More than 12,500 troops to patrol D.C. for inauguration (RIP Posse Comitatus?)

Yahoo ^

[Chet 99]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – An unprecedented security blanket has been draped over the US capital for Barack Obama's inauguration next week, and the threat level to the country's first black president is expected to remain high well beyond his swearing-in.

More than 12,500 active troops and military reservists, thousands of metropolitan police as well as personnel from 57 departments around the nation are descending on Washington to protect against any potential terrorist attack during Tuesday's historic ceremony, according to officials.

With estimates of up to a record two million people attending, the Department of Homeland Security has designated Obama's inauguration a national special security event.

[RexBeach]

The Homeland Security Operations HQ will be in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital - a nut house where John Hinckley lives.

[muawiyah]

Not sure what Posse Comitatus has to do with DC. This is the seat of the federal government ~ and is kind of like a military base if you catch my drift.

It's not a state.

[70th Division]

Do those 57 departments correspond with the 57 states? Just asking.

[2CAVTrooper]

There is no “RIP Posse Comitatus” because Washington D.C. is a military district going all the way back to the Civil War.

And the military ALWAYS handles the security coordination during the inaugeration, and they provide additional assets during the state of the union addresses such as additional fighter cover, surface to air missiles, etc.

[ml/nj]

(RIP Posse Comitatus?)

Maybe I don't understand the Posse Comitatus Act well but it is hard for me to believe that the intention was that the military shouldn't be allowed to defend us against foreign attacks here inside the United States.

ML/NJ

[KevinDavis]

The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the Military from taking over civilian law enforcement duties during any non emergencies..

[Le Chien Rouge]

What the Obama’s inauguration will probably look like....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sMQ4Ajy4UA

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Was that 57 departments or 57 states?

But you need at least that many cops when you have that many of the kind of trash that supports Obama. They’ll be looting every store, turning over cars, setting buildings on fire, etc.

[hedgetrimmer]

What the heck is going on in this country?

A ‘president-elect’s cabinet nominees are already being approved by Congress, and the man hasn’t even been inaugurated yet?

Now troops are required to protect him at the inaugural?

[Dead Corpse]

It’s a brave new world...

[ml/nj]

during any non emergencies

I believe President Bush has declared an emergency.

ML/NJ

[PowderMonkey]

"The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the Military from taking over civilian law enforcement duties during any non emergencies."

Wrong. The Posse Comitatus Act simply says the military cannot fulfill a domestic role absent specific authorization from the Congress. If Nancy Pelosi says "Get 'em!", they can indeed do it any time she and her minions give the word.

[Polybius]

(RIP Posse Comitatus?)

More than 12,500 active troops and military reservists, thousands of metropolitan police as well as personnel from 57 departments around the nation are descending on Washington to protect against any potential terrorist attack

I have never subscribed to the theory that foreign terrorism against the United States is a mere "law enforcement" issue. It is an act of war.

[batter]

muawiyah alluded to it. Posse Comitatus applies to the States while DC is federal land.

[AU72]

This happened in 1971 when Nixon had troops deployed into DC during the threat of radicals to shut down government operations. Over 12,000 where arrested inside a security zone that essentialy comprised the area between Captitol Hill and the White House.

[Badeye]

I’m certainly not an Obama supporter....but I’m okay with the security arrangements.

The last thing any of us should want is a breech of that security folks. Anything happens to Obama along the lines of Reagan with Hinkley, or worse JFD and Oswald....we as a nation would suffer the same fate as Germany still is related to the Hitler era.

So...I have no problem with the security being provided.

[seemoAR]

Also Sept, 1957 in Little Rock, AR.

[razorback-bert]

A group of over 20, 000 World War I veterans who marched on Washington, D.C., to receive their World War I bonus during the summer of 1932. Most of the veterans, unemployed and in desperate circumstances, demanded the passage of a bill providing immediate payment of their bonus. They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force and peacefully camped and rallied in parks and military bases. When the Senate defeated the bill on June 17, 1932, the veterans refused to leave. Troops ordered by President Herbert Hoover and led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur entered several buildings and the main camp, setting tents on fire and forcing an evacuation on July 29, 1932. A smaller group of veterans remained in Washington and marched in May 1933, but were not successful in pressuring Congress. Nevertheless, the bonus was finally paid in 1936.

[Syncro]

...personnel from 57 departments around the nation...

Obama wanted every state to be represented...except the one he didn't get to.