Foreign nationals & Katrina

September 6, 2005 1:43 PM

Blair apologizesto Britons caught in New Orleans during Katrina. The British Foreign Office was repeatedly "rebuffed" by both US State Department and Louisiana state officials when it came to getting their own citizens out. Some US rescuers even took photos of stranded Britons, and asked them to flash their tops (a la Mardi Gras)...leaving without them when they wouldn't comply. British nationals were left to fend for themselves as US citizens were given priority for evacuation. Get ready for more stories like this as foreign nationals who survived Katrina make it home.
posted by bitter-girl.com (61 comments total)

How would the search-and-rescue teams know who was a foreign citizen and who wasn't? And why would they care?
posted by Optimus Chyme at 1:45 PM on September 6, 2005

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you have got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts. When they said no, they said 'Fine' and motored off down the road in their motorboat."

You have got to be kidding.
posted by chunking express at 1:47 PM on September 6, 2005

Dang, these cops are really coming off like thugs in this story...
posted by LordSludge at 1:48 PM on September 6, 2005

*cough*
posted by LordSludge at 1:49 PM on September 6, 2005

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you have got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts. When they said no, they said 'Fine' and motored off down the road in their motorboat."

You have got to be kidding.
posted by chunking express at 1:49 PM on September 6, 2005

Fears are growing for the safety of 96 Britons who are still unaccounted for in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina.

a little about some of them here
posted by amberglow at 1:49 PM on September 6, 2005

the nice policemen were clearly afraid that those foreign women were hiding wmd's under their t-shirts
posted by matteo at 1:50 PM on September 6, 2005

Um, if that "show us your tits" story is true, then maybe we've found a reason to shoot at rescuers.

...because I think I might have shot at those assholes when they motored off, had I been there & been armed. Yes, I realize that might make me a monster. I came to terms with that years ago.
posted by aramaic at 1:50 PM on September 6, 2005

Well I suppose this tragedy will help to cement the New American Century in the world's eyes as an era of peace, prosperity and good will toward men. Whether the 't-shirt flashing' story is true or not.
posted by lyam at 1:51 PM on September 6, 2005

There was a Scottish woman featured on MSNBC who was stranded on a roof. Has anyone seen an update on her?
posted by Ber at 1:51 PM on September 6, 2005

Those british disaster victims sound like some stuck up prudes!
posted by aburd at 1:52 PM on September 6, 2005

Or did they get special treatment?
posted by caddis at 1:55 PM on September 6, 2005

Somewhere in there there's a joke about cops on cragslist.
posted by delmoi at 2:01 PM on September 6, 2005

PLEASE tell me you're kidding, aburd...

(I'm with aramaic, I'd have shot the bastards, had I been armed!)
posted by bitter-girl.com at 2:03 PM on September 6, 2005

Well, on the ballance it seems that some forigeners were given preferential treatment, and others got fucked. That said, you would expect the people to be more intrested in saving people from the superdome and convention center then hotels and whatnot. I think the people in the second article in the main post were simply in a bad location.
posted by delmoi at 2:04 PM on September 6, 2005

PLEASE tell me you're kidding, aburd...

This is a sign that I should have included the handy tag.
posted by aburd at 2:07 PM on September 6, 2005

Actually, quite a few foreign nationals were in the Superdome & convention center -- I've read some rough translations of a few Russian blogs featuring the stories of people who were caught there...
posted by bitter-girl.com at 2:08 PM on September 6, 2005

Yeah, there were two articles I read yesterday, one on the Beeb and one off of an Australian site talking about their experiences.

Basically, the Aussie/British tourists were in the vast minority as caucasians amongst a lot of black folks, experienced extensive threats due to that fact, and were moved by the National Guard to a nearby hotel due to threats to their lives.

Ugh.
posted by fet at 2:14 PM on September 6, 2005

BBC:

"He witnessed a good deal of violence, with scuffles going on and people breaking things.

"The group really feared for their safety because they were being targeted because they were the only white people there.

"The National Guard moved them out into the basketball stadium next door where the very sick were being held.

posted by fet at 2:15 PM on September 6, 2005

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you have got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts. When they said no, they said 'Fine' and motored off down the road in their motorboat."

