Thursday’s endorsement of Barack Obama by the Democratic Party as its official presidential candidate will only be a formality, but one that will seek to unite and assure millions of democrats, after which nothing will stop him short of the presidential title… unless of course the assassination threats are put into action. So far, the FBI has been finding ways to reassure the american population to no avail.
Only hours away from his official endorsement by the Democratic Party as their next candidate for the presidential elections in November, Barack Obama is forced to deal with an assassination attempt at his life. A conspiracy theory, has reared its ugly head right before Obama’s official speech. Even though the bureau of investigation has banalised the possibility of any serious threat, by the look of things, security has been reinforced.
last Sunday’s arrest of four armed men who had planned to take Barack Obama’s life has fuelled the conspiracy theory controversy. The federal bureau arrested a man behind the wheel of a van in which he carried arms, a bullet proof vest and drugs. During questioning, Tharin Gartrell, one of the suspects confirmed an assassination planned against Barack Obama, on Thursday evening at the Denver Convention, which is expected to attract over 75 000 people to his keynote address. The suspect also claimed that the shooting would be done from a vantage position at a 750 metre range.
A couple of the four men arrested belong to a neo-nazi movement with links to some white supremacist organisations. One of these groups ignited public uproar when it announced last week that a black man can not hold a political position of power, in a country where the memory of the double assassinations of the Kennedy brothers in the 60’s as well as assassination attempts on several political figures are still fresh.
The FBI and local police, however, dismissed talks of imminent danger. According to them, racist remarks and a few armed men with drugs do not constitute any real danger. They also insist that these type of cases are not rare during an election year.
Meanwhile, local authorities in Denver have released the four men. After examining the case, Troy Eid, United States attorney from the district of Colorado, announced that there is no credible proof to back a conspiracy theory to assassinate Barack Obama or harm the Democratic convention.
Whatever the outcome of the investigations, Barack Obama is still one of the most protected politicians in the US. Even if results from the investigations have calmed tensions down, the US Congress is leaving no stone unturned as it seeks to fix every possible loophole. The Secret Service, a federal agency in charge of security at the Denver Convention, and which also has close ties with 55 federal agencies as well as the FBI and CIA, is in charge of Obama’s security. Further more, Snipers have been posted at very strategic places at the convention centre.
Wth the Denver convention considered as a “national event”, the city of Denver has been placed under high alert while federal security agencies and about 5000 policemen have been deployed around the whole Denver area.
Barack Obama has been the recipient of several death threats putting US security agencies on high alert since the month of May.