Just as we always suspected

[Warpy]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-10-ridge-alerts_x.htm

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or "high" risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.

His comments at a Washington forum describe spirited debates over terrorist intelligence and provide rare insight into the inner workings of the nation's homeland security apparatus.
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That certainly explains the spectacle Asscroft put on just before the 2004 elections when he displayed those 3 year old "new photos of terrorists."

[baldguy]

1. Add to the list of impeachable offenses.

[donkeyotay]

2. Really. Add it to the long list of impeachable offenses

Bush-Rove playing politics with the public's fears, actually terrorizing the nation into submitting to all kinds of bullshit including this war. The Unitary Executive never saw an office that he couldn't exploit. What did we spend for Homeland Security, anyway? Isn't it a little late to be telling us that it's a fraud, too?

[mzmolly]

16. Indeed.

:(

[lpbk2713]

3. Nothing ever changes with them.

They still dip in to the same old tired bag of tricks. The voters are finally wise to them. November proved that.

[Joanne98]

4. So many people laughed at me when I told them this...

I should email this to all of them!

[Warpy]

5. Do it.

It's just like the Nixon years. Everything we suspected of Nixon proved out as his tapes were finally released.

Everything we suspect about this gang is probably the tip of a huge and dirty iceberg.

[slowry]

8. Shitberg. n/t

[L. Coyote]

19. ONLY 10% of what I suspect of Nixon has come out (so far). n/t

[mopinko]

6. yeah, and you can't take a bottle of water on a plane

even though that whole "making a bomb in the bathroom" story was a complete HOAX!
we are at orange, btw. :shrug:

[progressoid]

7. Ya know, I getting a little tired of these people trying to cover their asses post mortem

On the plus side, it's nice to see some this finally getting out.

[Sydnie]

9. Ridge said this shortly after he resigned but it didn't get a great

deal of attention ... not sure what they manufactured to distract us from this fact, but I do remember when this was covered by then. Think about it. Once Ridge left the color alert system was all but out the window and that was shortly after the 2004 election.

Only Faux still uses that system. Fear still works for their viewers I guess.

[Philosoraptor]

10. We've been right about a lot of wild theories here.

kicked and rec'd.

[NMDemDist2]

11. you speak a big truth there Philo

just one more in a long line....

[Philosoraptor]

12. Obvious kick for the obvious truth.

[dogday]

13. Whatever happened to the alert status bar?

I don't ever see it anymore. I don't know what color we are on... Terra Terra Terra

[KharmaTrain]

14. Wag That Dog...Beat The Drum

As if this is a revelation? Recently I watched "Wag The Dog" and the parallels to things to happened in the run-up to the Iraq invasion were uncanny. The corporate media willingly was manipulated so it could cash in on the big ratings the initial invasion brought and the favors its curried inside the beltway. It enabled "access" and "exclusives" and quotes from "high admininistration sources" and careers were made, dollars were made and faustian deals were made.

This regime has played the 24 hour news cycle like a violin. For years it went unquestioned. It wasn't until the rise of blogs and sites like DU that people started to call out the Bullshit. But this regime knew how to ramp up and down the fear and control the headlines and the spin. They could create a ocntroversy were none existed or a threat where none existed...but they all had the purpose of keeping people off balance and away from the real intentions and games being played.

It's still ironic that all these years later, we still have to take shoes off before we get on airplanes because some goofy asshat snuck past security in London...over 5 1/2 years ago. Or that a 100 story building is protected from some truck ramming through the lobby but the nearby nuclear power plant has broken fences. Go figure. :crazy:

[AzDar]

15. Sort of makes Chimpolini Terrorist-in-Chief, doesn't it?

[BrainGlutton]

17. What's the point of all this, anyway?

I mean, who even pays attention to the "threat level" any more? It's all played out.

If they want to scare us, they'll have to do something more radical, like standing down defenses and allowing a new terror attack on American soil to . . . no, let's not give them any ideas.

[earth mom]

18. As I've said before: Who are the REAL terrorists?

It ain't so hard to figure out. :tinfoilhat: