From the window of my house on Capitol Hill, I could see a convoy of National Guard vehicles, about a dozen jeeps and canvas-covered trucks loaded with troops, headed downtown to protect the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The convoy had been preceded by a two-block-long beeline of U.S. Capitol Police motorcycles, the helmeted riders looking grim and ready to rumble. And, as if all of that was not enough, an assortment of helicopters began to appear low in the sky, including a black shark-shaped chopper with what looked like a gun barrel protruding from its nose.

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey was portrayed as benevolent yet in control as he walked around with a rose between occasionally tussling with a protester or two. But Ramsey had back-up from the Pentagon, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Capitol Police and the National Guard. All he had to do was let protesters know that if they ran over his men, their next stop would be soldiers from the group that made history at Kent State.