Interesting article below from the Seattle PI newspaper today..."Mayor Schell low-balled WTO security" ...
Mr.. Clinton invited the WTO to Seattle in his January 1999 Inauguration speech....it would just seem that for such an event, the organizers would be in close contact with the White House, Governor of WA and the Mayor of Seattle... And MOST especially if the President was to be in the city. So the obvious questions will start.... WAS ANYONE IN CHARGE? WHO made the ultimate decisions...?? I encourage you to read several other articles from this issue of the PI (which for those of you who don't live in Seattle, is a very Liberal newspaper!!!) The entire episode was based in naivete, IMO.
KLP
seattlep-i.com
seattlep-i.com
Mayor Schell low-balled WTO security
Sunday, December 5, 1999
By SAM R. SPERRY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
ASSOCIATE EDITOR/EDITORIAL PAGE
It is possible to both speak softly and carry a big stick. Yet that lesson escaped Seattle's Mayor Paul Schell as he prepared for last week's World Trade Organization meeting here.
To the chagrin of most, if not all Seattle citizens, and their business, civic and political leaders, an unnecessary riot downtown Tuesday was allowed to:
Delay the opening of the World Trade Organization meeting.
Disrupt carefully planned, peaceful and legitimate demonstrations opposing the WTO.
Damage both the landscape downtown and Seattle's stature as a decent, safe place to hold major meetings.
Deliver up a national embarrassment for the United States before the international community.
The conclusion is inescapable that the mayor's breathtakingly poor judgment led to this disaster. The sorry events of last week need not have happened.
The fundamental error made by Mayor Schell was his decision to disobey the law of worst-case planning. Instead, he chose an optimistic approach that would focus on welcoming protesters in the hope they would conduct themselves peacefully and that there would be no trouble. The gatherings, he said, should "celebrate free speech."
When trouble did occur, Schell's forces were inadequate to the task of maintaining the peace. With too little deployment on the front end of the WTO event, chaos and strife gained sway. By the time the mayor summoned the National Guard Tuesday, the genie of war in the streets was out of the bottle.
Schell says he did not want to present downtown as with the face of an "armed camp" as the WTO began its work. He feared a stronger security presence on the streets would provoke protesters to violence.
Sadly, the fact is that without having marshalled a stronger force at the outset, the mayor was inadequately prepared to deal with what ensued.
The mayor has apologized and genuinely is remorseful. But his minimal security plan in the face of strong signals that trouble was brewing is not now compensated for by apology and remorse.
In the run-up to the meeting, senior WTO security officers, themselves veterans of the U.S. Secret Service, submitted a detailed security plan to the city that included calling up the National Guard. Parts of the plan were accepted. Other parts were not, including calling up the National Guard.
On Wednesday, Police Chief Norm Stamper in a news conference with the mayor admitted he knew ahead of time there likely would be trouble, despite the best efforts to negotiate with protesters to ensure peaceful demonstrations. Stamper said he knew the police department did not have enough forces to deal with major trouble.
Calling the National Guard and activating it last Sunday would have provided the necessary level of force.
The Guard would not have had to carry out local police functions for the WTO's meetings. Instead, holding nightsticks in lieu of rifles, Guardsmen could have been deployed to secure areas around the Washington State Convention and Trade Center and Paramount Theater as well as a near-in perimeter of sidewalks. Guardsmen also could have provided safe escort for delegates.
These uses of the Guard would have freed city police and their support from King County and neighboring police departments to channel people and traffic and to ensure that peaceful protesters could exercise their rights -- all in an envelope of passive force.
On Monday, had the Guard been visibly on the street in an unthreatening posture, the message could have been unmistakably sent that peaceful demonstrations would be the order of the day and that lawbreaking would not be tolerated. Thus could Schell have presided over a celebration of free speech.
The National Guard's absence became apparent once events got out of hand. Criticism for what unfolded cannot be directed at the splendid work Seattle's finest did: When outmanned, they employed restrained force to quell a riot and not seriously injure anyone. But they were helpless to chase down the criminals who smashed and defaced property.
The vast majority of protesters and police conducted themselves responsibly, even as the situation deteriorated. It is to their credit that no serious injuries occurred. Anger and hurt aplenty but, as of this writing, no crushed skulls and broken limbs.
But all too quickly the legitimate protesters -- labor unions, environmentalists and others concerned about globalization -- lost out to the melee. Schell's hoped-for celebration of free speech lay drowned out by the shouts of a rabble run wild and a police force stretched too thin.
And the absence of sufficient security also left unprotected Seattle's buildings and stores, sidewalks and streets -- a devastitating start to the Christmas shopping season.
Late Tuesday, Schell had seen enough and agreed to accept the Guard. By Wednesday, what was to be a protest movement degenerated into a raw battle for the streets. Thursday witnessed tempers lowered to the point of a peaceful sit-in at the jail. The week ended with WTO delegates completing an agenda for the new Seattle-round of trade talks and demonstrators reduced to a peaceful few.
Too bad the week had not begun that way.
Perhaps now we understand better the wisdom that, sometimes, it's because of the big stick that its bearer can speak softly. |
