U.S. to Deploy Fighter Jets For Inaugural

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - American fighter jets and Black Hawk helicopters will be circling the capital region Thursday as official Washington gathers for the second inauguration of President Bush - and the first such ceremony since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The combat air patrol will be part of an unprecedented security blanket for the 55th inauguration of an American president, including the deployment of Black Hawk helicopters attached to the customs service, patrol boats skippered by the Coast Guard, and F-15s and F-16s from the North American Aerospace Command, or NORAD.

While officials from the Department of Homeland Security, including the outgoing secretary, Tom Ridge, say there are no specific threats to the inaugural activities, the numerous precautions indicate the Secret Service and other agencies are preparing for the worst.

American officials say some 6,000 police officers will be dispatched around Washington as teams of bomb-sniffing dogs and emergency units that specialize in cleaning up biological or chemical attacks set up positions near the parade route.

http://www.nysun.com/article/7756

[ixion]

1. breeding mass paranoia in the US police state

Pretty soon, they'll be parading missles and other military toys in the parade, just like Stalin and Hilter, et. al. did when they had their disgusting little dictatorships. :grr:

[tmooses]

2. Guaranteed to invoke an atmosphere of "fear of the terists".

[beam me up scottie]

6. I'm more scared of our government.

[Turbineguy]

3. Hey,

I'm glad. Kinda makes you feel good that Bush needs so much protection.... from other Americans.

[Demeter]

4. What Are They Going To Do? Strafe the Protesters?

It's time to return to the Mother country, where a terrorist is despised by the common people, and a corrupt government is subverted by daily acts of rebellion.

[DukeBlue]

10. I assume

They are there to intercept a Kamikaze type attack. Aircraft don't strafe to kill they drop bombs.

I would assume the loadout on these planes is for CAP.

[Divernan]

15. Welcome to DU, and what does "CAP" refer to?

nt

[tx_dem41]

17. CAP = Combat Air Patrol n/t

[DukeBlue]

19. Thanks!(nt)

[radric]

22. Isn't that area a No-Fly zone anyway?

[tx_dem41]

23. But, of course....

it does have to be enforced, since they aren't worried about the innocent civilian pilot accidently straying into airspace.

The CAP response on 9/11 was a joke. I don't have a problem with them doing this.

[radric]

24. Nor do I...

Security is supposed to be tight on Inaugural Day imo.

[bvar22]

42. Land of the FREE?

Home of the BRAVE???

The price for this kind of vigilence IS the LOSS OF FREEDOM!

This type of military presence is for SHOW, not protection. These forces could be kept out of sight, but on call without sacrificing ANY security.

This should be a celebration of OUR openness and freedom, not a fucking ARMED CAMP! This is meant to intimidate the American civilians, and separate the ruling class from the peasants!!!

[tx_dem41]

43. Ummmm....the fighter jets will be out of sight....flying a perimeter that.

is probably 75 miles radius from the event. In this case, I don't think your argument applies.

[bvar22]

47. If they ARE out of sight, fine.

I got the impression that they will be circling overhead.

The intercept and shoot down ring should be about 100 miles away from the capital, same as an aircraft carrier.

Who knows what bush* has planned for the Blackhawks!

[DukeBlue]

52. Blackhawks

can be used to insert people, for crowd observation. They are not gunships like the Apache.

An aircraft going 1500 mph can cover 25 miles per minute. The jets would most likely be invisible to a person on the ground.

[cosmicdot]

51. self-deleted n/m

[BUSHOUT]

60. Let's hope one of them loses engines....

and heads towards the podium....

:evilgrin:

I mean, it's never going to happen of course. And I'm not involved in any kind of plot to do anything like that of course (in case any red-faced FBI types are reading this). But you gotta admit, that would be sweet!

[benburch]

5. Q: When does added security make you less secure?

Answer, when there is so much of it that it becomes likely that a weapon will be used in error, and that everybody else will start shooting as a result.

I really feel like we have a set-up for disaster here.

[pinniped]

7. Maybe they should bring out some old Peacekeeper missile trains.

.

[Deja Q]

8. And what does * have to fear again? Or is this just a big ego show?

[tx_dem41]

9. Having read the 9/11 Commission Report....

and knowing what a disaster the combat air patrol situation was on that day, I don't necessarily have a problem with this. I just don't want them to stick the District with the bill. Maybe let the inaugural donors help pay for it.

[Divernan]

13. DC is being forced to contribute $12 million of its counterterror funds

toward the costs of the extravaganza. think how much that amount could to for equipment/training/medical suppplies and/or vaccines for the district residents.

[tx_dem41]

14. I knew that...

that's a travesty, and should be heavily publicized. That said, the security (especially the CAP) is warranted IMO. It should be paid out of DHS and DOD budgets.

[Norquist Nemesis]

25. Yes...all eyes on DC

along with the protection resources. Who'ld be thinking about Chicago, New York, or LA?

[tx_dem41]

26. You're assuming that there aren't precautions for those airspaces...

n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

30. No doubt it's true

there are precautions for airspace other than DC. I'm not assuming anything of the sort.

What I'm suggesting is that flight resources will be focused on DC, possibly at the expense of other places. So, what better place to find a vulnerability but somewhere other than DC.

I don't doubt any plane with a whiff of suspicion would make it near DC airspace before being swiftly diverted (or blown out of the sky).

[tx_dem41]

31. The planes that comprise the CAP will come from nearby airbases...

so in this case, I doubt that they would detract from other defenses. That said, your overall point is a good one.

[NYC]

61. Like in the past?

?

[leesa]

44. The air patrol was PURPOSELY a disaster. And the purpose of the bogus

9-11 commission was to NOT find out why.

