Bush: "Mike helped trace the terrorist attacks to the Al Qaeda"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

And then what? Mike suggested that the U.S. invade Iraq instead?



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,143997,00.html

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Tuesday named federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff (search) as his nominee to be the next homeland security secretary.

Describing him as a "key leader in the War on Terror," the president, in a Roosevelt Room announcement, said Chertoff has an "unwavering determination to protect the American people."

As head of the Justice Department's 800-member criminal division during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush said, "Mike helped trace the terrorist attacks to the Al Qaeda. He understood immediately that the strategy in the War on Terror was to prevent attacks before they occur."

Chertoff was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey before he became special counsel for the Whitewater Committee in the U.S. Senate. He was then a partner with the firm, Latham and Watkins, then joined the Justice Department as an assistant attorney general within the criminal division.

[Oversea Visitor]

1. Yuck

My red light flashing

[Richardo]

2. Note how Bush is not in the frame this time...

unlike the Bernie photo op....

[Gman]

6. That's interesting

like he's standing back from an imminent explosion.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. Actually, there is a picture of the two together.Bush is in the background

with that silly smirk on his face. He looks like a combination of Gollum and a Gargyle.

[Sparkly]

21. Here you go.

[Mutley]

28. wow...

i love those 'look of death' george pictures... he must hate everyone...

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. Question...

Why is an individual whose background is juris prudence being tapped as DHS?

[roenyc]

4. Special council for Whitewater!! wow

they reward well dont they. what a bunch of cronies

[rkc3]

5. I thought trial lawyers were bad guys. Apparently not Chertoff.

[DIKB]

7. Seriously. . .

If you were to record all the Reich wing's hypocritical statements, say on a blog or a hard drive, I doubt there'd be enough storage room.

[Tighthead Prop]

8. You know..

If he would shave his beard he could pass for a good Captain Picard from Star Trek.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

10. Or the guy from "The Hills Have Eyes."

[Demit]

15. oh now that's GOOD. Perfect likeness (harrowing and nasty too)

Do you keep an archive of movie posters for such auspicious occasions as this?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

16. No, I just Google or head over to Amazon...

...I thought of this guy the minuite I saw the news photos.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi Tighthead Prop!!

Welcome to DU!!

[merh]

9. I'd prefer this type of fanatic over Homeland than on the bench!

[ET Awful]

11. Mike must have been behind the times, because there were reports

handed to Shrub before the attacks took place linking the attacks to Al Qaeda.

[gauguin57]

12. Hell's bells. The first thing I said when I heard the towers fell ...

... was, "This HAS to have been Osama bin Laden."

I knew instantly it was al-Qaeda (because there had been news stories about the al-Qaeda chatter in the weeks before the attacks).

Where's my cabinet post? Huh? HUH?

[Edgewater_Joe]

13. ... and BBC Said It Was Al-Qaida THE HOUR IT HAPPENED!

So what else does the guy got?

[RuleofLaw]

14. Criminal investigation

Has anyone ever seen the result of this investigation?:

"As head of the Justice Department's 800-member criminal division during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush said, "Mike helped trace the terrorist attacks to the Al Qaeda. He understood immediately that the strategy in the War on Terror was to prevent attacks before they occur."


I seem to remember that the Taliban in Afghanistan said they would hand over Usama Bin Laden if the US could provide them with evidence that Bin Laden was behind the attacks. Colin Powell promised to do so. But then Bush decided it would be easier to go to war than provide the evidence.

If they have proved that Bin Laden is behind the 9/11 attacks, how come it is not wanted by the FBI for involvement in the 9/11 attacks?

CAUTION

USAMA BIN LADEN IS WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE AUGUST 7, 1998, BOMBINGS OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSIES IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, AND NAIROBI, KENYA. THESE ATTACKS KILLED OVER 200 PEOPLE. IN ADDITION, BIN LADEN IS A SUSPECT IN OTHER TERRORIST ATTACKS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/laden.htm

[Poiuyt]

17. "...prevent attacks before they occur."

"He understood immediately that the strategy in the War on Terror was to prevent attacks before they occur."

That's good, because preventing attacks AFTER they occur is pointless.

