They Shoot Helicopters, Don't They?

How journalists spread rumors during Katrina.

Matt Welch from the December 2005 issue

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The reports of rampant lawlessness, especially the persistent urban legend of shooting at helicopters, definitely delayed some emergency and law enforcement responses. Reports abounded, from places like Andover, Massachusetts, of localities refusing to send their firefighters because of "people shooting at helicopters." The National Guard refused to approach the Convention Center until September 2, 100 hours after the hurricane, because "we waited until we had enough force in place to do an overwhelming force," Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum told reporters on September 3.

"One of my good friends, Col. Jacques Thibodeaux, led that security effort," Bush says. "They said, 'Jacques, you gotta get down here and sweep this thing.' He said he was braced for anything. And he encountered nothing--other than a whole lot of people clapping and cheering and so glad that they were here."

At the same time, it is plausible that the exaggerations helped make the outside response quicker than it otherwise would have been, potentially saving lives. As with many details of this natural and manmade disaster, we may never know.

But in the meantime, truth became a casualty, news organizations that were patting their own backs in early September were publishing protracted mea culpas by the end of the month, and reputation of a great American city has been, at least to some degree, unfairly tarnished.

"New Orleanians have been kind of cheated, because now everybody thinks that they just turned to animals, and that there was complete lawlessness and utter abandon," says Maj. Bush. "And that wasn't the case....There's a whole bunch of stuff out there that never happened at the dome, as I think America's beginning to find out, slowly."