The 769th and 527th engineering battalions of the Louisiana National Guard... were housed at the Convention Center when that building became an island of deprivation, chaos and lawlessness.

The 350 armed soldiers knew enough about what was going on to barricade their part of the building against the mob, and to come and go from a side door so as few people as possible would know of their presence. Later, they said no one had told them to restore order in the convention center. That's bad enough (and I know this is the know-it-all reporter talking). What's worse is that they didn't do it without being asked.

"The idea of helping with the convention center never came up," said the 769th commander, Maj. Keith Waddell, according to an account in The Washington Post.

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002547076_sundayrisk09.html

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