White House: No 'credible intelligence' of summer terrorism threat against the U.S.

[brooklynite]

Source: Chicago Tribune

For whatever "gut feeling'' Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has about a potential terrorist attack against the United States this summer, the White House said today that there is "no credible intelligence'' to support that fear.

"There continues to be no credible intelligence to suggest that there is an imminent threat to the homeland,'' said Tony Fratto, deputy press secretary at the White House, a day after Chertoff told the editorial board of the Tribune of his "gut feeling'' about a possible attack this summer.

"We're always mindful of terrorist activity. There is exceptional vigilance… obviously, following the events in London and Glasgow, continued vigilance,'' he said, but "there have not been emergency meetings'' and a meeting planned in the Situation Room tomorrow is "routine'' – part of a series of meetings to assess terrorism that are held at the White House.

"Obviously, we have had meetings to gauge the activity in London and Glasgow,'' Fratto said. "We have routine meetings in the Situation Room… but there was no emergency meeting in the Situation Room, as some have reported… There is a meeting tomorrow, and it's a regular meeting.''

Read more: http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2007/07/white_house_no_credbile_intell.html

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Gee, when even the White House hangs you out to dry...;

[Contrary1]

1. The WH put out the feelers...

and decided now was not the best time to allow it to happen. Look for something around 9/11/08.

[aquart]

4. That won't work either.

Oh, well. They tried.

[Demeter]

13. Except For US-Sponsored Domestic Terrorism

That will continue at its usual clip!

[John Q. Citizen]

2. But a lot of Americans will die because they don't have access to healthcare.

With friends like the insurance industry, who needs enemies?

[LearnedHand]

3. Maybe even then tone-deaf White House realized

how FUCKING STUPID this sounded (and made them sound -- oh, wait. They do that for themselves).

[Snarkoleptic]

5. Chertoff=not credible...but be afraid, be very afraid??

[bdamomma]

18. they are playing psychological games with us.

where has Cheney been lately???

[KaryninMiami]

6. Let me get this straight. First, they try to get everyone to be afraid..

Mysterious hints from Chertoff's "gut", AP leaks about terrorist camps growing to where they were around the time of 911, all perfectly timed around the decision not to let anyone testify, more GOPs abandoning ship and the evil empire crumbling in ways they had never imagined so right on cue, "send in the terror spin".

Then it's discovered that these supposed growing Alkeida camps are growing in the places we've totally ignored because of our attention to Iraq, thereby demonstrating that we took our eye off the ball and while we've been running a war, we forgot to pay attention to our real enemies.

Now they are discrediting the whole thing? I'm confused. Did Chertoff leak something as part of the traditional scare tactic that brought up issues they didn't want to deal with (such as fucking up in Iraq while Pakistan and Afghanistan were ignored)?

Very bizarre. IT just gets more bizarre every day.

Very bizarre.

[frogcycle]

7. it's like the damned Who's on first? routine

Chertoff probably picked up the wrong script.

There is absolutely, positively NOTHING that can be believed about ANYTHING uttered by ANYONE associated with this junta.

And the worse off they are, the more they scramble. They are like Lucy in the chocolate factory. Crap is flying off that conveyor belt and they are bouncing off the walls trying to catch it.


Olbermann is right. they just need to say "we're incompetant' and resign. "Sorry, America, we screwed you up big time, but we have no clue how to fix it, so we are just going to Paraguay. Hasta la Vista, bay-bee."

[KaryninMiami]

9. It all feels like a movie-- wrong script indeed....and yes- Keith O is correct

And they did recently buy all that land in Paraguay after all.

The whole thing is nuts and keeps getting more and more bizarre every day. I only hope in their panic to scramble to a next move, they don't go nuking Iran or something stupid like that- these people are crazy and answer to no one. Nor do they really give a da,m about what happens next so long as they make a clean break before or have washed their hands of it all before whatever shit happens as a result of their craziness.

Paraguay is fine with me so long as we can drag their asses back for the trials and war crimes tribunals. They should take Guilani with them- my favorite item of today's news was that video about him made by the Fireman of NYC....

[The Roux Comes First]

8. Consider the audience

I think there is a good chance Cadaver-toff was brought back from the crypt to do the "scare them again" thing with full knowledge they would be shortly disavowing it. Rove/cheney are counting on the idea that those sorry few who still think george has never had a bowel movement and is the best beer companion ever and are also hyper-susceptible to these fear stimuli are too simplistic and black-and-white in their thinking to reconsider once that "fear" button has been triggered.

[Contrary1]

23. "Cadaver-toff"

:spray:

[Just-plain-Kathy]

10. Didn't bush warn us that August was going to be a bad month with lots of casualties?

along with "We'll see how the surge is working come September". ...Then isn't the money running out by October?

I predict, we'll be in Iran before the summer's up.

[Dark]

11. God, would they stop fucking with us. Just once.

It's not even election season yet.

[deacon]

12. they are really in sync eh?

[tanyev]

14. But it's the TOP STORY on all the morning newstainment shows!

Terra, terra, terra!

[bdamomma]

19. terror is their distraction.

and they want to put that "fear" in our heads, what sorry ass people, we need to surgically remove this cancer on our country.

[gasperc]

15. so much for gut feeling, oh Webb's amendment got defeated

I guess his gut feeling got it's job done

[murielm99]

16. They got the headline wrong.

All they had to say was:

White House: No credible intelligence.

It would not be news, but it would be the truth. Oh, wait! This is the Chicago Tribune, after all. :sarcasm:

[bdamomma]

17. are we in Germany now???

I hate when they refer to the US as this: "homeland"

"There continues to be no credible intelligence to suggest that there is an imminent threat to the homeland,'' said Tony Fratto, deputy press secretary at the White House, a day after Chertoff told the editorial board of the Tribune of his "gut feeling'' about a possible attack this summer.


what a bunch of freaking idiots.

[sutz12]

20. White House: No credible intelligence nt

[Doctor_J]

21. "But that doesn't mean we'll stop talking about it", continued Fratto

, "after all, if we're not talking about this, it's corruption, Iraq debacle, and sex all the time. If you were us, what would you do?"

[slj0101]

22. I'll file this in the "No Shit" folder.

:D

[LeFleur1]

25. You Know

Now, you know the possibility of an attack on the homeland just can't be true.
We're fighting there so we don't have to fight them here.
How would it look if there was another attack? It would look as if the prez was lying, didn't know his ass....oh. wait...

[jaybeat]

24. The update is because the schedule's slipped a bit...

See, they had some trouble getting the bombs in through Canada, so now they're going to go through Mexico. That'll be no problem, but it will just take a little longer.

Oh, and one of our suppliers turned out to be a bit flaky--darned terrorists! You just can't trust 'em some times!

But don't worry, folks, we're planning a really big shew for y'all. Death and destruction in the homeland on a scale that's never been seen before! You'll be begging us to stay in office after '08! (Not that you'll have any choice, of course. Can't hold an election in a war-zone, now can ya? Wouldn't be right, wouldn't be prudent, like Daddy used to say!)

[BenDavid]

26. The following could be

something bushit could say.....with all this "gut feelings"
"What we need right now is a clear message to the people of this country. This message must be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. This message must resound throughout the entire Interlink! I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion. I want every man, woman and child to understand how close we are to chaos. I want everyone to remember why they need us!"