Yesterdays brazen political terror alert, based on three year old information , is just the beginning of a panic move by Bush to scare the American people into voting for his inept and morally corrupt presidency.
The Center for American Progress calls it an ongoing loss of credibility and writes; " politicizing intelligence and threat reports undermines the government's credibility and blurs the line between protecting the homeland and promoting fear for political gain. "
Allen L Roland
The Loss of Credibility
Just one day after issuing a major terror warning that was supposedly prompted by new information, the New York Times and Washington Post report that the decision, in fact, was based on old information from before 9/11. Specifically, the Bush administration acknowledged "they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way." While the LA Times does point out that "it appears the information was updated as late as 2004" one senior official told the New York Times, "You could say that the bulk of this information is old." The key issue is not whether the threat is real – no one argues that al Qaeda still wants to do great harm to us, and credible intelligence must be acted upon to protect America. But politicizing intelligence and threat reports undermines the government's credibility and blurs the line between protecting the homeland and promoting fear for political gain.
POLITICAL MESSAGES IN ANNOUNCING THE ALERT:The politicization of homeland security perhaps was no better highlighted than in Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's press conference on Sunday. As the New York Times reports, Ridge used the solemn announcement to "repeatedly praise President Bush's leadership" – as if the press conference was some sort of campaign event. Instead of focusing his praise on law enforcement, Ridge claimed "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."
CREDIBILITY DAMAGED IN MAY: In the last terror warning, the Bush administration damaged its credibility and raised questions of politicization. In the same week President Bush's polls dropped to their lowest point ever, Attorney General John Ashcroft held a dramatic press conference about an urgent terrorist threat. But he had no new information at all, and instead simply told Americans to be on the lookout for European-looking people who may be al Qaeda. The administration's political move was so transparent, that Ridge was forced to admit "there is absolutely nothing specific enough" to warrant a change in the threat level. A senior administration official agreed, saying, "There really is no significant change that would require us to change the alert level of the country."
POLITICAL QUESTIONS RAISED LAST WEEK: Last week during the Democratic National Convention, Pakistan announced it had captured a top al Qaeda suspect. The news was welcome by all, but raised intense questions about the political nature of its timing. According to a New Republic article three weeks before, a White House aide told a Pakistani official last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing" of any high value terrorist occurred during the Convention, ostensibly to steal attention from the President's opponents. Even more interesting, Pakistani officials admitted that the al Qaeda suspect they captured was actually caught five days before the announcement was made, meaning they held the announcement to come just hours before Sen. John Kerry's speech.
WHITE HOUSE HAS ADMITTED IT WANTS TO POLITICIZE: As the Progress Report has previously documented, the White House has essentially admitted its desire to politicize homeland security and the fight against terrorism. Nineteen weeks after 9/11, White House political adviser Karl Rove implored Republican candidates to use the fight against terrorism for political gain, saying conservatives can "go to the country" and run campaigns on national security. In May of 2002, the Republican National Committee began selling White House pictures of the president on 9/11 at campaign fundraisers. On 6/13/02, the Associated Press reported the White House began urging conservatives to push "messages highlighting the war on terrorism." And the list goes on.
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