Lawmakers briefed on terror attack threat

[Newsjock]

They just don't stop, do they. Booga booga!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1153&slug=Congress%20Terror%20Threat

By CURT ANDERSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Top FBI, CIA and Homeland Security Department officials briefed House members Wednesday about a steady stream of intelligence indicating al-Qaida may seek to mount an attack aimed at disrupting U.S. elections.

All House members were invited to the session at the Rayburn House Office Building with FBI Director Robert Mueller; Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security; and John Brennan, a CIA official who heads the joint CIA-FBI Terrorism Threat Integration Center.

Rep. Christopher Cox, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he could not discuss specifics of the presentation. But he said there are broad concerns that al-Qaida wants to strike inside the United States this summer or fall and hopes to influence the U.S. election, as terrorists did in Spain with the deadly Madrid train bombings in March.

... No new intelligence is being presented at the briefings, said two federal law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. There is no credible information pointing to a specific time, place or method for a terrorist attack, they said.

more

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. In other words...

Don't drop your electoral soap.

[TrogL]

10. Dropped soap? Where?

I just never give up. :spank:

[rustydog]

2. The terrorists did not influence the election, the Govt did!

It tried to blame the Al Qaeda attacks on home-grown Basque seperatists and got caught in the lie. The people voted the lying bastards out of power.

[Virginian]

4. "The people voted the lying bastards out of power."

Just as we will do here in November.

[fryguy]

3. and to prevent the disruption of the elections....

.....will chimp & co. just cancel them??

[kwyjibo]

5. I can't see this ever happening, for any reason

Americans will take a lot of shit, but cancelling elections is way beyond ridiculous. Even people who want Bush to stay in office would think so.

[dweller]

9. stick around, kwyjibo

we'll see how beyond the ridiculous it becomes, mkay?

dp

[StClone]

6. Gee what a coinkeedink

America gushes over Edwards pick by Kerry and guess what reappears -- TERROR!!!!!!!!!

[UpInArms]

7. if there are attacks within the US

*Co will lose the election.

If there are no attacks within the US, *Co will lose the election.

No need to have attacks within the US unless having attacks allows *Co to suspend election.

hmmmm....

[zbdent]

8. "Okay, we're going to run a simulation.

All you Democrats, go over to the left side (pun intended), all you Republicans go to the right.

Now, we'll run a simulation of machine gun fire."

rat-a-tat-a-rat-a-tat-a-rat-a-tat-a-rat-a-tat-a-rat-a-tat

"Hey, who put real bullets in these things? Whoops, guess we'll have to fill those left seats with Bush appointees . . ."

[struggle4progress]

11. "There is a steady drumbeat of reporting."

Every now and then, there may be an accurate story. But mostly the press just keeps beating the Bushista drums.

[Gordon25]

12. Voting official seeks process for canceling Election Day

The handwriting on the wall is becoming plainly apparent. We need to be ready.

Voting official seeks process for canceling Election Day over terrorism

By: ERICA WERNER - Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission. <snip>

Soaries noted that Sept. 11, 2001, fell on Election Day in New York City -- and he said officials there had no rules to follow in making the decision to cancel the election and hold it later.

Events in Spain, where a terrorist attack shortly before the March election possibly influenced its outcome, show the need for a process to deal with terrorists threatening or interrupting the Nov. 2 presidential election in America, he said. <snip>

Soaries also said he wants to know what federal officials are doing to increase security on Election Day. He said security officials must take care not to allow heightened security measures to intimidate minority voters, but that local and state election officials he's talked to have not been told what measures to expect. "There's got to be communication," he said, "between law enforcement and election officials in preparation for November."

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/06/26/election2004/21_17_566_25_04.txt

Just prior to 9/11 anybody who predicted that Bush would assume powers to arrest and hold indefinitely without access to counsel or the courts anyone he deemed a threat, or that he would lie blatantly to the American public to initiate an unprovoked and illegal invasion of Iraq would have been called an hysterical tinfoil hat type. "People wouldn't stand for it," such a prognosticator would have been told. Let's not make the same mistake again.

Gordon25