[Stephanie]

18. I posted this in the LBN thread - he worked on WHITEWATER

As counsel to Senator Alphonse D’Amato (R-NY) in the Whitewater investigation, Chertoff proved his loyalty to the Republican Party and his willingness to turn a legal investigation into a political one. He ruthlessly pursued the Clintons, on behalf of the Republican controlled Senate. Shortly after the congressional Whitewater investigation had been finished, Chertoff utilized his role in the probe to promote Robert Dole’s presidential campaign. Chertoff stumped for Dole as a warm-up speaker at a fundraiser in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Referring to his work in Whitewater, Chertoff asked the crowd, “(Clinton) promised us the most ethical administration in American history. Well, how many of that administration are in jail now? Why does the White House spend more time hiding its files from subpoenas than it does pursuing drug dealers?'' How many members of this administration have to resign in disgrace?”13

Chertoff also wrote an article for Newsweek in 1996 entitled Why Whitewater Matters describing the Clintons wrongdoing and why it was important. It is clear that Chertoff had no problem taking his knowledge of the investigation and using it to turn Americans
against the President during an election campaign. Senators might ask if this is an appropriate role for an investigator in what was supposed to be an apolitical investigation.14

http://www.allianceforjustice.org/judicial/research_pub...

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

19. Yep. I think roenyc (post #4 above) summed it up best.

It's nice, though, that after the Clinton administration, George W. Bush has been able to advance HIS model of "the most ethical administration in American history," with NO "members of this administration hav(ing) to resign in disgrace"...

err...strike that last part. Clinton bad, Bush good. Fire bad, bread good. Yeah, that's the ticket.



Somewhere in the U.S.A. today, SOMEONE is swallowing this hogwash...probably the same folks who would vote for "President Frist" or "President Gingrich" in 2008.

[rodeodance]

22. Wolfe just said he was very partison!!He ruthlessly pursued the Clintons,

[rodeodance]

23. but as someone on CNN just siad, he never got his man-or woman!!

[grumpy old fart]

24. From what I've read so far, this could have been worse.

This link from Stephanie seems a fairly thorough examination.....
http://www.allianceforjustice.org/judicial/research_pub...

[TryingToWarnYou]

26. Is it just me or does he look like a dressed up homeless guy?

NT

[Cha]

27. bush thinks everyone is as stupid

as he is..what a chimp trying to impersonate a person.

[librechik]

29. J.I.N.S.A.

what else?

[zulchzulu]

30. Whitewater shill and Ashcroft crony...great choice, Chimpy!

And look at this:

"Eight days later, Ashcroft said at a news conference that "three Michigan men suspected of having knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, for example, were arrested on charges of possessing false documents."
He retracted the remarks, and one of his aides, Michael Chertoff, apologized to the judge during a conference call. "

http://www.detnews.com/2003/metro/0310/03/d01-287752.ht...

Chertoff is really into the Patriot Act. And while working with Ashcroft, he helped make up stories to get colored alerts...this is a perfect guy for Homeland Security.

Wait! There's more...

"For chose not to violate the law but to attack the law and its institutions directly. Their proclaimed goal, however unrealistic, was to destroy the United States. They used powerful weapons of destructive force and openly declared their willingness to employ even more powerful weapons of mass destruction if they could lay hold of them. They were as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as one could envision. Michael Chertoff, “Law, Loyalty, and Terror: Our Legal Response to the Post-9-11 World,” Wkly. Standard, Dec. 1, 2003, at 15.

http://www.soc.umn.edu/~samaha/courses/4162_04sp/cp0615...

Perhaps Chertoff helped out with trying to link al Qaeda with Saddam.

OK...digging more...there's this slightly alarmng news:

"The Bush administration's top anti-terrorism prosecutor said the United States had ample evidence that a devastating terrorist attack on U.S. soil was likely long before Sept. 11. Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff cited nearly a decade's worth of hints that foreign terrorists were targeting Americans, though he did not say there was specific information that could have prevented the attacks. ``As of Sept. 10th, each of us knew everything we needed to know to tell us there was a possibility of what happened on Sept. 11th,'' Chertoff said. "

http://www.falloutshelternews.com/9_11_ODDITIES_old.htm...