Ridge admits Bush admin pushed to raise security alert for political reasons on eve of re-election

Source: Think Progress

Ridge admits Bush administration pushed to raise security alert for political reasons on eve of re-election.

Former Bush Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is releasing a book on September 1 titled, “The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…and How We Can Be Safe Again.” U.S. News’ Paul Bedard reports that, in the book, Ridge reveals that he considered resigning because he was urged to issue a politically-motivated security alert on the eve of Bush’s re-election:

***** Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: 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.

Playing politics with terror was a relatively frequent occurrence in the Bush administration. In August 2004, the AP reported that even “some senior Republicans” privately questioned Ridge’s timing of a terror alert that came just three days after the Democratic National Convention. According to the AP report, “One top GOP operative, who works closely with Bush’s political team, said the White House appeared to overplay its hand, and voters may smell politics behind the warning.”



Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/20/ridge-politics-terror/

K&R

that was my first thought.
DUH!!!

Nothing sums up the article better.

terra! terra! my ratings are falling! terra! terra!

:hi:

:yourock:


:fistbump:

which is where the 43rd President of these terrorized United States ended. Eight years too late.

can he please admit that "the peroxide bomb in the airplane bathroom" was a hoax while he is at it, so we can go back to traveling with our own toothpaste?

:thumbsup:

Think about the resurgence in air travel. It would save the industry!

K&R

Rover was putting in overtime in the West Wing.

How much are these assholes going to get away with?

And they call Obama a nazi for wanting to give ill people health care coverage.

Did I say I absolutely detest republicans?

UGGGG!

When I think of what it cost New York in terms of extra police, lost productivity and sheer trauma, I could cry. And don't foget the anthrax.

"Terra! Terra! Terra!" and the sheeple cower and let you do whatever you want.

And, despite what some librul critics might say, BushCo* clearly had nothing in common with the Nazis - except for using their playbook from A-Z ("P" for "Projection"). And demonizing minorities (at home and abroad). And starting two wars of aggression. And turning the government against the people. And looting the treasury. Nope, not hardly comparable.

Really folks, what's the big deal? :sarcasm:

issue? Do people ever learn? Cowering again, the liburals are against America!!!! Nazis I tell ya! It all makes no sense and yet the repub lazy, dumbasses go along like sheep, once again.

Big question in my mind, why do the repubs continue to believe those that have evidence, like whistle blowers, or even Ridge's declaration about those phony terror alerts? The stories of lies and deceit during bush's era are out there screaming at us and the repubs are brain dead, refuse to think, admit, anything but how they hate dems and higher taxes and "big government". Sheesh, they can not wrap their brains around "big corporations" running this "free" country.

Think of what happens to school kids caught pulling the fire alarm or phoning in a bomb threat to avoid a math test.

By Jove, I've got it! Guantanamo!

I am thinking it falls under #2
http://terrorism.about.com/od/whatisterroris1/ss/DefineTerrorism_5.htm
(d) Definitions
As used in this section—
(1) the term “international terrorism” means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than 1 country;
(2) the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents;
(3) the term “terrorist group” means any group, or which has significant subgroups which practice, international terrorism;
(4) the terms “territory” and “territory of the country” mean the land, waters, and airspace of the country; and
(5) the terms “terrorist sanctuary” and “sanctuary” mean an area in the territory of the country—
(A) that is used by a terrorist or terrorist organization—
(i) to carry out terrorist activities, including training, fundraising, financing, and recruitment; or
(ii) as a transit point; and
(B) the government of which expressly consents to, or with knowledge, allows, tolerates, or disregards such use of its territory and is not subject to a determination under—

I wonder why they made that distinction.... Oh wait, no I don't.

Another punishable offense. Except in this case the theater was 3,794,066 square miles, and the people screaming "fire" just wanted the theater all to themselves.

So too should be starting a war on false pretenses, blowing the cover of a CIA agent and her front company, stealing two elections, and on and on and on.

