"Looting" should be "steeling" (since it's a metalworking newsgroup
thus rendering it ON topic. However, I think what the President was
saying is that if these victims were to act civil that these items
could have been confiscated by the local government (or whomever is in
charge) and dispersed appropriatly instead of everyone for themselves.
That being said, people are people, they're not going to wait and rely
on someone else to take care of their needs since they literally have
nothing but the clothes on their bodies left. Letting people steel
necessities sort of makes sense in such circumstances, but steeling
rationaly would be better for everyone. As far as swiping electronics
and other valuables, that was simply stupid. There is no way to parlay
that into money in that area. This is a worst case scenerio that SHOULD
have been thought about (huricanes are not uncommon in that area and
they are below sea level!). Our government has given us all a false
sense of security by making us believe that there are worst case
scenerio plans set in place.(clearly, there was not) I think if i were
in that situation, a gun and ammo would have been on my looting list
first, then water and food.
The whole thing sucks and my heart breaks for ALL those people. I sent
my check out this morning.

walt