way to get there for four or five days, that they didn't go in and help these people, and we made it in a two-wheel-drive Hyundai," said Hans Buder, who made the trip with his roommate Byrd and another student, David Hankla.Buder's account -- told by cell phone Sunday evening as the trio neared Montgomery, Ala., on their way home -- chronicled a three-day odyssey that began when the students, angered by the news reports they were seeing on CNN, loaded up their car with bottled water and headed for the Gulf coast to see if they could lend a hand.The trio say they left Durham about 6 p.m. Thursday and reached Montgomery about 12 hours later. After catching 1½ hours of sleep, they reached the coast at Mobile. From there, they traveled through the Mississippi cities of Biloxi and Gulfport.They say they elected to keep going because it seemed like Mississippi authorities had things well in hand.Pushing on, they passed through Slidell, La., and tried to get into New Orleans by a couple of routes. Each time, police and National Guard troops turned them away. By 2 p.m. they'd wound up in Baton Rouge.Stopping first at a Red Cross shelter and then at offices of a Baton Rouge TV station, WAFB, they eventually made their way to the campus of Louisiana State University. By 8 p.m. Friday they were working as volunteers in an emergency assistance area set up inside LSU's indoor track arena.The students worked until about 2 a.m. Saturday, then slept on the floor of a dorm room. When they awoke, they went back to the TV station, which was hosting what Buder termed "a distribution center" for supplies.At 2 p.m., the trio decided to head for New Orleans, Buder said. After looking around, they swiped an Associated Press identification and one of the TV station's crew shirts, and found a Kinko's where they could make copies of the ID.They were stopped again by authorities at the edge of New Orleans, but this time were able to make it through."We waved the press pass, and they looked at each other, the two guards, and waved us on in," Buder said.Inside the city, they found a surreal environment."It was wild," Buder said. "It really felt like it was 'Independence Day,' the movie."The trio dodged downed trees and power lines until they happened upon Magazine Street, which runs in a semi-circle around the city parallel to and about four blocks north of the Mississippi River.They stopped to give water to a 15-year-old boy sitting beside the road holding a sign that said "Need Water/Food," then went to the convention center.The evacuation was basically complete by the time they arrived, at about 6:30 or 6:45 p.m. What the trio saw there horrified them."The only way I can describe this, it was the epicenter," Buder said. "Inside there were National Guard running around, there was feces, people had urinated, soiled the carpet. There were dead bodies. The smell will never leave me."Buder said the students saw four or five bodies. National Guard troopers seemed to be checking the second and third floors of the building to try to secure the site."Anyone who knows that area, if you had a bus, it would take you no more than 20 minutes to drive in with a bus and get these people out," Buder said. "They sat there for four or five days with no food, no water, babies getting raped in the bathrooms, there were murders, nobody was doing anything for these people. And we just drove right in, really disgraceful. I don't want to get too fired up with the rhetoric, but some blame needs to be placed somewhere."By about 7 p.m., the students made their way back to the boy on Magazine Street. He directed them to some people "who really needed to get out." The resulting evacuation began at a house at the corner of Magazine and Peniston streets.The first group included three women and a man. The students climbed into the front seats of the four-door Hyundai, and the evacuees filled the back seat. They left the city and headed back to Baton Rouge. There they deposited the man at the LSU medical center and took the women to dinner. The women later found shelter with relatives, and the students got about four hours' sleep inside the LSU chapel.At 6:30 a.m. Sunday, they made their second run into New Orleans, returning to the house at Magazine and Peniston streets. This time they picked up three men and headed back to Baton Rouge. Two of the men were the husbands of two of the women evacuated the night before. The students reunited them with their wives and put the two families on a bus for Texas.Buder is from Martha's Vineyard, Mass.; Byrd is from Rock Hill, S.C.; and Hankla is from Washington, D.C.

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SENATOR MURKOWSKI TO SPEARHEAD ALASKA FISHING INDUSTRY RELIEF FOR KATRINA VICTIMS

ALASKA SEAFOOD INDUSTRY DEVELOPING PRIVATE RELIEF EFFORT FOR GULF COAST

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced today that she is working with the Alaska seafood industry to develop a private relief effort aimed specifically at helping fishermen and fishing communities along the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
“We are still in the preliminary stages but have received a strong response from Alaska fishermen’s groups and seafood processors, said Murkowski. “Alaskans know how difficult it is to recover from a devastating natural disaster, and sincerely want to help.”
The Senator said there are several steps under consideration, among them the immediate shipment of supplemental food supplies and a longer term effort to collect and distribute essential fishing and processing equipment.
Former Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation executive director Marc Jones, an experienced emergency response administrator and retired senior U.S. Naval Special Operations Officer has agreed to manage and coordinate the effort, Murkowski said.
“I expect to have more to report in a few days. At this point we are still working with our industry to determine what we can do, and with fishing industry and State officials on the Gulf Coast to see what is needed, estimate key time frames, and review transportation and distribution options. We anticipate this will occur in conjunction with the work of national relief organizations and government agencies,” said the Senator. “Recovering from Katrina will take a significant amount of time for all involved, and it will be important to re-start key local industries as soon as possible. As with Alaskan fishermen, Gulf Coast fishermen provide a vital part of America’s seafood. It is vital that all Americans have access to this source of safe, healthy food. The Alaskan fishing industry wants to help however it can.”
Specific details on the fishing relief effort will be released as soon as possible.

