Washington faces Joe Biden when oath is like a war zone

Of: Wolfgang Hansson

Published: January 15, 2021 at 11:35 p.m.

WASHINGTON DC. They are serious in their beige camouflage uniforms with automatic rifles in a firm grip and the Capitol in the background.

We also see National Guard soldiers sitting or standing in large groups in front of many hotels.

The American capital feels like a war zone. Besieged but at the same time eerily desolate.

I have visited Washington many times in the last 20 years. I was present when George W. Bush was sworn in after a very controversial election in 2000. This time, despite the persistent rain, there was a bit of a party atmosphere. Swearing in a new president is the closest pomp and circumstance the United States will come to.

But the scenes that I can now witness are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Every day more streets are blocked in the city center. Yesterday we were able to take the rental car to the hotel. Today, the street is blocked by a military vehicle. On almost every corner there are police cars or military vehicles with blue lights on. All access roads to the congress are cordoned off at a very safe distance. Then there are four days left for the ceremony.

The riot fence is getting higher and higher. Last night, men in yellow vests took up section after section with an illuminated Capitol as a backdrop. The fence is mounted on the concrete blocks that are already in place. Then a transparent Berlin Wall grows about four meters around the entire magnificent congress building. The large park The Mall, which runs from the White House to the Capitol, is also cordoned off.

In front of us, on the other side of the street, are the soldiers with a gap of 5-10 meters with their automatic rifles in hand. The tubes are pointing down but the signal is still very clear. Don’t fool around with us because then things will go very wrong.

Hard to say how far the congress building is, but I guess at least half a mile. No one who does not work on preparing Joe Biden will be sworn in on Wednesday.

War is at the door

Inside the fence there is feverish activity. Crane trucks put new sections of metal in place while some soldiers sit in groups and rest on the grass. Nearby luxury hotels have been converted into military bases with military personnel at the entrance. It feels like we are not in the United States but in a distant and troubled nation where war is at the door.

In fact, the more than 20,000 troops now in Washington is more than all the American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, the country’s two largest wars in decades.

It is clear that the US state apparatus wants to avoid at all costs new scenarios similar to those that occurred when the Capitol was stormed by Trump supporters on January 6.

Scenes that shocked the United States and the world, even though they knew they had a president who had attempted a coup in slow motion since the elections. The storm was the culmination.

The wide gap of avenues was completely deserted, save for the police cars, the endless rows of riot fences, and the occasional pedestrian. It is strangely quiet. Suddenly I hear the song of some birds. Otherwise, it is mainly the police sirens who break the silence.

Outside the entrance of the Ministry of Justice stands a completely abandoned trio with banners in hand. They are protesting Trump’s execution of the 12th death row inmate during his time in the White House.

“Before Trump, no federal inmate had been executed in 17 years,” Lauren Bailey said in outrage as she held up a sign with the names and photos of the 12 executed.

Join the Capitol

Art Lafin complete.

– We hope Trump disappears, but we will also protest if Joe Biden does not stop the executions.

On the tall fence closest to the congress building there are occasional people gaping and taking pictures with their mobile phones.

– It’s crazy, says Danny who brought his wife and two friends from Michigan to see the capital with a sad but unique outfit.

Without warning, Danny drops his cell phone and shows images of the interior of the Capitol in the final stages of the storm. At first I think he was one of the protesters, but it turns out that he is a policeman who was sent as reinforcements when the regular force failed to hold off Trump supporters.

– It was chaos when we arrived but there were so many of us that the rebels did not have a chance. But then the damage had already occurred. It was an honor to help kick them out. Of course, people have the right to protest peacefully, but this was something else entirely.

He grimaces in disgust and then points to the armed soldiers who are ten meters away.

– This is how they would have looked here on January 6. By then, no unauthorized person had been able to enter Congress.

Why not, I wonder?

– They’re investigating it but someone made a big mistake.

Credible threats

Doug Kinnie and Tim Sulliwan from Houston, Texas, just took a guided tour of the White House with their two exchange students from Spain and the Czech Republic.
It was the last guided tour before Trump resigned.

– We had waited a long time to get in, but after everything that happened, we thought the tours were canceled.

They had applied through their senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, who was one of the Republicans who refused to certify Biden’s electoral victory. Even after the storm.

Doug Kinnie is still remarkably surprised when he describes his feelings before what happened.

– Sadness, madness, disgust, idiocy. We must be a civilized country. It would have been nice to have 100,000 who voluntarily demonstrated and a thousand who attacked. We try to show our exchange students the greatness of the United States and then they will see this.

He shakes his head unsatisfied.

The Secret Service guys at the White House told them that there are many credible threats against the inauguration ceremony and against state parliaments across the United States.

– They said this time they had orders to shoot to kill if someone tried to do something.

Given the massive presence of the military and police, it is hard to believe that anyone would dare to attempt to attack Congress or other public buildings. As a man said standing and looking at the soldiers.

– It would be a purely suicidal operation.

Published: January 15, 2021 at 11:35 p.m.