What the fuck? Links to this, please... I want badly for this to be a joke.
posted by odinsdream at 2:19 PM on September 6, 2005

TheAge:

Brisbane man Peter McNeil said his 22-year-old son John was in the huge sports stadium but fled with 60 other foreigners, including 10 Australians, as violence and tension took hold.

"He's never been so scared in his life. He just said they had to get out of the dark otherwise, another night, he said, they would have gone," he told ABC radio.

"He said the tension was just building so much it was impossible to stay in there."

Speaking later from the relative safety of a hotel, John McNeil told his mother, Mary, how a security guard protected them from an angry mob as they fled the Superdome.

posted by fet at 2:19 PM on September 6, 2005

Other countries are missing quite a few people, too...at least 17 foreign missions are working with their US counterparts to track their citizens as best they can.

When I lived in Prague, I registered my address with the U.S. Embassy there, but friends of mine never bothered to do that. Remember the floods there a few years ago? I'd since moved home, but I would hope in a situation like that the U.S. would make an effort to find me, no matter what guff the host country gave them.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 2:20 PM on September 6, 2005

Links to this, please... I want badly for this to be a joke.

It was in the first link of the FPP.
posted by jperkins at 2:21 PM on September 6, 2005

iCLiverpool:

"I couldn't describe how bad the authorities were - just little things like taking photographs of us, as we are standing on the roof waving for help, for their own personal photo albums, little snapshot photographs.

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby of the hotel saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you've got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts.

Yeah, we're doomed.
posted by fet at 2:22 PM on September 6, 2005

ParaPundit has a racially-motivated-crime-post, which itself smacks of racism.
posted by Kwantsar at 2:29 PM on September 6, 2005

A friend of mine posted some recollections about the NO police department -- an old buddy of his was on the force, and from the stories he heard, this isn't unbelievable.

At the time he left the force (1996 I believe), some 40 officers were up on felony charges. Some of them had called out hits on other officers. I remember him saying that anyone who could get out of that department did...

posted by verb at 2:50 PM on September 6, 2005

Yeah, for once I agree with you, Kwantsar. That story is one of the most telling yet in terms of written racism (as distinct from on-the-ground action racism).

Did you notice that the white folks were given special treatment, then given armbands and led out of the Dome before everyone else, "for their own safety?"

Reporting that the whites "feared for their lives" without saying anything about what the blacks were "fearing" doesn't strike me as the best journalism in the world, either.
posted by cleardawn at 2:52 PM on September 6, 2005

..it seems that some forigeners were given preferential treatment, and others got fucked.

Unfortunately, the word 'foreigners' could quite easily be replaced with 'NOLA residents' or even 'Americans'. And I'm sure there'll be even more horror stories to come from all the survivors, regardless of nationality..

There was a Scottish woman featured on MSNBC who was stranded on a roof. Has anyone seen an update on her?

Ber, I believe the BBC has an update and that she's now home..
posted by Nugget at 2:53 PM on September 6, 2005

The National Guard moved them out into the basketball stadium next door where the very sick were being held

American's putting white people on a basketball court?

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby of the hotel saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you've got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts.

This isn't about the treatment of foreigners as much as it is about the treatment of women.

I am finding the NOLA police conduct interesting. 200 AWOL officers - reports of hanging out and bbq'ing while people where starving - and now boobies for rescue allegations. Who was rioting again?
posted by srboisvert at 3:06 PM on September 6, 2005

Girls Gone Wild: Refugees!!!
posted by Smedleyman at 3:12 PM on September 6, 2005

Some people aren't dead only because it's illegal to kill them.
posted by Smedleyman at 3:14 PM on September 6, 2005

Laws can be changed.
posted by fleetmouse at 3:17 PM on September 6, 2005

Girls Gone Wild: Refugees!!!

Don't bet against it.
posted by realcountrymusic at 3:21 PM on September 6, 2005

It's hot and humid, there's no power, you're short on supplies and dead bodies and sewage are openly flowing through the streets.

Hey, who couldn't think of tits in that situation?

I really doubt this is true.
posted by b_thinky at 3:25 PM on September 6, 2005

Girls Gone Wild: Refugees!!! Don't bet against it.

