Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | 'It reminds me of Baghdad in the worst of times'

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | 'It reminds me of Baghdad in the worst of times': "The sprawling convention centre in New Orleans was no doubt once a source of civic pride, but yesterday the concrete and glass edifice was a symbol of national shame, giving out a stench that could be smelt two blocks away.

A dense mass of people - perhaps 20,000, almost all of them black - packed the cavernous building and filled the surrounding pavement, sitting amid debris left by Hurricane Katrina and the rubbish accumulated in four days of waiting for help."