Sluggish hurricane rescue efforts slammed by mayor

Nothing keeps Mayor Ray Nagin from telling it how it is.

"We know there are dead bodies," he told a television interviewer.

"The rescuers basically pushed them aside as they were trying to save individuals."

His comments instantly became headlines. Soon he was predicting that thousands had died in his city.

The Mayor of New Orleans has not hidden his anger at what he perceives as an inadequate and chaotic early response by federal and state agencies.

"Too many cooks," he said, revealing his belief that co-ordination has been poor.

And he is furious with the engineers for not moving fast enough to plug the levees when they broke.

Nagin could only show his despair at the state of New Orleans.

"This is a desperate SOS," he said in a statement. "Right now we are out of resources at the Convention Centre and don't anticipate enough buses [to get refugees out]."

A day after Nagin took 1500 police off search-and-rescue duty to try to restore order in the streets, there were continued reports of looting, shootings, and carjackings.

"We got dead bodies sitting next to us for days," said Thomas Jessie, a 31-year-old roofer stuck in New Orleans. "I feel like I am going to die. People are going to kill you for water."

None of the victims could fathom what was taking so long to re-establish order and speed relief efforts.

"This is America. I don't understand the lack of communications between the authorities and the people," Jessie said.

"It's disgusting. We feel we have been forgotten."

"These guys are just shaking their fists at the sky," said John Maginnis, a political commentator in Baton Rouge, noting that people were starting to get angry with him, too.

"Nagin is in charge of the police force, and they can't seem to control the looters, and that's really driving people crazy. There's nothing he can really do but wait for the cavalry to come, but that doesn't stop people from getting frustrated."

Nor is Nagin's candour always appreciated. When New York lived through its darkest hours nearly four years ago, it was the voice of the mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, which gave residents some sense that things were at least under control. Nagin tells his people almost the opposite.

Then again, if Nagin is frustrated, nobody could blame him. Soon there will not be a soul left in his city to reassure or otherwise.

- Independent