Body Search Halted Prematurely

This report from CNN and Scout Prime Blog (below) shows that the Feds pulled 964 National Guardsmen off of the search for bodies in the hard-hit 9th district of New Orleans, even though 150 houses were known to remain unsearched, and many of the houses were assumed to hold bodies.

Why? My guess: Because the "official" body count in Louisiana had reached 972 - too near 1,000. That 1,000 mark is something the Bush administration fears because someone has apparently decided that it is "bad psychology" (ie, people's attitudes somehow shift at that point). When the body count in Iraq for US troops neared 1,000, the Pentagon changed how it reported mortalities, keeping the figure "adjusted downward" for quite a while. You will notice how many news reports don't give the total figure of dead for Katrina, but break it into two figures: 221 for Mississippi and 972 for Louisiana. Just don't utter ONE THOUSAND!

SCOUT PRIME:
http://scoutprime.blogspot.com/2005/10/black-bodies-remain-still.html

"Five weeks after Katrina, New Orleans is calling off the house- to-house search for bodies. Teams have pulled 964 corpses from storm- ravaged areas across southeastern Louisiana. Authorities admit more bodies are probably out there. They'll be handled on a case-by-case basis. The count is far short of the 10,000 dead once predicted by New Orleans mayor. As of today, the death toll from Hurricane Katrina stands at just under 1,200.

Searchers and residents insist there are still plenty of dead to find in New Orleans. Once again, they say the Ninth Ward is being ignored because it is poor and black. Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: (voice- over): In pulverized portions of New Orleans's Ninth Ward, where water flows, instead of traffic, most homes bear the signs that search teams have been in to look for the living and the dead, but not in one area that spans several blocks. Here, house after house after house is unmarked.

EDWARD MENDEL, SEARCH VOLUNTEER: From here back, I estimate 100 to 150 homes that are still unsearched. And I do expect we will probably find some bodies.

MESERVE (on camera): Why do you think that?

MENDEL: You can smell them as we drive by.
SNIP
ROZ KAY, FORMER NINTH WARD RESIDENT: We have so many people who were superseniors that lived in these neighborhoods. And they didn't have children or anyone to rescue them all the way out.

MESERVE: If these homes have not been searched and these people found, Roz Kay perceives it as another slap at the Ninth Ward and the people who lived here.

KAY: This is a predominantly black neighborhood, OK? And it's always been neglected. And it's been a hard fight and an uphill fight always. So, I'm not surprised.

MESERVE: Not surprised, but horrified that, more than a month after Katrina rampaged and ravaged through, there may be grim discoveries still waiting to be made.