Yeah, last week there were those assholes seeking isplaced "hotties" on craigslist (original posts subsequently "removed by craigslist community"). MetaFilter thread here.
posted by ericb at 3:35 PM on September 6, 2005

*displaced*
posted by ericb at 3:37 PM on September 6, 2005

From this side of the pond (uk) America's image really hasn't come off too well. Just seen Newsnight with a senior Republican congressman, and President Bush's former economics adviser both of whom were trying to rewrite events (Bush was on a conference call on the Monday...State governor refused federal aid etc...) Thankfully Paxman wasn't having any of it.

I find it sad that from the outside it appears America is run by a bunch of callous people who've spent so long 'playing the game' they've forgotten what reality is.
posted by gwildar at 3:41 PM on September 6, 2005

Oh good, ericb...for a second I read that as "misplaced."

"Umm, officer? I've misplaced my hottie. Can you help me find him, please?"

And b_thinky, come on. Many (not all, but a substantive majority) of the men I know could easily be thinking "mmm, tits" at any given point in time, hurricanes and floods be damned. Like US mail carriers...in snow, in rain, in...oh never mind...
posted by bitter-girl.com at 3:41 PM on September 6, 2005

Brits used to understand you should never travel without a company of redcoats and a Gatling gun.
posted by jfuller at 4:22 PM on September 6, 2005

I find it sad that from the outside it appears America is run by a bunch of callous people who've spent so long 'playing the game' they've forgotten what reality is.

It looks that way to many of us on the inside, too.
posted by homunculus at 4:28 PM on September 6, 2005

I'll just come out and say that I don't believe the 'show us your tits' story. It's not so much that I don't think there could be depraved rescue workers, as that it just strikes me as extremely implausible. And, along with all the stress, floating shit, and general weirdness, you've got Americans and Scotts shouting and gesturing to each other, a situation that is likely to end in a serious misunderstanding, even in much more ideal circumstances.
posted by bingo at 4:35 PM on September 6, 2005

> I'll just come out and say that I don't believe the 'show
> us your tits' story. It's not so much that I don't think there
> could be depraved rescue workers, as that it just strikes
> me as extremely implausible.

They were interviewed on Radio 4 today. They didn't strike
me as at all implausible. Rather, they seemed to be nice
middle class girls who were shocked by their treatment.

> you've got Americans and Scotts shouting and gesturing

These girls were English, not Scots, and they seemed sufficiently well educated to be able to read the signs that the 'rescuers' were waving at them.

But hey, perhaps the problem was that these rescuers didn't have any more beads on their float?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:43 PM on September 6, 2005

A friend of mine just sent this email... I figure it's applicable to this thread.

I heard some great stories today. We were at the McDonald's on I-10 outside of Port Allen because Adam apparently snuck a diuretic from somewhere and has to pee every eight minutes. When I walked in, a friend of ours was there with her kids. We looked right at each other, but it was still a couple of minutes before I could sort out who she was. I don't think she recognized me until I hugged her. She was shell-shocked. She and her family were holed up at her brother's house in Mandeville, on the North shore of Lake Ponchartrain. The storm hit
hard and they sat in a little house as a forrest of trees broke and fell around them. They were lucky to survive. Then, after a few days, the kids started getting sick from the contaminated well water they were having to drink. They had little food and were bathing in the well, too. Then someone knocked on the door. "Mrs. Andrusek?" "Yes?" "We are fromthe Austrian government. We are here to collect you." Her husband is Austrian and the freakin Austrian government looked up
her brother's house, went out into the woods and got them. When I saw them at the McDonald's, they were being escorted by the Austrian officials to the airport, where they were going to be flown, along with her parents, to Austria. That is an impressive government.

Crazy.
posted by brundlefly at 5:12 PM on September 6, 2005

Bush: Homer Simpson
Blair: Flanders
posted by any major dude at 5:27 PM on September 6, 2005

Not so crazy, brundlefly. The Austrians don't mess around. It's one of their most endearing traits, actually. (I lived there for a while, too). They're thorough to a fault, which makes my Capricornian heart swoon.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:38 PM on September 6, 2005

That's an amazing story, brundlefly.
posted by gyc at 6:19 PM on September 6, 2005

This ^^^ Yes
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:21 PM on September 6, 2005

brundlefly, that's fucking amazing. I asked my friend what he thought the Canadian government would do and he replied, "You would have to call up the Canadian govt. yourself and they'd tell you it's a wrong number." That sounded about right.
posted by chunking express at 7:27 PM on September 6, 2005

chunking express writes "I asked my friend what he thought the Canadian government would do and he replied, 'You would have to call up the Canadian govt. yourself and they'd tell you it's a wrong number.' That sounded about right."

