Perhaps the most interesting piece of news this week was the revelation made by the former Mayor of New Orleans - Mayor Nagin. In his book he wrote about the paranoid state he was in after the Katrina disaster that he thought the CIA was going to take him out. We assume that leaders are always subjects to threats, from the mundane “we won’t vote for you”, to a more graphic depiction of some altercation that ends in somebody’s demise. That's why when I hear something like this, it fascinates me.
Many years ago a friend of mine told me about an incident that happened in South Korea, told to him by another Army buddy of his. I can’t remember what the rank of the officer was but it was high enough that his foes gave him a proper welcome. Not long after the officer landed to assume his new post, he was transported to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and was soon within meters of the North Koreans. He was doing his inspection and all the formalities of military life peculiar to men of his position. They were standing in an outpost and looking out into the horizon towards the potential aggressors. Then, out of nowhere, he hears a loud speaker from across the field and the voice of a North Korean speaking in English with a heavy accent. He was calling the officer’s name, in fact welcoming him and telling him that he was already on a sniper’s scope and that they were going to kill him. That was just on his first day.
I imagine that leaders get that kind of treatment all the time - boisterous criticisms of policies that morph into mindless threats of every type including bodily harm. High level officials rarely hear about most of them because of the disruptive and sometimes paranoid reflexes that a person experiences when confronted by a death threat. They are protected by a sort of “cordon sanitaire” in the form of the US Secret Service that follow-up on many of these calls or letters everyday.
Apparently, Mayor Nagin was critical of many federal and state officials after the Katrina disaster. Soon after he developed feelings of paranoia triggered by an incident with black-clad military personnel on orders to keep him safe. That’s probably natural for someone in his stature. I’m just a lowly indigent litigator with an assortment of actual and would-be defendants but I get all sorts of “suggestions” from these people visiting me - from the more sensationalistic “we’re here to assassinate you” to a more subtle “that’s just a warning” spoken indirectly. There was a retort I heard many years ago that spawned many variants in movies including James Bond and Black Hawk Down. That’s the line that the Mayor should tell himself any time those voices rear its ugly heads. He should say, “You can’t kill me. I’m already dead.” The only surprise to me is that he still reacts in that manner after going through the ringer as a political operator in a reputedly rough and corrupt city.
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Many years ago a friend of mine told me about an incident that happened in South Korea, told to him by another Army buddy of his. I can’t remember what the rank of the officer was but it was high enough that his foes gave him a proper welcome. Not long after the officer landed to assume his new post, he was transported to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and was soon within meters of the North Koreans. He was doing his inspection and all the formalities of military life peculiar to men of his position. They were standing in an outpost and looking out into the horizon towards the potential aggressors. Then, out of nowhere, he hears a loud speaker from across the field and the voice of a North Korean speaking in English with a heavy accent. He was calling the officer’s name, in fact welcoming him and telling him that he was already on a sniper’s scope and that they were going to kill him. That was just on his first day.
I imagine that leaders get that kind of treatment all the time - boisterous criticisms of policies that morph into mindless threats of every type including bodily harm. High level officials rarely hear about most of them because of the disruptive and sometimes paranoid reflexes that a person experiences when confronted by a death threat. They are protected by a sort of “cordon sanitaire” in the form of the US Secret Service that follow-up on many of these calls or letters everyday.
Apparently, Mayor Nagin was critical of many federal and state officials after the Katrina disaster. Soon after he developed feelings of paranoia triggered by an incident with black-clad military personnel on orders to keep him safe. That’s probably natural for someone in his stature. I’m just a lowly indigent litigator with an assortment of actual and would-be defendants but I get all sorts of “suggestions” from these people visiting me - from the more sensationalistic “we’re here to assassinate you” to a more subtle “that’s just a warning” spoken indirectly. There was a retort I heard many years ago that spawned many variants in movies including James Bond and Black Hawk Down. That’s the line that the Mayor should tell himself any time those voices rear its ugly heads. He should say, “You can’t kill me. I’m already dead.” The only surprise to me is that he still reacts in that manner after going through the ringer as a political operator in a reputedly rough and corrupt city.
READ THE DAILY MAIL ARTICLE