If America were a truly free country, those people would be blindfolded and against the wall.

but we live in a country now where no one in power is ever held accountable. That's because we went quickly from a 'country of laws, not men' (rules for the Clinton era) to 'we have to look forward, not backward' (rules for the Bush era). There was no Constitutional Amendment for this rapid change in the rules. But with both parties on board, including the current administration, who is going to question it?

And all these bastards got was away with it. And left us with the bill.

And you didn't because?

asshole

No doubt.

Or perhaps he was having secret fantasies about running for the presidency one day?? (Not anymore, obviously...)

and i can't wait to hear what he thinks will make us "safe" now.

terror alerts for false reasons -- the numbers would be astronomical.

Turned out it was due to four-year-old photos found on a laptop in Afghanistan months earlier. But it was sufficient to shut down all of midtown while the Little Prince to pranced on a MSG stage decorated with WTC imagery.

Next on the news: Water is wet and fire is hot.

n/t

n/t

<eom>

:)

Up down up down. That the most exercise I've had in a while. LOL

Shocked, shocked!

would the bushies do that?


:sarcasm: in case.

I live in Pennsylvania (Ridge), but I was born In Connecticut (Bush AND LIEberman). At least my parents were from Mass. and Canada.

You woke up Canadian!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&hl=en&v=eDeDQpIQFD0

I might actually qualify because if I remember, it had something to do with my father having to renounce his Canadian citizenship since he was living here and was drafted into the Army during WWII. The way things are going here, it would be tempting if I do qualify.

and Everything to Gain.


Dual Citizenship could be a very nice thing.

I'm out of work here, we can barely afford our health insurance, we're living in an area that is so red that "w" is considered the second best president ever (after Ronnie R. of course) and I do have a lot of spare time to look into it. Actually, my sister asked me to look into it if I got a chance anyway. She might want to leave Germany someday, but she isn't thrilled about moving back to the US.

:eyes:

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

And Cheney, don't forget how he was all over the media during those times, screaming 'terror' 'terror' and so-called reporters like Tim Russert allowed them lie week after week, never challenging them the way they should have been challenged.

Fabricating intelligence for political gain is a criminal act --specifically in the case of providing a pretext for war or for influencing the outcome of an election.

If it's a criminal act, as it certainly should be, then where are the prosecutions?

Can we the people at least, not civilly sue them? Just on the cost of their lying manipulating games to go to war, to win an election. How much did it cost the tax-payers to put the country 'on alert' everytime the did this?

It's difficult to express the anger I feel when I read this and remember knowing it at the time as only a child would have been fooled by them. But rightwingers and the disgraceful US Media insisted that we were in danger, and anyone who saw through the act was vilified and called a traitor.

I would like to see all of their money removed from them and let them live in squalor somewhere for the rest of their miserable lives. They used OUR money to do this.

Thanks for your excellent post and the verification that what they did WAS criminal.

and the government should be ashamed of itself for following this path.

Cheney/Bush's modus operandi of ruling by fear, manipulation, cronyism and hatred was obvious to anyone with an open mind.

have confirmation directly from the man who enacted the threat warnings. Kudos to Ridge for resigning rather than continue to kowtow to the Bush/Cheney/Rove cabal. Too bad he didn't have the courage to resign before the election.

""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."

He saw. His perception. And it's from ThinkProgress. Please, Brian."

I wonder what source would be adequate for him. Other than Fox News, of course.

...I've been predicting that the truth about this damn bunch of slimeballs wouldn't come out until the 'hush money' started to run out and the only way they could keep themselves in the style they stole, fair and square, would be to write 'tell-all' books. This is just one more in what will be a panoply of condemnations...and you know what, the Democrats won't do a damn thing about it even with the evidence slapping them 'up-side' their heads. Pussies.

At least we can be sure that the entire array of lying cheating and stealing - in their own words - will be on prominent display come election time next year and every year from now on.

...takes an interest in this. This is not funny at all to me.

:kick:

The net result is that we never truly confront this stuff. IOW, we never really learn.

