Tom Ridge: WH added their own language to August '04 terror alert - praising Bush

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/20/ridge-i-fought-raising-security-level-before-04-vote/

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He also writes that the White House added language praising the president to an August 2004 statement on a newly-discovered terror threat – and that he believes he should have delivered the warning as written, and pretended that he had accidentally left out the new wording.

"I should have known better," writes Ridge, calling the incident one of his few regrets related to his time in public service.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/2713552.html

Text: Tom Ridge press conference on terror threat
Associated Press
Aug. 1, 2004, 3:47PM


RIDGE: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

President Bush has told you, and I have reiterated the promise, that when we have specific credible information that we will share it. This afternoon we do have new and unusually specific information about where al-Qaida would like to attack.

And as a result, today the United States government is raising the threat level to Code Orange for the financial services sector in New York City, northern New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

...

As of now, this is what we know: Reports indicate that al-Qaida is targeting several specific buildings, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the District of Columbia, Prudential Financial in northern New Jersey, and Citigroup buildings and the New York Stock Exchange in New York.

...

But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror, the reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan.