As Ashcroft Warns of Qaeda Attack, Some Question Threat and Its Timing

[radfringe]

As Ashcroft Warns of Qaeda Attack, Some Question Threat and Its Timing
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and ERIC LICHTBLAU
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/politics/27terror.html
Published: May 27, 2004

WASHINGTON, May 26 - The Bush administration said on Wednesday that it had credible intelligence suggesting that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the United States in the next several months, a period in which events like an international summit meeting and the two political conventions could offer tempting targets.

---snip---

Asked about the timing of his new warnings about the suspects, Mr. Ashcroft said, "We believe the public, like all of us, needs a reminder."

Some intelligence officials said they were uncertain that the link between the fresh intelligence and the likelihood of another attack was as apparent as Mr. Ashcroft made it out to be. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security said just a day before Mr. Ashcroft's announcement that they had no new intelligence pointing to the threat of an attack.

---snip---

But the announcement also came after weeks in which Mr. Bush's political standing has been battered by events in Iraq and as his re-election campaign is seeking to portray Mr. Kerry as opposed to the USA Patriot Act, the law giving the government broad powers to combat terrorism.

Harold Schaitberger, head of the International Association of Fire Fighters, told reporters in a conference call organized by Mr. Kerry's campaign that he found the timing of the announcement to be "politically convenient at best" because it came after "we see the president's approval ratings plummet."

==========

for a look at polls and terralerts.... (scroll down a few clicks) http://radicalfringe.freeservers.com/

[AnnitaR]

1. What must Rove be thinking?

He's had a honeymoon with the media for over 3 years and now they've jumped ship! I have to think this is throwing the bastard for a loop!

No trick he's trying is working now! Hate it for him!

[clonebot]

3. well...

bush was never exactly friends with the ny times....

[Eloriel]

19. But the NYT sure carried plenty of water for him

so "friends" or not, an article like this represents something of a sea change.

[DEMVET-USMC]

2. There is credible evidence Ashcroft picked prisoner Abusers/Irqaq Prison

Affairs. His main man and choice to head up Prison Affairs in Iraq was Lane McCotter.McCotter was forced to resign as : Director of Utah Dept.of Corrections for Prisoner abuse leading to death. Read about this and more at: < http://www.november.org/stayinfo/breaking2/Exporting.html >.This Admin. is so bizzare and the true stories of thier corruption are coming at such a rapid pace it truelly is hard to keep abreast of. Down with these bastards now. Vote straight Democrat and help save our Nation while we still can. ...Oscar

[maddezmom]

4. just added this to another post...gotta love the headline

~snip~
The administration did not raise the terrorist threat advisory from its current level of elevated, or yellow, and the White House said Mr. Bush would not alter his schedule because of security concerns.

"There's no real new intelligence, and a lot of this has been out there already," said one administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "There really is no significant change that would require us to change the alert level of the country."

~snip~

Some intelligence officials said they were uncertain that the link between the fresh intelligence and the likelihood of another attack was as apparent as Mr. Ashcroft made it out to be. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security said just a day before Mr. Ashcroft's announcement that they had no new intelligence pointing to the threat of an attack.
~snip~

So bush* isn't concerned and will keep on his steady course of vacations at Crawford and fundraising....and Homeland Security isn't aware of any new intelligence...hmmmm

Looks like Kerry is hit the nail on the head: the timing of the announcement appeared intended in part to distract attention from Mr. Bush's sagging poll numbers and problems in Iraq.

[thebigidea]

5. gee, NYTimes - where was that "Some question" caveat a year ago?

Where was the "some question" caveat about all your Miller/WMD/Chalabi stories?

[Maeve]

6. This is the same POV the BBC was airing last night on the radio

I remember a line about the alert level isn't being raised but a lot of eyebrows are...

[FlashHarry]

7. A "reminder" is not the same as a "warning."

Asscroft screwed up, there. They've got nothing.

[dusty64]

8. Glad we're not the only

ones who question this. They've admitted this is only a "reminder" and nothing new. They have notified and alerted no cities and once again they are full of shit. It still seems to have served its purpose though, headline news two days running in my local rag and NOT one word about President Gore's speech or the other new developments in Torturegate.

[LynneSin]

9. "We believe the public, like all of us, needs a reminder."

I think the reminder is - WE NEED TO FRIGHTEN THE BEJESUS OUT OF THE PROLES

[Oaklander]

10. This is just a prelude of things to come...

Don't be too surprised if there is a "terrorist attack" shortly before the elections. If it looks like Bush is going to lose (It really is too close to call right now) then an "attack" is just what they need to either A) boost Bush's appearance of leadership, or B)declare martial law, or at leas put the elections on hold while the administration "deals with the current situation."

Don't ever believe that those bastards are above doing something like that.

[Stephanie]

12. A reminder!!

FUCK them. The public needs a reminder. The public needs a GOVERNMENT capable of doing their job. Another terror attack means G. Bush is WORSE than a MISERABLE FAILURE. Why they would want to use terra lerts to prop him up is mind boggling. Just the opposite, an attack would mean his defeat.

[Cocoa]

17. if Bush polls don't go up, Ashcroft will give us a bigger "reminder"

:scared:

[Kinkistyle]

11. Apparently nobody in this Admin's been told "Boy who cried wolf" story.

Each and every time Ass-kkkroft and Co. release a "reminder" to the people to stay terrified and continue pissing their pants, it loses its effectiveness - until nobody pays attention anymore - even if the warning is real!

[BiggJawn]

13. Already happened.

I heard Asslick and Ridge-runner's warning and the first thing I said was "Beeeee Efffff Deeeee! Guess Dumbass' numbers are diving faster than the Edmund Fitgerald... "

Oh, shit! check your duck tape stores! buy more plastic sheeting! that stuff gets brittle with age!
"Really incredible mis-information AGAIN!"

[mumon]

14. about goddam time...

That this paper finally stopped publishing their fear propaganda uncritically.
Must be fallout from the Judith Miller debacle.

[daa]

15. You won't believe this

This was in the Financical Times today.

Candid camera
The Bush administration began trying earlier this week to get Tom Ridge, homeland security secretary, booked on to the morning talk shows.

Initially, none of the three broadcast networks showed much interest. The country's focus - and the breakfast shows' - was squarely on Iraq and the president's falling poll numbers.

On Tuesday night, however, an anonymous senior administration official informed the Associated Press that the administration had evidence of al-Qaeda operatives in the US planning to "hit us hard" this summer.

Lo and behold, the networks changed their minds. Yesterday morning, Ridge appeared on Today on NBC, The Early Show on CBS and Good Morning America on ABC. The cable news channels filled much of the rest of the day with deliberations on the lurking threats to America.

It was enough to make a sceptical Washington press pack suspicious: was the administration trying to switch the subject from Iraq, which is souring sentiment towards the president, to the war on terrorism, which is still safer territory for Bush? Or was the administration just doing what it had to put the country back on alert? Perhaps it was all a coincidence.

[Cocoa]

20. holy shit!

there's no doubt about it. Thank god some people are being skeptical. Last night Ted Koppel asked some
obvious questions, like why now? They had those seven pictures a year ago, does their decision to
release them now have anything to do with poll numbers?

[maddezmom]

24. DU link Don't you don't know, we changed the subject?WH to Cnn's Dana Bash

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1670796

[kimchi]

16. Did hell just freeze over?

I can't believe this is being reported in the NYT.

Politically convenient, indeed.

[jmcgowanjm]

18. 2 of named 7 already in custody (or dead)

That is akin to a jail guard telling his boss that it’s not a matter
of if but when all the prisoners are going to escape. 

If the individuals who staff our intelligence agencies are
unable to prevent large-scale terrorist attacks then they
should be fired. And yet since September 11 nobody in
a position of authority has been sacked and in fact the
majority have received raises in addition to the millions of
extra funding that has poured in to the FBI and CIA. They
have been rewarded for their complicity in 9/11.

http://100777.com/doc/747

Amer El-Maati-Status-Incarcerated
http://www.trackingthethreat.com/db/ENT1711.htm

30 March 2004 Tuesday 08 Safar 1425

Dr Aafia Siddiqui's disappearance

In the first week of April 2003 several news items
were published in national dailies and broadcast from private
TV channel regarding the sudden disappearance of Dr
Aafia Siddiqui form Karachi as of other Pakistanis who
have been handed over to the Americans

http://www.dawn.com/2004/03/30/letted.htm#5

[maddezmom]

22. interesting links...thanks for posting

[jmcgowanjm]

26. You bet, maddezmom. My pleasure

[UpInArms]

21. related article: Take deep breath, face facts on terror threat

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11807781&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18168&rfi=6

excerpt:

It’s coincidental, of course, that The Times fessed up on the same day that those same government officials who talked so earnestly of Saddam’s arsenal delivered a chilling new warning of unspecified terrorist attacks to come this summer.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller said al-Qaida is "almost ready" to attack the United States. They had no specifics, but say the threat is backed by good intelligence. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, however, has no immediate plans to raise the nation’s terror alert level.

