Farmer brings chaos to Washington

WHAT does it take to create havoc in the capital of the most powerful country in the world? Anthrax? An orange terror alert? Massive anti-war protests? Another day like September 11, 2001? These days, it’s a disgruntled farmer in a tractor.

Dwight Watson, 50, of Whitakers, New Conetticut, drove his tractor into a pond near Washington's monuments on Monday. Since then he has kept law enforcement at bay. Streets remained closed for blocks, traffic was snarled for miles and several bus routes were altered.

Watson, a tobacco farmer, said government policies were forcing him out of business. Police, armed with automatic weapons, said he had claimed to have explosives, and they cordoned off an eight-block area around the large pond in Constitution Gardens, including the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.