Most people have no accurate idea what the Church Committee concluded about our political assassinations or what a consortium of newspapers concluded from recounting the 2000 Florida ballots.

Sorry. Time to move on.

Time to move on? Time to move on? Time to move on?

That lame excuse is becoming extremely tiresome. 'Sorry. Time to move' on is what we hear from spineless democrats who recognize their enabling actions during the criminal b*sh regime, resulted in the economic, political and international disorder we live with today.

'Sorry. Time to move on' grants the mid level, power hungry wannabes, cutting their teeth w/i the criminal b*sh regime, the license to try it again only next correcting the minor missteps. Don't forget the top criminals in the b*sh regime cut their teeth during Nixon whitehouse. We came damn close (in my opinion, just one more 'terror' strike) to losing our country during the b*sh regime because Jerry Ford (who I consider the first coup puppet) said 'time to move on'.

We cannot afford 'time to move on.'

The last line of my post was meant as an ironic counterpoint to the rest of what I wrote, which was completely in sync with your point.

Or, the common wisdom goes from "only the extreme left-wing believes" to "old news that everybody knew at the time".

He's a liar.

but he does have a conscious and some morals. I always though he was unhappy in his positron and now is his opportunity to come clean. And besides, many of us already surmised what he has finally admitted.

'The Lesbian Circle'?

Or Don't ask Don't Tell.

Or A Deer caught in the Headlights.


Did he put Those Things in his book?

Shhh...it's a secret.

this is old news and something anyone with half a brain already knew so why the liar label considering he did step down and back in those days if anyone talked against the administration there were consequences...

I never would have believed it of those patriotic leaders. This is hugh!!!11!!!!11

:mad:

Will the DoJ open up investigations into Ridge, Rove, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Novack (yeah, dig the shitheel up for prosecution!), etc., and actually punish them for illegal activities and put them in jail, same cell blocks as murderers and rapists?

No?

Then, who really cares. Nothing new here. We all knew this when it was happening.

I actually know human Americans who believe all of this War on Terror stuff is for real.
And they are all 'fraidy cats, to a person.

'Elevated - administration using security for political control'

if someone's changing the alerts for political purposes, you really DO have a bogyman

the definition of Orwelllian

:eyes:

As I mentioned here, this kind of vindication happens time and time again but no one seems to notice or care except the people who were screaming about it long before it finally was validated.

told the truth (somewhat) only when he hoped to get rich by so doing. He knew what Bush was doing, but he did not tell the country. And, he decided to resign, but waited until after the election, so as not to raise any questions or cause any speculation that might hurt Commander POS's chances of re-election. I hope nobody buys his POS book.

How do these creeps live with themselves, let alone write a book. I'd be so ashamed of myself, I;d crawl under a rock and stay there.

Meanwhile, sounds like many, many violations of the Hatch Act (if not ourright treason) that nobody is going to do a frickin' thing about.

I want to know why Pelosi said on Day One (or close to it) "Impeachment is off the table," and Obama said on Day One (or close to it) investigation and prosecuiton is off the table.

Anyhoo, kiss the Constitution and the Rule of Law goodbye, then stick a fork in them. It was a great experiment and a great ride for a few centuries. But we're back to when the joint stock companies controlled the colonies, only without strict lawfulness of that time.

on the even of the reelection.

Would call this a witch hunt and all politics. And then they'll start calling us names. :hide: Let's just move on, nothing to see here. How dare us even think of it. Shame on all of us. :rofl:

However, reading this admission now from Ridge, I feel sadness and outrage that this was allowed to happen and played a significant part in swaying people to "vote safe" for Bush. The 2004 election should have had another outcome and it was only through manipulation, tricks and lies that Bush was allowed to maintain his power.

:cry:

They had a bomb scare and stopped letting people watch the votes being counted. Terra! Terra! Terra! When we've just had a terror alert, everything gets amplified so it did have an effect.

.... that the FBI later said was not there. A person I know was told about this action days before
the election here in Ohio and for years has been written off as a nut job / sore loser.