After what the country has been put through since 9/11, is it any wonder that some wonder if Wednesday’s warning is more motivated by George W. Bush’s plummeting poll numbers than any concrete danger? Some law enforcement and firefighter union representatives who support Democrat John Kerry for president said the timing of the announcement is suspicious. International Association of Firefighters President Harold Schaitberger said the intelligence has been in the government’s hands for weeks. In response, the White House issued its standard denial.

It’s time to take a deep breath and face some facts. Yes, there are terrorists out there who would love to kill as many Americans as possible. Yes, there are politicians of all stripes who are craven enough to manipulate intelligence and stoke fear just to win votes. And yes, the information the public gets from the media may not always be correct.

It’s important to think critically. Ask the tough questions. Don’t always accept the first answers. And don’t panic.

...more...

[tom_paine]

23. I certainly quetsion Herr A$$crust's pronouncements

Maybe if he caught his pal, the Right-Wing Anthrax Assassin who only sent his letters to Democrats and the media who printed drunken pictures of the Imperial Daughters.

Show me your Anthrax Assassin Pal going to jail, Heinrich A$$crust, and I might believe you if you said water was wet.

[Malva Zebrina]

25. It is just the beginning

today, we see headlines that a terrorist , a dark skinned evil looking terrorist , Muslim cleric named Abu Hamza, was about to blow up something in Oregon or something like that. Oh--he was found in London besides. One down and 17,999 to go.

This type of propaganda will continue on a regular basis until the election. There is no doubt in my mind we have them dark skinned, one eyed Muslims who live in London, or Prague or Bulgaria all lined up and we are just waiting for a time when the idiot president needs to be propped up with more fear spoon fed to the American citizens. It will not matter if they tell the truth or not. It will soon be forgotten if it is a lie anyhow, but people will be convinced that George is fighting the war on an idea and is such a good war president that he is rounding up the terraist one by one.

We will never be given any details--for instance, should we hop on planes that go to Egypt or London, or go across bridges that span the Potomic or the Hudson, or work in high buildings such as the Sears tower. Nope we get the "historical report" from Ashcroft--a type of spurious wording substituted for the more real "top secret serious alert" by Condoleeza Rice in her testimony, after a week of hedging and refusing to testify under oath, before the rather bought and paid for, Bush appointed, 9-11 commission.

Our country is indeed broken and has been done so by ignorant, greedy men and women. They are supported by greedy, detached corporations above all, and the detached millionaires and billonaires that run them.

Ken Lay caused great pain to many people with his fraudulent accounting. Whatever happened to Kenny boy? Is he waiting around for a pardon?

Iraq will be off the chart and the headlines and our dead soldiers will continue to arrive in flag draped coffins, more invisible than ever , after June 30 when it has been announced that we hand over Iraq back to it's people. The biggest lie yet.

People will be purposefully kept in a state of nightmarish, sweaty fear, terrified by this administration at regular intervals. They know very well that is the ultimate way to control the people and we will keep seeing evil looking, dark skinned, one eyed Muslims who are a terrorist threat to the US being trotted out at pre ordained times probably culminating in the greatest war on terra truiumph, the capture or the discovery of the ultimate evil terrorist --- Osama Bin Laden ! That is probably scheduled to happen right around October.


Bush and his evil men and women, may be allowed to get away with the lies that do harm to our people, out of "respect" the media and the Pentagon and others fearful for their own cozy and comfortable Washington careers are willing to afford him. It is for certain his party, the Republicans are doing everything they can to destroy their own country also.

I do hope someone is writing this all down every minute of the day, from before the Bush coup , even from the moment of his ignominious birth , for I believe this was his doom and his legacy from the moment he was named "George".

I do hope there is a modern day William L Shirer out there--and I hope there are more than one of him. May it forever be taught to our children through their history books, that George Bush, the president who was never really elected , who did not want all the votes counted, rained havoc, death and evil upon the world in three short years of his fascist regime. May he forever be called, with sneering contempt, the "worst president ever in the history of the United States"

[struggle4progress]

27. This is a big story! Related links:

Division follows terrorism warning

FBI and Justice Department officials yesterday defended their decision to warn the public about the potential for a devastating terrorist attack on America this summer, saying it was justified by intelligence and essential to avoid missteps that occurred before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Their defense followed criticism from lawmakers and some Bush administration officials with access to the same intelligence. They said Wednesday's announcement by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III was overblown and caused unnecessary public concern.

