Oprah, Nagin, Compass,Katrina, Death, rape, shooting ....

Main Entry: ex·ag·ger·ate Pronunciation: ig-'za-j&-"rAt
Function: verb
Etymology: Latin exaggeratus, past participle of exaggerare, literally, to heap up, from ex- + agger heap, from aggerere to carry toward, from ad- + gerere to carry
1 : to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth

Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron was ready to hand over 10 dead bodies from the Dome to FEMA staff. In a freezer he had the bodies on some ice bags, 6 were from inside the Dome, 4 died of natural causes, 1 overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, 4 more bodies were collected from outside, only one appeared to be a homicide, although reports vary that the corpse showed stab or shot wounds (or both).

Beron and an Ohio National Guard commander sent 450 Ohio troops to search the Dome, top to bottom. They told them to mark locations of bodies on a map of the Dome, to rope off suspected crime scenes, and leave a chemical light sticks next to each one so they could be retrieved later.
“I fully expected to find more bodies, both homicides and natural causes,” he said.

They found nothing.

Following days of internationally headline reports of killings, rapes and gang violence inside the Dome, excited and emotional news anchors weeping, the doctor from FEMA was evidently ready “I’ve got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome,” Beron recalls the doctor saying .

At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies were recovered, despites reports of corpses piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been slain, said health and law enforcement officials.

Dr. Louis Cataldie, the state Health and Human Services Department administrator overseeing the body recovery operation, said “We swept both buildings several times, because we kept getting reports of more bodies there,” Cataldie said. “But it just wasn’t the case.”

Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan said authorities had confirmed only four murders in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina - making it a typical week in a city that would expect more than 200 homicides this year.

Unidentified evacuees told of children stepping over so many bodies, “we couldn’t count.” NOLA’s police superintendent, P. Edwin Compass III, told Winfrey on Sept. 6 that “some of the little babies (are) getting raped” in the Dome. Mayor C. Ray backed it with his own tale of horrors: ‘’They have people standing out there, have been in that frickin’ Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people.'’ Oprah throughout this tear jerking interview wore a face mask (pic) to protect her elborate make-up …? “..."It was anarchy inside that building," said Winfrey, who described a scene in which "gangs banded together and had more ammunition, at times, than the police." More sickening drivel here.

When later asked to corroborate the story, “The information I had at the time, I thought it was credible,” Compass said, conceding (unlike many police before him) his earlier statements were false.
Hizzonner Nagin later frankly acknowledged that he doesn’t know the extent of the mayhem that occurred inside the Dome and the Convention Center - and may never.

“I’m having a hard time getting a good body count,” he said. Well Mr Nagin , so far, the best information is 14 dead from the Dome and Convention Centre.

There was however, one reported shooting, a Louisiana National Guardsman who was attacked shot himself in the leg.

Rumours of rampant violence at the Convention Centre prompted Louisiana National Guard Lt. Col. Jacques Thibodeaux put together a 1,000-man force of soldiers and police in full battle gear to secure the centre on Sept. 2 at about noon.

It took only 20 minutes to take control, without any resistance being encountered, Thibodeaux said. What the soldiers found - elderly people and infants near death without food, water and medicine; crowds living in filth - shocked them more than anything they’d seen in combat zones overseas. They found no evidence, witnesses or victims of any killings, rapes or beatings, Thibodeaux said.

Fox News, a day before the major evacuation of the Superdome began, issued an "alert" as talk show host Alan Colmes repeated reports of "robberies, rapes, carjackings, riots and murder. Violent gangs are roaming the streets at night, hidden by the cover of darkness."

The Los Angeles Times in a “news” reported that National Guard troops "took positions on rooftops, scanning for snipers and armed mobs as seething crowds of refugees milled below, desperate to flee. Gunfire crackled in the distance."

Bullshit.

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