Former Bush aide cites politics in 'terror alert'
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Former US homeland security chief Tom Ridge charges in a new book that top aides to then-president George W. Bush pressured him to raise the "terror alert" level on the eve of the November 2004 US election.
Then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and attorney general John Ashcroft pushed him to elevate the color-coded threat level, but Ridge refused, according to a summary from his publisher, Thomas Dunne Books.
"After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government for the private sector," Ridge is quoting as writing in "The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege... And How We Can Be Safe Again."
Some of Bush's critics had repeatedly questioned whether the administration was using warnings of a possible attack to blunt the political damage from the unpopular Iraq war by shifting the debate to the broader "war on terrorism," which had wide popular appeal.
Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania, was the first secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security that the US Congress created in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes.
4 comments:
Unfuckingbelievable. My outrage is only heighthened more by the fact that Rummy, Ashcroft, Cheney, Gonzales, and Rove will never see the inside of a jail.
A great use of Obama's time post health care would be to begin bringing charges against these crooks and traitors. We need a cleansing.
But that won't happen because there is no justice in Washington.
Andy Card and only one other dude denied Ridge's claim, but no one else has responded.
Fear is the Republicans' greatest export.
By the way, did you see Barney Frank shut down that young lady? the Administration needs more of that. The time for reaching out and conciliation is over. The lies need to be called out in strong language. Compromise will not work with a party that's sole mission is now to sabotage Obama. Just crush these people and tighten security.
Am I the only one who thinks the president should stop doing town halls. He's overexposed on several levels.
We are on the same page. No one can claim Obama didn't try to reach across the sole. What he found there was a regional party catering to nuts. So that chapter should be over. It's time to now focus on accomplishing things by leveraging Obama's charisma and the Democrats' majorities.
I found myself cheering Barney Frank from my sofa. And then wondering why there is no pro Obama equivalent to the public spectacles the right wing loonies have manufactured.
Why not 200K rallying FOR a public option in Chicago?
Why not 250K rallying FOR energy independe in Los Angeles?
I am baffled why the Obama administration seems to have stopped utilizing it's network of supporters during crucial moments like now. One of the major mistakes the White House has made during it's first year. I say this as an Obama supporter.
At the risk of sounding cold, my biggest thought regarding Kennedy passing is what effect will it have on health care reform? It was his passion and ultimately he was the soul of a big wing of the Democratic Party. This is going to be interesting.
Forget the Republicans...Can the Democrats get their act together?
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