London Burning At The Top Of The Dial...

White House security officials are demanding an unprecedented level of security for El Busho's Nov 19 - 21 trip to London. While the Generallissimo shacks up at the Palace with Her Maj, the US officials want to keep protesters out of sight (and sound) by banning all marches and sealing off the city centre.

Scotland Yard officers say such dramatic measures have never been seen on British soil and risk inflaming protests even further. The Yard has cancelled all leave for the three-day visit and mobilised 3,800 officers for the four million UK pound security operation.

"We are on the highest alert that we have ever worked at," says the head of London Metropolitan Police. "We are working two-and-a-half times harder than we did at the very height of the Irish terror campaign."

As Ted Rall points out, Bush is also planning to further exploit September 11 by staging next year's Republican Convention in New York City, a town where 81% voted for Al Gore. Rall fears that protests could ignite uncontrollable riots.

It's ironic that the so-called "leaders of the free world" cannot move freely among their own citizens. But it is supremely ironic that they can only guarantee their own safety by restricting the very freedoms which they claim to champion.