Dealing with increasing violence in New Orleans

My opinion : help the needy, deal with the 'outlaws

Note that my reaction to the looters, and esp. the violent thugs (there are few better terms) armed and dangerous, is likely colored by having lived in Detroit for the July '67 riots.
In that case, Detroit never recovered.

Corps of Engineers efforts to staunch the flooding hampered by armed gangs.
Hope the local "bad boys" get taught a lesson.

Shoot to kill, National Guard told ...:

A detachment of 300 National Guard troops, who have served in Iraq, have been authorised to shoot to kill "hoodlums" in the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said.

"Three hundred of the Arkansas National Guard have landed in the city of New Orleans," Blanco said.

"These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well-trained, experienced, battle-tested and under my orders to restore order in the streets," Blanco said.

"They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded.

"These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will," said Blanco.

The military has increased the National Guard force in the US Gulf states to 30,000 amid growing lawlessness in New Orleans and mounting relief needs, officials said today.

'We will not tolerate lawlessness'

This would bring to nearly 50,000 the number of part-time Guard and active-duty military personnel committed to the biggest domestic relief and security effort in US history after Monday's onslaught by killer Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana and Mississippi were hardest hit.

"We will not tolerate lawlessness, or violence, or interference with the evacuation" of New Orleans, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff told a news conference.

"I'm satisfied that we have ... more than enough forces there and on the way."

Army Lieutenant-General Steven Blum, head of the Pentagon's National Guard Bureau, said an additional 4,200 military police troops would be moved into New Orleans over three days and would be under command of the governor and state officials.

"This is not martial law," Blum told the news conference, adding that the Guard members would only support local law enforcement officials.

Each US state has its own part-time National Guard force, which traditionally is at the command of the state's governor to mobilise for emer