Ex-DHS chief links politics to terror alerts

[msmith198025]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090821/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_ridge_terror_alert


Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge claims in a new book that he was pressured by other members of President George W. Bush's Cabinet to raise the nation's terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election.

Ridge says he objected to raising the security level despite the urgings of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, according to a publicity release from Ridge's publisher. He said the episode convinced him to follow through with his plans to leave the administration; he resigned on Nov. 30, 2004.

Bush's former homeland security adviser, Frances Townsend, said Thursday that politics never played a role in determining alert levels.



Thoughts?

[Bob Haller]

bush manipulated the nation on many levels.........

[Skyhi]

I can't believe this thread isn't filled with 40+ posts about propaganda, hitler, stalin & tyranny. Bear? Vurb? Frog? Where are you?

[fallout2600]

I bet we could get rid of the Terror Alert system today and be just as safe.

[HDRoberts]

I bet we could get rid of the Terror Alert system today and be just as safe.

How about that, we agree on something. Honestly, anyone think we will ever be on a color other than yellow or orange?

This just shows that the level was used for political reasons. Keep people scared and voting republican. Too bad it worked in 2004.

[Skyhi]

I bet we could get rid of the Terror Alert system today and be just as safe.

That system has to be one of the silliest things government has ever done.

[fallout2600]

How about that, we agree on something. Honestly, anyone think we will ever be on a color other than yellow or orange?

This just shows that the level was used for political reasons. Keep people scared and voting republican. Too bad it worked in 2004.

Surprised? :)

That's why you need to stop lumping Libertarians and Republicans together. There is a major ideological difference between Republicans and Libertarians when it comes to foreign policy.

The Libertarians are ready to end the war on terror, now.

[fallout2600]

That system has to be one of the silliest things government has ever done.

We need to get rid of it and the Patriot Act.

[HDRoberts]

Surprised? :)

That's why you need to stop lumping Libertarians and Republicans together. There is a major ideological difference between Republicans and Libertarians when it comes to foreign policy.

The Libertarians are ready to end the war on terror, now.

Well, libertarians and republicans do have similar economic policies. That's where I find total disagreement. When it comes to foreign policy, I find more agreement with with libertarians there.

[fallout2600]

Well, libertarians and republicans do have similar economic policies. That's where I find total disagreement. When it comes to foreign policy, I find more agreement with with libertarians there.

Yeah. I find liberals, centrists, independents, and libertarians all for the most part agree on foreign policy, yet, the war on terror rages on b/c Obama caved into the military industrial complex and the neo-cons.

Eisenhower was correct:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

[msmith198025]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-08-30-tom-ridge_N.htm


Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking for the first time about accusations made in his new book, says he did not mean to suggest that other top Bush administration officials were playing politics with the nation's security before the 2004 presidential election.
"I'm not second-guessing my colleagues," Ridge said in an interview about The Test of Our Times, which comes out Tuesday and recounts his experiences as head of the nation's homeland security efforts in the first several years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

[Salsadancer7]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-08-30-tom-ridge_N.htm

NOW he is back peddling...wonder what "they" did to bribe or threaten him with? Maybe the reason why some of the forementioned "local conservatives" has not said anything is because here is more proof of how bad the previous White House was run.