Results Warren County

George W Bush 68,037 John Kerry 26,044


Ohio Supreme Court


Connally 28,470 Moyer 44,961

Now a democratic black pro choice, gay rights supporting female from Cleveland. w/ almost no campaign budget, and who was way down the ticket got more votes
than John Kerry in conservative Warren County, Ohio?

28,470 - 26,044 = 2,426 more votes Which means 4,852 vote swing (because for every vote flipped to bush Kerry got one less vote)

This happened in 12 counties in Ohio and was good for a 162,000 vote swing from Kerry to bush .... bush "won" by about 100,000 votes. Although the other 11 counties
did not have terror alerts like Warren County.


BTW The man who helped run the I.T. aka vote flipping operation for Blackwell/Rove in Ohio 2004, Michael Connell, was killed last Dec. when his private plane crashed.

Or if it is for political gain, do they give all actions a pass?

traitors to the country, traitors to Commander POS and the POS Party.

or abuses of the American public that the Republicans don't support.
In their minds nothing is wrong unless you get caught.
We are sooooo fucked!

They should get into the same sort of trouble as people who waste the time of emergency services by making false 999 calls - but somehow I don't think they will.

They subsided after the election, as I recall.

How many beheadings since then?

asshat

that the Bush/Cheney gang was behind the BOMBING of WTC?? It's becoming clearer and clearer that the conspiracy theories are closer to the truth than theories.

The honorable thing to do would have been to resign and to tell all AT THE TIME, not later on in a self-serving book. Why is he doing this in print and not requesting that Congress grant him a public hearing to clear the air? That would at least partly help to atone for some of his wrongs: as it stands, he's as complicit as anyone else in the Bush administration.

You will lose your medicare
We will take Granny off and not treat her
osama is going to get you
Socialism is Comunism oooohhh scareeey

Weapons of Mass Destruction

are, only garner at most 20% support they have to lie and deceive as part of their daily operations to try and succeed politically in a democracy. Corporate media helps them in this affair, otherwise they would have to reform and be a real political party instead of just mouth pieces serving the top 1%.

but Ridge admitted HE THOUGHT raising the terror alert was politically motivated, while at the same time admitted that the NSC and FBI were not giving him critical information (so how could he actually be sure?). This isn't exactly the same thing as * or Darth actually admitting that it was done for political reasons. In the end, I think many people saw it for what it was at the time, thankfully.

:silly:

:evilfrown:

in the polls?

I saw the graph above but would be interested to see Bush v Kerry poll numbers through 2004 and how the Terror Alerts match up with them...I'll see what I can find.

at the time this happened! Oh right, those idiots carrying signs with Obama represented as a Nazi or, and this my favorite, the woman with the sign that says: "Say NO: to a Pubic Option."

But yeah, this is what Greg Palast calls "shooting the wounded" .The MSM will finally have to report on this ( briefly , before moving on to the next bit of repub propaganda disguised as "news") because Ridge said it, and act like, "wow, who could have possibly figured this out till now?" and then behave like they just got the big scoop that no one else knew till they told us about it, when anybody with at least half a brain ( again, this of course leaves repubs out) knew it all along. Funny ( or really, not so funny) when the "conspiracy theorists" keep ultimately proven to have been right all along.

indeed.

cause total traffic hell there because they had some vague threat. I remember it well. I also remember how fearful and ignorant many of our fellow Americans were at the time, allowing themselves to be manipulated by politically driven fear.

It was clear to me what was going on, and I have mediocre intelligence at best.

A pity. Maybe it's just human nature, I just don't know.

were 100% on target. x(

:mad:

...that the election may need to be cancelled that year for security reasons...

Not that it made that much difference anyway. Bush still managed to steal the election

Frightening people to achieve political ends. Aren't we enforcing the PATRIOT Act anymore?

...........no wait, that was in my dreams.

a perfect tool to run a puppet agency. His memoirs may confirm what we already know, but they can be used as reference....in the trial, you know, that will someday happen.

it's good to have it documented (for history,,, if there will be any) by an insider.

