Was Rove writing Tom Ridge's terror alert speeches also? Remember this one

[Pirate Smile]

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.

-snip-
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.

-snip-
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 home

The 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=3870

This 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.html

We 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.

-snip-
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.

-snip-
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=NEWISVA

Sorry this is so long but everything these guys touch needs to be viewed with suspicion and skepticism.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I am gonna come back to this thread tomorrow. I am so tired I can't

digest what I see. But thanks for taking the time to compile it. :)

[Pirate Smile]

3. Thanks, GPV. I wondered if it was too late to post it. But I figured

if it just sank, I could kick it tomorrow.:hi:

[Pirate Smile]

5. I failed to include in the original post the NYT info about Rove and Libby

drafting Tenet's statement on the 16 disputed words in the SOTU - just in case anyone missed it.

For Two Aides in Leak Case, 2nd Issue Rises

-snip-
They had exchanged e-mail correspondence and drafts of a proposed statement by George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, to explain how the disputed wording had gotten into the address. Mr. Rove, the president's political strategist, and Mr. Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, coordinated their efforts with Stephen J. Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser, who was in turn consulting with Mr. Tenet.

At the same time, they were grappling with the fallout from an Op-Ed article on July 6, 2003, in The New York Times by Mr. Wilson, a former diplomat, in which he criticized the way the administration had used intelligence to support the claim in Mr. Bush's speech.

The work done by Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby on the Tenet statement during this intense period has not been previously disclosed. People who have been briefed on the case discussed this critical time period and the events surrounding it to demonstrate that Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby were not involved in an orchestrated scheme to discredit Mr. Wilson or disclose the undercover status of his wife, Valerie Wilson, but were intent on clarifying the use of intelligence in the president's address. Those people who have been briefed requested anonymity because prosecutors have asked them not to discuss matters under investigation.

The special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has been examining this period of time to determine whether the officials' work on the Tenet statement led in some way to the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity to Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist, according to the people who have been briefed.

http://nytimes.com/2005/07/22/politics/22leak.html?hp&ex=1122004800&en=da4770e9392bb1c6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Pirate Smile]

11. On Hardball on Friday, John Podesta pointed out how unusual it is for

a political hack to be editing the Director of the CIA's statements.

From Think Progress (MSNBC doesn't have Friday's transcripts up yet)

Why Was Rove Editing Intelligence Statements In 2003?
Tonight on MSNBC’s Hardball, John Podesta, CEO and President of the Center for American Progress and former Clinton chief of staff, debated Ed Rollins, former Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and Deputy Chief of Staff for Political and Governmental Affairs (a position not all too different from that of Karl Rove’s). Podesta made an excellent point:

PODESTA: This morning, again, in the New York Times, we learned that Karl Rove in the summer of 2003 was editing George Tenet’s statement about the faulty intelligence and the faulty statement that the President made in his State of the Union address to kind of rush us into the war in Iraq. Now Ed served as the political director of the White House. I’m fairly confident that he never edited any statements by Bill Casey at the CIA.

ROLLINS: None whatsoever.

Recall that in 2003 Rove was not yet deputy chief of staff nor was he formally in charge of coordinating with the National Security Council as he is now. He was the senior political director at the White House. Why was he editing intelligence documents?

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/22/why-was-rove-editing-intelligence-statements-in-2003/

[Jo March]

13. I know, GPV. There are just so many lies to digest

Every day there is a new reason for outrage.

I was talking with someone the other day and I was very, very surprised that he agreed that it was time to take to the streets as he is a very gentle, Christian man. He is fed up with the lies and the atrocities as well.

It's getting more and more horrifing every day.

[napi21]

2. I don't know, but my son said there are lots of people he works with

talking about how there haven't been any TERROR ALERTS since the election!

It was quite funny. My son was visiting here for the weekend, and he never paid any attention to politics before. He mentioned a number of things just in the normal course of conversation, but then he was walking out to the kitchen and he said "Oh I bet you didn't realize that since the election" and I stopped him and said That there haven't been any security alerts?" He was surprised that other people had noticed that.

I think lots of people have noticed, and they aren't all Dems either!!!

[mrdmk]

4. Of course, these alerts were repeated ad nauseous on the

Air Wave Media. How could anybody with half of a brain not notice their absents.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. Half a brain is probably the key to that question. nt

[Al-CIAda]

6. It is the national equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater.

Sick bastards.

[fooj]

7. Accountability. We demand accountability!

Peace.

[bejammin075]

8. You're jealous of the President's Leadership!

[Freedomfried]

9. The Keystone Cops are running America

They're too stupid NOT to get caught sooner or later

[Toots]

12. "result of offensive intelligence and military operations"

Yes torturing prisoners especially little boys and women is quite "offensive"

[Pirate Smile]

14. kick