U.S. on Alert for Terror Threat During Election Cycle

[True_Blue]

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities will begin nationwide preparations to counter the threat of terrorist attacks aimed at the national political conventions and the U.S. presidential election, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Monday.

Although the nation's presidential elections have occurred without interruption in times of war, including the Civil War, the war on terror poses a different kind of risk for 2004: the possibility of coordinated terror attacks on helpless civilians -- with the effect of such attacks amplified by today's nearly instantaneous mass communication systems.

"In this country, we soon enter a season that is rich with symbolic opportunities for the terrorists to try to shake our will," Ridge told a meeting of broadcast news executives in Las Vegas. "These targets of opportunity for the terrorists are opportunities that can't be missed to tighten our security."

In addition to the election process, Ridge said security planning would encompass the May 29 dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, as well as upcoming meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Washington and the leaders of the G-8 group of industrialized nations in Georgia.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-threat20apr20,1,3118427.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Rex]

1. I can't believe Ridge would talk about his boss like that.

Actually predicting a terrorist attack is quite simple:

*Kerry looks to be a shoe in for Pres.- terrorists attack.

*Bush wins by huge Diebold landslide - terrorists attack (reference police state & misdirection).

*To many Joe Sixpacks want to know why his brother died in Iraq yesterday - terrorists attack.

Dam that was easy.

[radfringe]

2. Terrorists don't need to attack

bush* is doing the scare tactics just fine...

send Ridge, Condi and other bushwhackers out into the media spotlight and just have them yell terra-terra-terra all summer long

an orange alert around September-October followed by the 'capture' of Bin-Laden and with a little help from the Saudis to bring oil prices down should do the trick

[thebigidea]

3. Orange alert, orange alert - I'm gonna tell ya bout the ORANGE ALERT!

http://www.terminalproduct.com/orangealertsongtwo.mp3
http://www.terminalproduct.com/orangealertsongone.mp3

[FormerOstrich]

4. okay....they are starting to really frighten me now...

not that I haven't been for the last three years, but it's getting more intense. I have to admit, every time I have read someone predicting the elections being canceled, I sort of scoffed at the idea. Manipulating the votes, yes...cancelled elections...different story.

So now I have to offer an apology to those I haven't been listening to. These creeps are laying the ground work AND I think they are testing the waters.

....snip

Facing an election-eve attack would put the government in uncharted territory. Postponing a national election would be almost unthinkable.

...snip

There is constitutional authority to reschedule a national election, and it rests with Congress and the president, legal experts said. The Constitution allows Congress to set the date of elections by law, provided the whole country votes on the same day.

...snip

Jones said Ridge's announcement could be viewed as a message to Al Qaeda and to the American public.

....snip

For now, Homeland Security's efforts will steer clear of the electoral process and focus on traditional civil defense priorities, such as identifying vulnerabilities, protecting infrastructure and improving communication among security agencies and different levels of government.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[tinanator]

11. I saw it coming a few weeks ago in NYC

Repeated mention of the threats to transit systems sparked a sickening notion about what might happen if something, anything, happened during the RNC convention and even larger protest. They could postpone elections over something that would probably only effect their opposition, or in my opinion sacrifice their own delegates for the sure thing. No doubt in my mind that the source of any attack would be the Bushcorp White House. I sure hope Im out to lunch.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. WP: Precautions Raised for Preelection Terrorism

Precautions Raised for Preelection Terrorism
Al Qaeda Intends to Strike, Officials Say
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 20, 2004; Page A03

....Administration officials, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, believe Osama bin Laden's terrorist network wants to launch a new phase of opportunistic operations based on its apparent reading that the March 11 bombings of trains in Madrid, which killed 191 people, led Spanish voters days later to oust the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. His government had supported the war in Iraq.

Al Qaeda's new game plan, officials said, is to show its clout by disrupting the upcoming U.S. elections or another large event scheduled in coming months. These include the dedication of Washington's new World War II memorial on the Mall, the Memorial Day and July 4 holidays, the Group of Eight meeting of industrialized nations in Georgia in June, the two parties' political conventions in Boston and New York, and the Olympics in Greece.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge yesterday announced the formation of a federal task force to coordinate heightened security at these and other events. The task force will bring together Ridge's agency with nine other departments, as well as hundreds of state and local agencies, to coordinate security measures....

***

Bin Laden was apparently emboldened by the Madrid bombings' impact on Spanish voters when he released a statement on April 15 offering European nations a "peace treaty" if they withdrew their troops from Muslim countries, an administration official said. Aznar's successor, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, on Sunday ordered the withdrawal of Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25457-2004Apr19.html

[Ripley]

6. I heard a guy on CSPAN today say that Congress was looking

into "postponing" the elections if something "big" were to happen. He said it was allowed for in the Constitution.

It didn't even seem to be a big revelation to him.

Holy Crap...that is HUGE NEWS.

It wasn't Chuck Todd, but the other guy that they get Capitol Hill news from on Wash Journal...can't remember his name. He was casually mentioning this and I was freaking! I thought damn...those people at DU were right!

The moderator didn't even follow-up with anything like...wouldn't that be rather drastic?

He did however say that Gary Hart said that would be unnecessary because voting is such a decentralized process. But the point is that he said "after a big event"...so it wouldn't be to keep people "safe" if an attack were to happen, but it would be cancelled or postponed in the name of the general "national security."

:scared:

[drfemoe]

7. opportunities that can't be missed

opportunities that can't be missed to tighten our security

They TELL us. Over and over.

What's that old saw about creating your own opportunities?

[John_H]

9. DO NOT GO TO THE POLLS!!! DO NOT GO TO THE POLLS!!

Say the GOP thugs who know that suppressed turnout is good for them, especially when folks are pissed at the Chimp.

I hate sounding like a broken record but shouldn't....wait. What's that we hear from Little Tommy, Whiny Nancy, and the Kerry campaign on the subject? Yes, I think I hear it...I do....it's, it's...it's...silence.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. My read(translation):

"We'll never allow what happened in Spain to happen here. The terrorists won't affect our elections like they did in Spain. We're much too strong for that. Paid for by Republicans. We'll protect you from your fears. Oh, and by the way, pay no attention to the messy details."