Opaque Lucidity

Big Easy Goes Big Anarchy

Michelle Malkin has links to stories concerning looters in New Orleans. According to once source, the children's hospital in town is under literal assault by people trying to get in. Many people on dry land but still isolated have formed groups to patrol streets and guard businesses. The update at the bottom of her post is more than a little scary (from Donald Sensing):

Louisiana Gov. Blanco just said live on FNC that she will ask President Bush to send federal troops to conduct law enforcement in New Orleans and environs. It’s hard to see Bush refusing. This step moves the city closer to actual martial law. The president has the authority under Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus when “public Safety may require it.” Historically, suspension of Habeas Corpus has been considered an indicator of martial law, as Abraham Lincoln did in the Civil War.

We’ll have to wait to see what enforcement authority the federal troops will have when they arrive. I am guessing that the units sent will be military police from either or both of the regular Army and the Army Reserve.

I don't know if martial law has been declared in an American city since the Civil War, but it is always a move of last resort. As one resident put it:

"The whole U.S. is looking at this city right now, and this is what they see."

Indeed.