Isn't that pretty much what happened to the Canadians who were stuck in Thailand after the tsunami?
posted by clevershark at 8:01 PM on September 6, 2005

Hmm, I actually have some inside info that I can share for a change. Friend works in Foreign Affairs, and he was one of many scurrying like madmen to locate and contact Canadians in SEA after the tsunami. The priority wasn't necessarily to get them out (which in most cases wasn't necessary) but to determine their condition, render help if possible, and let their families know that they're ok.
posted by dreamsign at 8:07 PM on September 6, 2005

dreamsign writes "Friend works in Foreign Affairs, and he was one of many scurrying like madmen to locate and contact Canadians in SEA after the tsunami."

I have to say stories describing situations much like this one or this one (look for the January 3rd entry) were heard with alarming frequency in the weeks after the crisis began.
posted by clevershark at 8:57 PM on September 6, 2005

And b_thinky, come on. Many (not all, but a substantive majority) of the men I know could easily be thinking "mmm, tits" at any given point in time, hurricanes and floods be damned. Like US mail carriers...in snow, in rain, in...oh never mind...
posted by bitter-girl.com at 3:41 PM PST on September 6 [!]

This is...what...the third post I've found where the username predicts the content?

That being said, she did coin the phrase "Ten Gallon Asshat", so I suppose she's at least slightly golden.
posted by effugas at 9:28 PM on September 6, 2005

Then someone knocked on the door. "Yes?" "We are from the Austrian government. We are here to collect you."

...and that's how my Jewish friend's nightmare ended just before he woke up startled and sitting up abruptly in pool of cold sweat with a howling 'NO!' still ringing in his throat.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 9:56 PM on September 6, 2005

I'll have to check on those, clevershark, as I'm interested, too. So far I've been dismally disappointed (that's a huge understatement) in Canada's willingness/lack of willingness to defend citizens abroad when accused of something illegal -- anything at all with proof or without. I suspect that quick replacement passports were considered a security risk (as we're taking quite a beating on the "valuable and easy to fraudulently obtain" Canadian passport). Then again, it might be that particular embassy. I heard tell that the New Delhi embassy was worse than useless (better of going to the Ozzie M in time of need) but others may have functioned quite well.

Stay posted.
posted by dreamsign at 10:10 PM on September 6, 2005

Argh. I just remembered that he's down south, helping with this thing. But I shall inquire when he returns.
posted by dreamsign at 10:11 PM on September 6, 2005

I'll just come out and say that I don't believe the 'show us your tits' story.

I am finding the NOLA police conduct interesting. 200 AWOL officers - reports of hanging out and bbq'ing while people where starving - and now boobies for rescue allegations. Who was rioting again?

If anyone doubts that the New Orleans police could be that bad, just watch this.

It wuz prom'nently featured over at the Pretty Hate Machine, too, but I won't link there. The comments section is as toxic as NOLA water.
posted by dhartung at 10:17 PM on September 6, 2005

When satire and reality collide: FEMA representatives call out to survivors, "Show us your tits for emergency rations!" (The Onion)
posted by Ljubljana at 10:42 PM on September 6, 2005

Notice how that ugly post kwantsar linked to leaves out this bit of the account by the Brits:

Miss Wheeldon said: “The sights we saw you wouldn’t want anyone to see. The filth and smell were unbelievable.” The threat came from a minority — mainly young men. “The majority of the people of New Orleans are absolutely lovely,” she said. “Some families were ready to give us their food even though they had nothing.”

Now I would bet that if for some reason a crowd of thousands of say white Europeans who could afford a ticket for the champions league hence not exactly poor was trapped for days in a football stadium with no water and food after having survived massive flooding, there would also be a bunch of young men acting like scum especially towards the women. (Nevermind catastrophes, violence still breaks out once in a while during regular matches even with lots of police around, but that's another story).

The survivors were thousands, there's bound to be shitheads and criminals in there, or maybe some people think a natural disaster "weeds" them out and leaves only the nice people?

