Reply #77: It is psy-ops. In Hotel Rwanda they showed one UN general yelling

[applegrove]

and screaming at a mob of machete wielding Hutus. He used the power of his scream, is body language & his hand gun to dominate them all and turn them into putty in a few minutes. It is a tool. One that should have been used on Monday to get psychological control of the city..not because of looters but because of serious criminal elements who congregated and would have been committing crimes even if there had not been a hurricane. For now - those criminal elements have stopped the evacuation of thousands and thousands will be dead.

The first few days they found people on roofs. They still have to find people in attics and people in collapsed homes. They need dogs and they need to evacuate the hospitals which stopped because of the lawlessness.

Some of the fears of the rescuers may be unfounded. Some say that the gunshots were just signaling amongst thieves. We know a few have been shot or raped or victimized. But psychologically it took a huge toll and stopped all the work. Police abandoned their posts and left town.

They have to get control psychologically. Turn the predators into boys afraid for their lives and get them to drop their guns and try and blend in so that the rescue work can continue.