Rescue efforts lead to arrest nightmare for N.O. businessman

The first court date I had, the public defender told me not to say a word. Just listen. The judge came out and set the bail to $75,000. he said I was being charged with looting, and possessions of stolen goods. I couldn't believe they were charging me with that. I didn't have anything on my possession except my wallet. Which they took. They were just trying to stick us with anything they could. Since the terrorist accusations didn't work, they were going to pin us as looters. This was a bunch of bull.

Abdulrahman Zeitoun was trying to help out his fellow citizens. And, just like I noticed during my trip to the area, he was puting a lot more energy into it, as were many other volunteers, than the authorities whose job it was to provide relief. Then for no good reason he found himself under arrest.

The authorities, however, seemed to be quite proactive when it came to asserting who's the boss. Both my experience and that of Mr Zeitoun - to a much larger degree, unfortunately - appear to so suggest.

Read the article - this is a good illustration of how our society sometimes operates.

And one more thing - I am sorry to bore you with my little idiocyncrasies but I just can't help noticing how Soviet this is.

tags: soviet  police  abuse  katrina