<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I found this confirmation of what some on the list were saying, that the violence is exaggerated.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Marta</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-troops3sep03,0,1220337,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-troops3sep03,0,1220337,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines</SPAN></FONT></A></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 21.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><B>KATRINA'S AFTERMATH</B></SPAN></FONT></P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="5"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><B>Met by Despair, Not Violence</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana" size="2"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><B>As they begin to patrol the chaotic city, troops are surprised by what they don't find.</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">By Scott Gold</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Times Staff Writer</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">September 3, 2005</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">NEW ORLEANS — Forty-four troops pressed together in their truck, swaying as one at every bump and turn like reeds in a river.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">As they plunged into the dark water engulfing the business district of New Orleans, their wake pushed the body of a woman onto the steps of the Superdome. The floodwater had ripped her pants down to her knees. She was facedown in the muck, a red ribbon still tied neatly around her graying hair.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">The troops, members of an elite Special Response Team from the Louisiana Army National Guard, were the first convoy out of what was rapidly becoming a massive military staging ground.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Their mission, simply, is to turn New Orleans into a police state — to "regain the city," 1st Sgt. John Jewell said.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></BODY></HTML>