Representative Christopher Cox, Republican of California and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said the Ashcroft-Mueller news conference mistakenly led some to believe the nation's threat level had been increased. He called it ''regrettable" that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge did not join Ashcroft and Mueller.
<snip>
A Homeland Security Department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse, reiterated yesterday that his agency has not seen any change in the ''steady stream of threat reporting." ''We do not have any new intelligence or specific information about Al Qaeda planning an attack," he said.
<snip>
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/05/28/division_follows_terrorism_warning/

Latest terror alert surprises Homeland Security officials

The Homeland Security Department was surprised by the announcement Wednesday by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller that a terrorist attack was increasingly likely in coming months, officials said.

The department, created a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is charged with issuing terrorism warnings to the public, and tension rose when Ashcroft and Mueller effectively took over that role at a news conference Wednesday when they said al-Qaida is preparing a powerful attack.

Officials said the Homeland Security Department knew in advance about the news conference but expected it to focus on seven suspects with ties to al-Qaida who were wanted for arrest or questioning. Department officials were caught off guard when Ashcroft went further and warned that al-Qaida "is ready to attack the United States."
The news conference, which excluded Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, raised concerns in Washington that his department was not coordinating the domestic fight against terrorism, which was confusing the message for the public and for local authorities.
<snip>
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2596272

Ashcroft Assailed on Terror Warning

Some allies of the Department of Homeland Security within the Bush administration and members of Congress criticized Attorney General John D. Ashcroft yesterday for issuing terrorist threat warnings at a news conference on Wednesday, contending he failed to coordinate the information with the White House and with Homeland Security, which has the job of releasing threat warnings.

Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and Bush administration rules, only the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can publicly issue threat warnings, and they must be approved in a complex interagency process involving the White House. Administration officials sympathetic to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said he was not informed Ashcroft was going to characterize the threat in that way -- an assertion that Justice officials deny.

Earlier Wednesday, Ridge appeared on five news shows saying that although the prospect of a terrorist attack is significant, Americans should "go about living their lives and enjoying living in this country," as he said on CBS.
<snip>
Some administration officials also complained yesterday that Justice Department or FBI officials in private conversations with reporters may have suggested that the latest evidence of a terrorist attack is new, when it is about six weeks old, officials said.
<snip>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61742-2004May27.html

[maddezmom]

30. "..., do you think they'll tell us on WebSites? Give me a break" link

Even some intelligence professionals were confused and suspicious of possible political motives for the announcement because there were no specifics about time, location or method of attack and no new information about the seven terror suspects. They also noted the Homeland Security Department did not raise the national alert level from yellow, midpoint on the five-color scale, to orange.

Al-Qaida's intent to launch a major attack in this country has been no secret for some time, former CIA counterterrorism chief Vince Cannistraro noted Thursday. "The question is their capabilities, and that we don't have."

~snip~
"Nobody is telling us details of an operation except people talking openly on the Internet, who know we are reading it," Cannistraro said. "If al Qaida is planning another 9/11, do you think they'll tell us on Web sites? Give me a break."

Retired FBI field office chief C.I. Smith, who spent most of his 25 years in counterintelligence, said, "I was perplexed by the timing. ... If it was truly credible, you should have also had (Director George) Tenet from CIA and (Secretary Tom) Ridge from Homeland Security, too."

An administration official said Ashcroft's news conference started out as a request for the public to be on the lookout for seven suspects and an announcement of stepped-up security efforts for high-profile events this summer. Instead, it turned into a major news story that the official said included references to new intelligence. The official requested anonymity to avoid causing friction between Homeland Security and Justice.

~snip~
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0528Intelligence28-ON.html

[maddezmom]

28. CNN-Out of synch on warning?...should read Asscroft out of touch.

~snip~
On Wednesday morning before the Justice Department press conference, an administration source said U.S. President George W. Bush asked Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge if they were in sync.

They said yes, believing Bush was referring to the release of lookouts for suspicious persons.

~snip~

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/05/28/terror.threat.sync/

[livinginphotographs]

29. My first thoughts when I saw Ashcroft's

pig-face on TV announcing this were:

1 - They're making this up to distract people from the real issues (the various messes in Iraq, the torture scandal, Bush's nose-diving poll numbers). Why did they make this announcement but not raise the alert level? That right there set off my bullshit alarm.

2 - There really WILL be a terrorist attack, but it won't be OBL, it'll be GWB responsible for it. Then when his poll numbers don't shoot up afterwards like he's probably expecting, we'll have martial law, suspend elections, suspend the Constitution (or what's left of it), etc.

I'm leaning towards #1, but seeing as I'm a moderate LIHOP-er, I'm probably being a little too optimistic.

Canada's looking better and better everyday.

[rexcat]

31. Just propaganda from Bush* and company...

Need to keep the masses scared so he can be reelected.