Bush's Democratic Iraq

By GottaLaff

Just like home:

Iraq imposed a nationwide security lockdown Friday before key regional elections with blanket measures not seen since the deadliest years of the insurgency, underscoring the high stakes for Iraqi leaders desperate to portray stability after nearly six years of conflict. [...]

[T]he full-scale clampdown also brought back an aura of some of Iraq's most unstable days, including 2005 elections, which many observers believe set the stage for sectarian violence a year later.

Traffic bans were ordered for Baghdad and other major cities. The closely monitored frontiers with Iran and Syria were among borders that were sealed. A nighttime curfew also was in place, apparently to block extremist groups that plant roadside bombs under cover of darkness.

Double-ring cordons are planned for the thousands of polling sites — in schools, offices and civic centers — stretching from the foothills in the far north to the Persian Gulf in the south. In many places, women teachers and other civilians were recruited to help search for possible female suicide bombers.

Free at last.

VIP Donors Alarmed At "Porous" Obama Security

By GottaLaff

This kind of negligence is disconcerting. You'd think that, especially with this president, security would be tight as a drum, and then some:

Downtown Washington resembled a militarized zone last week for the inauguration of President Barack Obama, but some major contributors who had direct contact with Obama said they were surprised to find what they viewed as porous security surrounding the president-elect and vice president-elect.

Three contributors who raised $300,000 or more for the inauguration said they were never asked to show identification to retrieve dozens of tickets, including VIP passes that allowed them and their guests to meet privately with Obama. One of the three said ticket checks were so lax that no one noticed when, after a breakfast for contributors, a friend whose name hadn't been submitted for a background check tagged along into a VIP room to take pictures with Vice President-elect Joseph Biden.

And a half-dozen said that after a screening to sit in a ticketed area near Obama for his swearing-in, they mingled with public crowds but were never again checked for firearms or explosives.

"I was surprised," said online retail executive Alfred Lin, who attended most of the events for major donors in the days leading up to the swearing-in. "It was less strict than going through airport security." [...]

Two donors expressed concern about security screenings that preceded a meeting they and about 100 others had with Obama in a tent behind the Lincoln Memorial before the Sunday concert.

One said he was waved through with a camera that had no batteries despite warnings that it would have to be operational. The two said they later walked unattended by the president's motorcade and watched other donors lean on Obama's limousine, posing for pictures.

By the next morning, when Biden spoke to donors at a Northwest hotel, one said it had become clear that ticket checks had become "a joke." He said he flashed a handful of coveted gray passes to gain access to the VIP room with Biden but brought in an extra guest.

Many more details here.

Security net wraps capital for inaugural

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Secret service steps up inauguration security

By GottaLaff

As many as 4 million people are expected to attend Obama's inauguration at the Mall.

What a gigantic, enormous, gargantuan, staggeringly mammoth job this will be:

Law enforcement officials bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing far-reaching security — thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols — to safeguard President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in.

People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by machines, security personnel or both. Precautions will range from the routine — magnetometers like those used at airports — to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols.

The Secret Service — the agency coordinating the security – also has assigned trained officials to identify and prevent cyber security risks. And, as it does at every inauguration, the service has mapped out escape routes for the 44th president.

In addition Washington's 5,265 surveillance cameras, spread around the city, are expected to be fed into a multi-agency command center. [...]

Trotta acknowledged the reemergence of hate groups through the presidential campaign and since Obama's election. Threats against Obama have been higher than any other president-elect in history. From Maine to Idaho, law enforcement officials have seen potentially threatening writings, racist Internet postings and other activity. [...]

He would not say whether Obama would get out of his car during the parade or if Obama would be surrounded by bulletproof glass at the speaking podiums, as he was in Chicago on election night.

There has never been an assassination attempt at a presidential inauguration.

Trotta said motorcades always present line-of-sight issues, and the inaugural parade is no exception.

Gulp.

Glad to see they're well-prepared for so many horrific possibilities. What a shame these possibilities have to exist.