Danger Zone? Report Says 34 Warships Will Join Obama in India

An Indian news outlet has already claimed that the U.S. is spending $200 million per day for the president's three-day trip to Mumbai, and the BBC detailed the country's decision to strip its trees of coconuts so as to protect the president. Now, that same Indian TV station is claiming more details about additional safety measures: it says 34 U.S. warships will accompany the president and patrol the surrounding waters.

According to New Delhi TV, the ships, which include an air craft carrier, "will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday."

The ships aren't the only measures being taken. NDTV lists what, and who, else will be making the trip:

• Air Force and Marine One
• Two jets, armed with advanced communication and security systems
• Over 40 cars which will be part of the president's convoy
• 13 heavy-lift aircraft with high-tech equipment,
• Three helicopters
• 3,000 total people including Secret Service agents, U.S. government officials, and journalists
• 500 US security personnel
• 800 rooms have been booked for those people
• An interception and obstruction device
• Sniffer dogs
• "Rescue gadgets"

"Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi," NDTV explains.

But the measures have some scratching their heads, not just because of the cost, but because of the risk those measures reveal about the trip.

On his radio show Thursday, Glenn Beck wondered aloud why the president is spending so much money to go on a seemingly needless and dangerous trip: