Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge Regarding Recent Threat Reports
Secretary Ridge: Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. President Bush has told you, and I have reiterated the promise, that when we have specific credible information, that we will share it. Now this afternoon, we do have new and unusually specific information about where al-Qaeda 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, DC.
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However, in light of new intelligence information, we have made the decision to raise the threat level for this sector, in these communities, to bring protective resources to an even higher level.
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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. Such operations and partnerships give us insight into the enemy so we can better target our defensive measures here and away from homeThe terrorists should know, in this country, this kind of information, while startling, is not stifling. It will not weaken the American spirit, it will not dampen our resolve, for our resolve is indivisible – and unyielding – which is a weapon infinitely stronger than the plots and the plans of those who wish to do us harm.
Al-Qaeda wants to intimidate us and prevent us from enjoying our lives and exercising our freedoms. And yet, liberty has no greater protector than the collective will of the American people. So, together let us take inspiration from this strength, and use it to our utmost to keep our great nation safe and free.
Thank you very much.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=3870This was days after the Democratic Convention ended and we found out it was based on OLD evidence.
Pre-9/11 Acts Led To Alerts
Officials Not Sure Al Qaeda Continued To Spy on Buildings
By Dan Eggen and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 3, 2004; Page A01
Most of the al Qaeda surveillance of five financial institutions that led to a new terrorism alert Sunday was conducted before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and authorities are not sure whether the casing of the buildings has continued, numerous intelligence and law enforcement officials said yesterday.
More than half a dozen government officials interviewed yesterday, who declined to be identified because classified information is involved, said that
most, if not all, of the information about the buildings seized by authorities in a raid in Pakistan last week was about three years old, and possibly older."There is nothing right now that we're hearing that is new," said one senior law enforcement official who was briefed on the alert. "Why did we go to this level? . . . I still don't know that." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35466-2004Aug2.htmlWe know Rove has no problem with leaking classified information if it will suit his political purposes - like say, halting Kerry's momentum coming out of the Democratic convention.
BushCo also blew the cover of a mole we had on the inside of Al Quaeda because of this terror alert which infuriated the British and possibly kept the Brits from stopping the London attacks.
Bush admin may be responsible for botching effort to thwart London bombing ABC News just reported that the British authorities say they have evidence that the London attacks last week were an operation planned by Al Qaeda for the last two years. This was an operation the Brits thought they caught and stopped in time, but they were wrong. The piece of the puzzle ABC missed is that this is an operation the Bush administration helped botch last year.
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3. ABC reports that names in Khan's computer matched a suspected cell of British citizens of Pakistani decent, many of who lived near the town of Luton, England - Luton is the same town where, not coincidentally, last week's London bombing terrorists began their day. According to ABC, authorities thought they had stopped the subway plot with the arrest of more than a dozen people last year associated with Khan. Obviously, they hadn't.
4.
Those arrests were the arrests that the Bush administration botched by announcing a heightened security alert the week of the Democratic Convention. The alert was raised because of information found on Khan's computer (this is in the public record already, see below).
In its effort to either prove that the alert was serious, or to try and scare people during the Dem Convention, the administration gave the press too much information about WHY they raised the alert. This put the media on the trail of Khan - they found him, and they published his name.Because the US let the cat out of the bag, the media got a hold of Khan's name and published the fact that he had been captured - his
Al Qaeda contacts thus found out their "buddy" was actually a mole, and they fled. Our sole source inside Al Qaeda was destroyed. As a result, the Brits had to have a high speed chase to catch some of Khan's Al Qaeda associates as they fled, and, according to press reports, the Brits and Pakistanis both fear that some slipped away.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/07/bush-admin-may-be-responsible-for.html After Ridge left we found out the alerts were raised for questionable reasons.
Ridge reveals clashes on alerts
By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY
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.
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Ridge said he wanted to "debunk the myth" that his agency was responsible for repeatedly raising the alert under a color-coded system he unveiled in 2002.
"More often than not we were the least inclined to raise it," Ridge told reporters. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on (alert). ...
There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?' "http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-10-ridge-alerts_x.htm?POE=NEWISVASorry this is so long but everything these guys touch needs to be viewed with suspicion and skepticism.