Peace through Vandalism?

We spent the better part of 2005 praying in Washington, DC. Each day, we spent an hour or more praying at the base of the steps of the Supreme Court. The US Capitol building was across the street, directly behind us as we faced the Court...and it was like a freaking Fort Knox.

The Court Security had rules....while people wandered up and down the stairs at will to enter the building, take pictures, etc., we were told that as protesters we had to stand at the bottom of the stairs....and it was strictly enforced. Periodically, we'd have a newbie join us who would plop their backpack on the first step. Court Security would be there in less than a minute, reminding us to stay off the steps. Fair enough. We weren't there to disrupt proceedings....we were just praying.

Once in a while, as we stood toes-to-the-bottom-step, an officer would come and pace two feet in front of us while glaring at us. This happened more than you would imagine. In time, we got to know some of them and they responded to us with a little less hostility, but warmth was probably never a word used to describe them.

The Capitol Hill Police were no slouches either. These were men and women in no mood to be messed with. Your reaction to them was "Yes Sir" or "Yes Ma'am" or it was "Watch your head....get in the back of the cruiser." Given their mission and the weird world we live in, I don't blame them.

Having been there, lived that....you can imagine how surprised I was to read that war protesters were allowed to cross the security line and in some cases, spray paint graffiti on Capitol grounds.

From The Hill

Anti-war protesters were allowed to spray paint on part of thewest front steps of the United States Capitol building after police were ordered to break their security line by their leadership, two sources told The Hill.

In arguably the most tightly secured city in the free world, how did this happen?!?! I'm no conspiracy buff, but someone somewhere had to make a call.

This is just hard to understand. It's no wonder we struggle to hold Iraq when we don't have the wherewithall to secure our own capitol building from Peace Vandals.