Ray Nagin describes post-Hurricane Katrina paranoia in his new book

I hadn't seen this article posted yet, so I thought I'd post it for discussion.

According to Nagin's book, “Katrina’s Secrets: Storms After the Storm”, he was terrified that the shadow government was conducting and preparing all sorts of nefarious activities centered upon him during the Katrina debacle.

Book's excerpt:

Among the more shocking revelations is the former mayor’s account of the evening of Aug. 30, 2005. Nagin writes that he and his top aides were in the Hyatt’s fourth-floor command center when about 20 men entered, “dressed in black combat outfits and adorned in bulletproof vests, rifles, and leg straps holding at least two very large handguns each.

“Their presence was shocking, menacing, bizarre, and surreal,” he writes, adding that one barked out: “‘We’re here to protect the mayor. Everybody else get out.’”

The armed men wouldn’t say who sent them or why, though Nagin surmises they may have worked for mega-defense contractor Blackwater. “If they were here to protect me, I sure did not feel that as my gut told me there was another agenda at play, and it clearly did not have our best interests at heart, period,” he writes.

The guards managed to access Nagin’s 27th-floor suite and install “all kinds of wires” they claimed were “for a satellite connection.” Ultimately, though, their efforts were thwarted when “Greg (Meffert) and crew stopped (them) cold,” Nagin writes, referring to his former chief technology officer.

This all seems very strange activity indeed and I don't believe that this is the ramblings of a paranoid and delusional man. He must have had reason to believe that he was in danger. I wonder what information he had already that made him believe that he was now a target?

He goes on to state:

“I thought to myself, ‘I’m a dead man! I have just publicly denounced the governor, U.S. Senators, FEMA and the president of the United States,’” he writes. “I started wondering if during the night I would be visited by specially trained CIA agents. Could they secretly shoot me with a miniature, slow-acting poison dart?"

The following is my favorite paragraph in the article:

“Taking the social reengineering play off the table meant I would have troubles with these very powerful, shadowy figures in the future,” he writes. “From that point on everything changed, especially local media treatment. I had a target on my back as the guy who stood in the way of their vision of a new New Orleans where mint juleps would once again be the drink of choice in a bleached, adult Disney World-like city.”

I feel for the guy and salute him for writing this book. He says that the writing process was therapeutic for him, but I also believe that it is acting as life insurance as well.

Here's a link to the article:
www.nola.com...

Resident of New Orleans here. There is a reason that book was self published. No reputable publishing house would associate with the ramblings of a narcissistic, corrupt, incompetent nincompoop like Ray Nagin. Also, they'd likely require a minimum amount of fact checking. 1 thing you learned living in New Orleans under the Nagin administration: if his mouth is moving he is lying.At no point was Nagoon important enough a figure to "assassinate". Some people proposed not repopulating New Orleans East -which is an outlying marsh that was idiotic to develop in the first place(in the 1970s -nothing historic about it). No "elite" proposed to bleach New Orleans population. Upper crust citizens likely did want to get Nagin voted out due to his corruption, racebating, incompetent mismanagement, and the fact that he destroyed the city's budget on failed projects and policies. This is an idiot who claimed to have a phone conversation with Martin Luther King's ghost in a racebaiting ploy to get elected. It worked due to busing "displaced" New Orleanians into town who have not returned nor ever intended to. The knucklehead did more damage to the city than any mayor in the city's 300 year history. He has a huge, inflated ego, and yes, he is completely delusional and a proven liar. Other than to point out the overall uselessness of the scumbag, there is nothing to see here. I'm willing to bet my life savings that there are no verifiable facts on any page in that book and that most of what the moron says can be easily proven false. He is a coward who is currently cashing in on his own failures. Read the book for a good laugh but that's all it is worth

reply to post by Afterthought


As much as most of me would like to believe these excerpts, it reads like exciting fiction and seems way too colorful to be true.

reply to post by staciebee


Ever read the 9/11 commission report? It reads like a fiction too. Way too colorful as you state. Since when should ATS members discount something because it seems colorful in detail and drama. Shouldn't we be looking for the truth in it? We already know blackwater went down to New Orleans. We already know our government seemed incompetent. Why discount the fall guy, writing a self-published book, because no media publisher will publish it?

It had to be self published because this racist idiot sure couldn't sell it to any rational person. Anything to make Bush look bad I guess.

Please do some fact checking on the character of Ray Nagin. If you do, you will likely discount anything that he claims. In New Orleans, we're largely over Katrina but we're still recovering from the disaster of the Nagin Administration. His corruption, lies, incompetence, and thievery knew no bounds. There are at least a dozen federal investigations going on dealing with the crimes in his administration. Before you waste time giving him any credit, do some objective research on the man himself.

Thanks for the clarification and insights. I'm sorry that I didn't get to New Orleans prior to Katrina.

I'm not surprised to hear that he is also one of the corrupt politicians that we are often hearing about. I didn't know he had the phone number to the "other side".

I still don't know what to think about his claims. If he is as corrupted as you said, wouldn't he be privy to what those who he rubs elbows with are capable of?

It's as though you're proud to have friends in the mafia until you have broken one of the rules.

In my opinion, most of the politicians are corrupt, but they're all in the same game. It's as if they've agreed to play a role, but also know that when their role is done and they're no longer needed, they have an idea of ways they can be disposed of. It's as if they are told to play along and if they don't, there are ways to make them agree to play along or face the consequences. Or look at it this way: It's as if he had agreed to play along in the beginning and didn't mind being a corrupt liar until he was faced with the distruction and devastation of his home town, then decided to turn a new leaf and tell his political buddies that he was in cohoots with to shove it.

Honestly though, I just don't know what to think about this. Especially how he says that he's insulted people and this made him fear for his life, so does he decide just to lay out the entire tamale within this book?

reply to post by Afterthought


I read this article. Yep, my reservations about this cat have been confirmed. He's a fruitcake.

He seems to think he's still a important figure. He destroyed New Orleans, single handedly by not enforcing evacuation. Look at all those buses under water.

Oh yea, he's a good guy all right.

I wonder why a paranoid man like Nagin would then take his wife to China on vacation?

When they detained him I was really hoping they would keep him!

I lived in the NOLA during katrina and was there for at least 3 years prior. Even if nagin did forced evacs the people would have never left, and anyone from the NOLA knows this. They are a very proud but stuborn people. i was there for a few city wide evacs prior to katrina. Anyone remember Ivan lol i sat in traffic for 6 hours just to get to Baton Rouge.

Me too. Evac traffic is beyond horrible. If it weren't for the girlfirend and pets, I'd stock up on supplies and stay home.
Took me 17 hours to get to Birmingham for Gustav.