RWers Now Kvetching About Obama's Security in Germany

[tishaLA]

At another board I visit, the Rw nut jobs are all upset that "Obama's campaign" wants to keep people with signs, purses, and backpacks away from his speech there this week. They see it as incredibly unorthodox and mean to the good German people. But the more important point is that they are saying that this is his campaign insisting on people leaving signs, purses, and backpacks at home (this is a story also being pushed on FR), which I'm sure is not true.

I've searched around the internets--the only sources for this story are FR, WND, and bad translations of Bild. Does anyone, especially Germans or German speakers, have any more information on this, because I'm certain these logistics have to have been worked out by the Secret Service, the Berlin police, and perhaps Germany's version of the Secret Service.

[Olney Blue]

1. They are probably following established protocol

[Tutonic]

4. I agree. Logistically if the crowd is anywhere near the

million that some are predicting, the more that security can control the potential for mayhem to others in attendance the better for the candidate.

[blogslut]

2. Remind them of Dubya's 2005 trip to Germany

DFS said in an e-mailed statement that the U.S. Secret Service had ordered the complete closure of the airport during Bush's arrival and departure two days before the visit, after previously saying it would not be necessary. The closure was needed to allow the presidential convoy to cross the airport runways and take the shortest route.

``Massive reference to the serious consequences this plan would have on flight operations failed to change their position,'' DFS said.

About 14,000 police officers helped to protect Bush, said Ernst Scharbach, spokesman for the Rhineland-Palatinate police's labor union. Police were brought in from as far away as Schleswig- Holstein, Germany's northernmost state, and Brandenburg, the state encircling the capital Berlin.

``I have never experienced such security,'' Wolfgang Herber, a police officer on duty in Mainz, told broadcaster ARD. Herber helped protect former U.S. President Ronald Reagan on a visit to Germany in 1985...

link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000100&sid=a5r.jATeAKnQ

[tishaLA]

3. thanks for that.