ONe thing about he internet that's bad for the fascists, it's pretty hard to burn all the books with the internet's instant distribution of information. (this may be the ONLY thing that will save us from them).


recommended. bookmarked.

that bush would never be so low.

Now, there's a better headline.

and...

http://juliusblog.blogspot.com/2004_08_01_juliusblog_archive.html

I wrote that in 2004.

I remember that very well and I love/loved your blog.

I think we all knew this.

We all knew it was bullshit. We knew it!

Talk about infuriating. We were right back then, and we're watching as no one is being held accountable now.

country's history for many of us who know who was the better candidate and who should have won that election. Just imagine how different things would be now if the 2004 outcome was different.

And..

"Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings"

WTF? I wonder what he writes about 9/11 if anything. We need more shoes to drop. Maybe old Tom knows why the Pentagon wasn't armed to the teeth on 9/11. I mean I would think the Pentagon is a military base of some sort. No interest in protecting the White House or Capitol or The Pentagon itself. Even though they had 45 minutes since the second plane hit the towers, and knew it wasn't an accident. That's believable. But hey I'm the 9/11 nut.

I WAS wondering about that.

the only reason I am a Democrat is not because I am a left-winger; it's because the republicans are among the worst political amalgamation ever to exist on the planet. It's that simple; that adversarial.

:kick:

A gutless POS. Using terror or the threat of terror, for political reasons, is TERRORISM.

Terrorism, –noun

1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorism


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terrorist, Noun-

1. a person, usually a member of a group, who uses or advocates terrorism.
2. a person who terrorizes or frightens others.
3. (formerly) a member of a political group in Russia aiming at the demoralization of the government by terror.
4. an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.

–adjective 5. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of terrorism or terrorists: terrorist tactics.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorist

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congress needs to do something about these criminals.

standing in a row before the world court at the Haig -

Dream on.....


:patriot:

Thanks for sharing this. It -should- be a bombshell... maybe the corporate media will surprise us and actually do some reporting

before the election, Tom.

I hope your book tanks you fucking crook.

on edit: I have one question that I am sure has been on the minds of millions - what happened to the cod piece?

do they move my posts around?
just asking?
kpete

Someone else mentioned the possiblity of these criminals setting up the WTC attacks. I'm wouldn't be surprised at that. Crooked, corrupt Republicans. And folks let them get away with it. If the AG doesn't try to prosecute these cretins within eight years, then I have no hope.

Not that WE didn't try to tell people at the time but a word from you would have been nice.

My guess ... naaaaaaahhhhh.

Does anyone care?

I mean, we knew it was going on - it wasn't just the election, it was any bad news cycle - but most of America shivered in their boots. Now that they are starting to be told the truth, no one is spelling it out for them, and so nobody cares.

the longer this shit goes without investigations....the sooner it's forgotten

Ridge is covering his rear. He was as complicit in the terror tactics as his bosses. This article came out before the 2004 election. Clockwork Orange....the fear factor.

http://www.tvnewslies.org/html/clockwork_orange_.html

also done for political gain just before the 2004 elections?

Or does that implicate the media in ways they'd prefer to overlook?

is that there is a crispy layer of hell for the soulless bastards.

In addition to the death and devastation they unleashed on the world, they robbed us of the opportunity to elect a great Democrat.

:wow:

who would have thought ?

Never forget guys, never forget because as we speak they are silently making plans for a comeback with the douchebag of the century, Sarah Palin.


God, will it ever end???!!!

... Oh noes!! We're at code brown!

"Hey look another story that links Key Lay to the White house..."

"Ten bucks says the alert level goes up tomorrow..."

"I'd never take that bet, besides I can't afford it, ... I had Enron stock.."

It was a top story yesterday and today- well you can't find anything about it on sites like Yahoo News, ABC and Fox. Seems these RW leaning site want to ignore the story. This seems like biased reporting at its best.