Who do you think'll replace Ridge?

[Moloch]

I don't think anyone can top those color codes of his...

[LSparkle]

1. Heard Bernard Kerik (former NY Police Chief)

is on a short list. Wonder if Rudy would be willing to take it.

[BlueManDude]

6. Kerik is now some RW hero - but another failure

wasn't he appointed something like police chief of Baghdad after the occupation? How'd that work out? Another case of failing upwards.

[Paradise]

8. "failing upwards" (lol)

attribute of the * misadministration. :crazy:

[cpalson]

21. Why do we need Homeland Security?

Seems like a simple answer, right? Terrorism. We need protection. Etc.

Well, not according to renoun documentarist Adam Curtis in his latest BBC documentary, The Power of Nightmares. I read the transcript, and much to my shock, I no longer believe it's terrorism. Many of you have undoubtedly heard the idea that it's the equivalent of the Reichstag fire that was the signal event that put the Nazis in power. Curtis, a documentarist who is well known for being careful about facts, thinks along these lines, but it is far more sophisticated. I highly recommend everyone sitting down and spending about an hour to read the transcript. It will almost certainly rearrange your view of 911 and the current push for Homeland Security.

To give you an idea of the gist of the piece, here's a posting of mine from another site:

Curtis is not saying that terrorists don't exist, only that their existence is very, very exaggerated. "Al Queda" he points out, was a legal fiction developed by the US to prosecute the bombers of the WTC under RICO laws. BL then adopted it for his own purposes.

So by this reasoning, 911 happened because there happened to arise a very clever bunch within a patchwork network the US, and later BL, chose to call AQ. It is notworthy that they came within a hairsbreadth of getting caught despite the sorry state of the FBI. Such won't happen again with elementary precuations that were already in place then but not used - for whatever reason, be it conspiracy or sheer incompetence.

The concept of AQ, it seems, is very much like the old concept of "communism." Local nationalist groups adopted the communist label, with only the thinnest connections to groups in other countries.

Curtiss points out something pretty extraordinary in this regard: the neocons of the 1970s (the exact same people who gave us the AQ conspiracy) were pushing for the idea of a world wide terrorist network centrally controlled by the Soviets. The CIA emphatically insisted there was no such central control. It turns out that the data the neocons used to prove their point came from European newspapers - where the CIA had planted misinformation about the Soviet conspiracy!

Even more amazing was that Casey was pursuaded to go along with the neocons ideas despite CIA objections because - get this - a novel he read that described a fictional Soviet conspiracy!

Keep in mind that as bizarre as this sounds, it is only as biazarre as the neocons actually are. They are Straussians who are determined to create what they know very well is a fiction for political purposes. That is well documented.
---------------
In conclusion, the next head of HS has to be competent at one thing, creating nightmares. Tom Ridge had no experience with terrorism or anything else that would be useful to stopping terrorism. But then again, that wasn't the point! The color coded warning codes fit exactly into the main goal - creating The Nightmare.

[Nikepallas]

2. My question is WHY is Ridge leaving? To make room for a TRUE nutcase

that will make the Color code look like child's play. I have a feeling Ridge will be given a larger roll.

[Paradise]

5. as in kaiser?

just being :silly:

[clydefrand]

11. I read months ago that he was leaving because he wasn't

earning enough money to send his kids to college. Only 170,000 bucks and he can't afford to send them to school. What about the people who earn much less than a 100,000? Ah, yeah, they borrow it and get grants. Should we tell him about Pell Grants?

[David Dunham]

3. Lieberman

[LSparkle]

4. OMG -- Joementum!

ICK! Weasel ...

[Moloch]

10. Really?

Just a hunch or do you know something about it? Joementum belongs in shrub's cabinet because he is such a good republican and all.

[Moloch]

19. Collins: Lieberman is good choice for homeland security chief

(Portland, Maine-AP, Dec. 1, 2004 7:18 AM) _ Maine U.S. Senator Susan Collins says Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman would make a good replacement for Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge if President Bush is willing to consider a Democrat.

Collins, a Republican, works with Lieberman on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Collins is chairwoman and Lieberman is ranking Democrat, and both are lead negotiators on the intelligence reform bill.

Both Collins and Maine's other Republican senator, Olympia Snowe, had praise for outgoing Homeland Security chief Ridge.

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2633296&nav=3YeXThPn

[sundancekid]

7. yosemite sam or rudiani elevenani giuliani

[jjmalonejr]

9. Frances Townsend

Bush's current Homeland Security advisor.

The pattern seems to be replacing outgoing cabinet secretaries with trusted insiders that the White House can control.

Why deviate from that now?

[lapfog_1]

14. Yup

Former advisors are MUCH more likely to go along with the scripted
cabinet meetings, not to mention that they won't get uppity with
Darth Cheney.

So you have a whole slew of presidential suck up Yes-people going
on to run the Federal Government. Possibly even worse than the
politicians (some of whom had diplomatic or executive experience)
that they are replacing. And while I'm glad to Ridge and Ashcrack
and some of the others go, what will be left may well be worse, much
worse.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Goebbels n/t

[n2mark]

13. Another puppet!

[n2mark]

15. Here are my picks seriously...

Liberman, McCain, Guiliano (I'm too lazy to spell check his name) and there is another name that I can't spell from NY starts with a P. It is not the first two, will be someone from NY.

Actually Liberman is my first pick.

[n2mark]

17. Excuse me, these picks are not who I want,

these picks are who I think shrub might select. Of course how about the CEO at Halliburton? They already have their men (merceneries) there, so everything will be reported to H?

[n2mark]

16. Why I think L... might be the choice

First he is a so called Dem in the senate, take him out, put a puke in his place, he is from a blue state, time to infiltrate the state by the GOP, their hope is to make it a red state. I see the brain of the GOP working. Besides, L has been kissing the pukes butts.

[Wordie]

18. I think it may be Giuliani, for several reasons.

First, he is the person who would probably have the most credibility in the position, given his leadership in the days after 9/11. Second, his appointments would win votes in blue state NY, which the Repubs really want to do, as another feather in their cap. There is also number three: that is payback. He certainly gave Bush a lot of help at the Repub convention. Rudy was the one that a LOT of people saw as our leader right after 9/11, and I think his speech at the convention helped Bush a great deal.

I don't know if he would want the postition though. There's a lot of talk about him running in '08, and it would depend on how he might see the position as helping/hurting his chances. He also is a lot less ideological than the crowd in power, and isn't a fundamentalist, so probably many of those sorts around Bush will council him against selecting Rudy.

I wonder if Liebermann would accept the position? ...knowing that it would put the Dems in even worse shape in the Senate. I think maybe not, but I'm not certain.

[HollyC]

20. Kerik?

KERIK? KERIK NAMED HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF OF THE UNITED STATES? THE WAR PROFITEER? THAT ILLITERATE LUMP OF CRAPOLA WES CLARK BEAT UP ON ON THAT OHIO UNDECIDED VOTER CNN SPECIAL HOSTED BY PAULA ZAHN?

THAT KERIK?

Jes*motherofgodnowhatthef*&
(^&%^$#^%$#%$#
&*(^&%89768$^%$*&^%*()&&*
&*(&%$&^)(*&)*(UH*(&^*(9&*(

----
I am not normally an all-capser. And this is my first post here on DU. I usually hang around at Clark04.

Going out to play in traffic now.