I heard accounts and interviews with some of the Brit survivors yesterday on tv, they did say they were given preferential treatment, obviously, and it's entirely logical that would cause resentment and insults. They said they had to leave in small groups by the backdoor and some people were throwing objects at them as they were seen boarding the bus while everyone was still stuck there waiting for the buses for the rest of them all... I bet it was horrible but those I heard definitely sounded like they were aware of the circumstances and knew how much luckier they were to be able to go back to a home.
posted by funambulist at 2:15 AM on September 7, 2005

The news in Sydney over a couple of days gave equal time to the NOLA disaster and the fate of about 10 or so Aussies who had some less than happy stories about being in the Superdome for a few days. They were scathing in their attack on the Australian government. All I could think was that the consular officials are in D.C. and even if they flew down to Louisiana and were allowed in to NO, how the hell would they have gone about finding these people? And why would they think that the Australian govt. could do anything more (and I suppose in light of the FEMA timeline fuckup it's ironic) than the Coast Guard, Nat. Guard etc etc.

I guess if it was in the back woods of Cambodia you'd have more of an expectation of help from your govt. but in the scenario we've been witnessing this last week, any outside govt. people showing up would likely just cause more confusion or would just be more potential souls going to need evacuating. So I think the D.C. consular officials initially contact US authorities with details of the tourists and asked to be kept informed - I thought that was kind of the logical thing. Not so our local press.

In fact....now that I look I find: "..Australian officials had been kept out of the disaster zone for days by US officials, who were not allowing consular officials from any foreign countries into the area."
posted by peacay at 2:39 AM on September 7, 2005

I saw the Scottish woman and husband on the box last night. He broke down at the end of the interview whilst praising the 'dignity' of the people in the hospital in NO. Dignity is not a word you hear often in the US press in regards to the survivors.
posted by asok at 6:23 AM on September 7, 2005

dreamsign writes "I'll have to check on those, clevershark, as I'm interested, too. So far I've been dismally disappointed (that's a huge understatement) in Canada's willingness/lack of willingness to defend citizens abroad when accused of something illegal -- anything at all with proof or without. I suspect that quick replacement passports were considered a security risk (as we're taking quite a beating on the 'valuable and easy to fraudulently obtain' Canadian passport). Then again, it might be that particular embassy. I heard tell that the New Delhi embassy was worse than useless (better of going to the Ozzie M in time of need) but others may have functioned quite well."

I think a lot of people do not understand how things work when you get in trouble overseas. Your government is not able to waltz in and escort you to the nearest airport like they do in the movies. In fact, if you are arrested abroad the local government is not required to inform your government unless you specifically ask them to do so. Likewise, it is not the government's job to defend you against charges leveled by the local authorities. They may assist you in finding legal representation and try to ensure you are given a fair and unbiased trial. Here is an example of services provided by Consular Officials.

Of course, there are many consular cases where it seems like the Canadian Gov't has dropped the ball, Maher Arar and Hamid Karzai to name a couple. But for every high profile case there are dozens of others that are resolved quickly and efficiently. And to be fair, there were extenuating circumstances regarding the cases in Syria and Iran such as both individuals holding dual citizenship, embassy staff not aware of a Canadian being in trouble etc..

Finally, as the son of a diplomat and a Foreign Affairs employee I resent the wide spread condemnation that always arises from such high profile cases. When I was 16, my father and I had to cut a vacation short to help a Canadian citizen in trouble since we were the nearest embassy staff. I got to spend 4 lovely hours with a wigged out tourist who was drinking out of dirty puddles (despite being offered fresh water repeatedly) and eating rotting fruit from the ground (underneath a tree with plenty of fruit) with him telling me how everyone was out to get him etc.. That was followed up by a 2 hour drive to the nearest hospital, 3 hours of waiting in the car while my father arranged to have the clown admitted to the hospital. Or there was the numerous times my Dad had to visit Canadians in jail for drug trafficking, or the time he had to hike up the side of a volcano to help find a missing Canadian. These actions never see the light of day because they happen all the time and are not newsworthy.

Finally, I've worked with the Ambassador to Thailand and he is a very dedicated Foreign Service Officer. I'm sure that whatever issues regarding passports were raised were blown out of proportion by distressed tourists (or families back home) talking to the press. Probably no one from the Embassy's staff was asked to comment. I'm also a family friend of the head of the Consular Affairs Bureau in Ottawa, and from what he's told me his staff was reacting to the tsunami within hours of the news breaking.
posted by smcniven at 8:23 AM on September 7, 2005