Bush: Rescue Results 'Not Acceptable'; Mayor: Feds Should 'Get Off Their Asses'

As President Bush toured the Gulf Coast on Friday to survey damage from Hurricane Katrina, residents of New Orleans, including the mayor, said conditions were horrible and getting worse.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin lashed out at state and federal authorities saying they were "thinking small" in the face of the massive crisis. Nagin said he needs military troops to provide security and 500 buses to take people stranded by Hurricane Katrina out of the city.
"I keep hearing that it's coming. This is coming. That is coming. My answer to that is B.S. Where is the beef?" the mayor said, adding that it is time for national leaders to "get off their asses."
Thousands of people have been stranded at the Ernest Morial Convention Center with little help and surrounded by corpses, trash and human waste.
"We've got small children and sick and elderly people dying every day, small children being raped and killed, people running around with guns -- I'm scared for my life, my wife and my 5-year-old daughter's life," said evacuee Alan Gould. We don't even want to live here anymore."
A National Guard helicopter began to drop food and water to the refugees Thursday afternoon.
Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown said that federal officials were unaware of the crowds at the convention center until Thursday, despite the fact that city officials had been telling people for days to gather there.
"When we found out about the convention center yesterday, we started diverting supplies to get them fed, too. And now we're finding literally as we do evacuation, that more and more people are beginning to manifest, show themselves in areas we didn't they were there so we're doing everything we can to get there," he said in an interview with CNN Friday.
An effort to evacuate patients and staff from downtown's Charity Hospital had to be suspended after a sniper opened fire on rescuers. The hospital was caring for about 200 patients with no power or water, and the only food left was a couple of cans of vegetables and some graham crackers.
"Any patients who are critically ill at this point, have either died - and there have been a few that have literally died in the parking deck waiting to be taken out by choppers - or they are still having their bags - air pumped into their lungs by handbag as doctors and hospital officials sat there pushing air into their lungs," said CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who got into the hospital Thursday night.
President Bush arrived in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday to inspect the storm damage. He sad the federal government would "restore order in the city of New Orleans," where violence has hampered rescue efforts.
Before leaving Washington, Bush told reporters that millions of tons of food and water were on the way to - but the results of the relief effort "are not acceptable."
Bush will take an aerial tour of Mobile and nearby Biloxi, Mississippi. He then plans to view Louisiana hurricane damage from the air, flying over the city of New Orleans. He is scheduled to make a statement at the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans before returning to Washington Friday night.
Overnight, police snipers were stationed on the roof of their precinct, trying to protect it from gunmen roaming through the city, CNN reported.
One New Orleans police sergeant compared the situation to Somalia and said officers were outnumbered and outgunned by gangs in trucks.
"It's a war zone, and they're not treating it like one," he said, referring to the federal government.
The officer hitched a ride to Baton Rouge Friday morning, after working 60 hours straight in the flooded city. He has not decided whether he will return. He broke down in tears when he described the deaths of his fellow officers, saying many had drowned doing their jobs. Other officers have turned in their badges as the situation continues to deteriorate.
In one incident, the sergeant said gunmen fired rifles and AK-47s at the helicopters flying overhead. He said he saw bodies riddled with bullet holes, and the top of one man's head completely shot off.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum of the National Guard said that as many as 2,600 National Guard troops were expected to arrive in Louisiana Friday to join the nearly 2,000 who went in Thursday.
In other developments:
* The Houston Astrodome in Texas, where thousands of refugees had been bused over the past couple of days, stopped accepting refugees late Thursday. However, authorities later decided to process evacuees at the Astrodome and house them in the nearby Reliant Arena, said Patrick Trahan, city spokesman. Other New Orleans refugees are being taken to Huntsville, Texas, along with San Antonio and Dallas, he said.
* Offers of support have poured in from all over the world in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many countries have offered their condolences and made donations to the Red Cross, including Britain, Japan, Australia and Sri Lanka, which is still recovering from last year's tsunami.
* At Louis Armstrong airport, a field hospital set up by FEMA was overwhelmed with patients. Equipment normally used to move luggage was instead ferrying patients to a treatment center and to planes and buses for evacuation. "I do not have the words in my vocabulary to describe what is happening here," said Ozro Henderson, a medical team commander with FEMA. "Catastrophe and disaster don't explain it."
* In Washington, the Senate approved a $10.5 billion disaster relief request from the Bush administration. The House is expected to do the same when it takes up the matter Friday.

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Editor Comment: The costal region of this area had defenses set up for a Category 3 hurricane, but Katrina was a category 5. Add on to this, poorly designed state emergency procedures have added to this situation. There are many factors that have effected this storm area, and many of them from before the storm had hit. The amount of gangs and looters are slowing down any rescue procedures by drawing away troops and police to fight the crimes of Rape, theft, murder, and other activities. There are just too many factors to blame any one group here.