[tx_dem41]

50. Whatever.

:eyes:

[fasttense]

11. They are there to keep people from flying banners.

They need the planes to prevent private citizens from hiring pilots to fly anti-neocon slogans.

[Inland]

12. The theme--no effort too great to protect the rich and powerful

and the rest of you are at risk of the terror menance.

Your only hope is to try to get on the life-raft.

Join the Commander in Chief and beg for his protection. Or stay out in the cold and fend for yourself.

[booksenkatz]

16. Will these be regular F-16s, or the 9/11 type of F-16s?

You know -- the ones that don't leave the ground until AFTER the devastation occurs?

[Rose Siding]

18. And yet *NOTHING* about porta potties for the freepers!

The glaring oversight is outrageous!

[Redstone]

20. What else would you expect?

After all, they have to make it look as much like the old May Day parades in Red Square as possible.

If they'd been able to, they would have had the nuclear missiles parading on trucks, Soviet-Union style, as well. Actually, don't be surprised if these show up.

Redstone

[leesa]

21. Wonder why Bush didn't deploy them on 9-11...oh wait a minute 9-11

was his ticket to power. Why would he do that?

[DS1]

27. That's because the George Doubel-yoo Boosh is a girly maaahn!

/Arnold

[oneold1-4u]

28. May I get in the "bad" black book?

Just look up and say: "Look at all those Hang Gliders!"
He should have just said: I'm already the pres. so we don't have to go through all this CRAP again!

[Benhurst]

29. Where were they on 9/11?

Oh, that's right, NOBODY ever could have imagined that New York or the Pentagon would be targeted by terrorists. Sure there were memos from other foreign governments and the CIA; but who has time to read those boring things? Time to clear some more brush!

[fooj]

41. No shit!

:spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

[Megahurtz]

32. In all his pomp

the jets are probably for his ego.

[tx_dem41]

33. The jets will be patrolling a perimeter set up at a radius..

of about 75 miles from the event. I doubt they are for his ego since no one there will see them.

[Megahurtz]

35. I guess they'll be using them

for the same reason they're using the grenade launchers then.:(

[tx_dem41]

45. Well, not sure about grenade launchers...

since I didn't see them referenced in the original article, but there is a good reason why they would fly CAP. Because, they f'd up the CAP on 9/11 and look what happened. It was a criticism made by the 9/11 Commission.

[smirkymonkey]

53. Yup. Weak men with small dicks LOOOOVE big machines.

Also, they will probably serve to distract from the fact that most people on the ground are going to turn their backs on the Chimp.

[oneighty]

34. Nuclear devices

planted in select US cities by terrorists.

Anybody remember all that talk to scare us?

Do you suppose we were being lied to?

But what if it were true?

180

[dansolo]

36. Perfect time for a terrorist attack...

...outside of Washington D.C. This administration is so paranoid that they are pulling national defense resources away in order to protect their sorry asses.

[Ezlivin]

39. Excellent point. It's also an excellent time to carve up the country

through another LIHOP/MIHOP terrorist attack, they can implement the new rules, establish martial law and then really run the country.

And won't it be convenient that all of the leaders are safe, protected and ready to hand out our new orders from DC?

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. We have never seen this level of paranoia

from any Administration. the Nixon Administration was open and jolly compared to these boys...

And sadly what these boys fear is the people so they are trying to scare teh people.

By the way, the security aparatus deployment means... they expect a million plus "happy and cheering citizens" to come to the coronation.

Chew on that folks.

[fooj]

46. I believe that this whole "celebrate and honor" the troops...

is a huge bunch of BS! If that were the case, he might consider giving them equipment that really works! Now there is a great way to honor them...by keeping them ALIVE! I think this is all a smoke-screen. He has the military at the coronation to protect HIS interests! Have you heard how they are shamelessly guarding the WH that day? Why would this type of action be necessary? I wonder!

[MasonJar]

38. We need to pound on that one. The fighter jets should have been

up on 9/11.

[fooj]

40. Why aren't they raising the stupid terrorist level?

Has anyone noticed they haven't said one thing about terrorist levels since the "selection"? Hmmm.....

[DeepModem Mom]

48. Good question! Not since those curious alerts in certain precincts...

on Election Day, 2004, have we heard any threat pronouncements.

[fooj]

49. Bingo!

[Guns Aximbo]

54. Fucking Fascists

I have numerous relatives who faught the fascists durring WWII now the fascists are running the country.

WTF has happened to America?

[alexisfree]

55. Why have any people there just have military personal..

[Mr_Spock]

56. We can always pray for an accident :D

...for the good of the country!

[DemoTex]

57. Known by fighter pilots as C.A.P. (Coronation Air Patrol) ...

In the old days it was Combat Air Patrols like our MiGCAPS over Vietnam or FleetCAPS over a carrier fleet. This will be a ChimpCAP. Or, more accurately, a Chimp/DickCAP (sometimes called a "hat" or "Dutch hat," a condom, or - in derision - an "FL," aka a "French Letter" or, as the French bled so for in Indochina, a "rubber."

What's in your wallet, matey?

[sarcasmo]

58. IF you look at Chimpy an F16 will strike you down.

Orders are out to not look at Chimpy. We have now figured out what they will do to you if you look at Chimpy. A surgical air strike will be brought down upon you as an act of National Security.

[Laurab]

59. All the more reason

he should have scaled it down. WAY down. Yes, this president does need the security, and for good reason. No, this president does not need the huge coronation. If he wants it, he should pay for it.

[fooj]

62. Yet the military that shrub "honored" today still lacks in armor, weapons

and GPS trackers...What about an effective EXIT STRATEGY? You can be sure that the Dems would have had enough tact and class to tone this "CORONATION" down! They are pathetic!