Tom Ridge Spills Guts: November 2004 Terror alert WAS politically motivated

Tom Ridge, the first head of the 9/11-inspired Department of Homeland Security, wasn't keen on writing a tell-all. But in The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again, out September 1, Ridge says he wants to shake "public complacency" over security. And to do that, well, he needs to tell all. Especially about the infighting he saw that frustrated his attempts to build a smooth-running department.

Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings;
was "blindsided" by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him;
found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored;
and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/08/19/tom-ridge-on-national-security-after-911.html

cover.

Curious wasn't it that the terror alerts pretty much (if not entirely?) stopped after the 2004 election? I always thought that the terror alerts were a dumb idea anyway unless tied to specific prescriptive advice which, in most cases, they were NOT. Frankly, I think that the string of terror alerts emanating from Buscho from 2001-2005 were primarily used by Bushco to help keep us so "ginned up" on fear that we would willingly submit to whatever he wanted (i.e. Iraq) and also to help him win re-election in 2004.
After the shock of 9/11/01, there were so many false alarms that the alerts became virtually meaningless to me. It's the government's job to protect us from attacks but unless the government is certain enough about a threat that they need to take direct and immediate action to prevent the loss of life, they should just continue to monitor and evaluate the situation. There were several thwarted terror plots during the Clinton Administration that none of us knew anything about until they had already been thwarted, which is as it should have been. They didn't issue a string of alerts about it but rather analyzed the date, did the necessary investigative work, and nabbed the bad guys before they were able to carry out their nefarious plans. Issuing a series of vague, amorphous, non-instructive warnings about things that the average citizen cannot do a single thing about- other than hiding under the bed everyday for the rest of their lives- is utterly a waste of time, money and resources.

Please... that's hardly spilling guts... that's just giving a little hint at what was really going on back then.

Thanks for the confirmation, Tom.

:sarcasm:

certainly not really questioning this bullshit that we all understood was just that; bullshit.

That's why I don't believe shit that the media has to say to this day; they were there when a fucked up administration needed them, and now they claim to be doing their "job". Fuck that.

I am absolutely shocked! shocked, I say!

Does this fall under Treason?

They are admitting to these crimes. There are many petty criminals that are in jail because they were pressured to do something.

The repugs should be prosecuted too and I think they should be prosecuted for Terrorism.

Treason- that would be for Congress to decide in a Senate trial.

Tommy, this tell-all book doesn't resolve you of the criminal crimes you committed.

Are you enjoying the color code flags you pilfered before you left office? Do they look cool set up in the basement next to your electric train set? Tommy you were such a tool, you fool.

Was politically motivated, including 9/11.

admin who have a conscience.

We already knew the "terror alerts" were false alarms..doesn't that come under the heading of war criminality?