Ridge 'relieved' at calm during Christmas

[missile_bender]

from CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/12/26/threat.ridge/index.html

Homeland Security chief says terrorism alert still high

Friday, December 26, 2003 Posted: 10:54 PM EST (0354 GMT)

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge: "We are still at that same level of risk."

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With Christmas passing without a terrorist attack, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said he was "relieved" but that a threat still exists.

"{I} credit much of it to a continuing effort by this country at all levels to make sure we do everything that we possibly can to deter a terrorist attack," he said. "Yes, I'm relieved every day."

But with hundreds of cities planning public events to mark the new year, caution has not been abandoned.

---more

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Ridge also said he was responsible for the sun rising today, sugar tasting sweet, and babies being cute.

Thanks, Tom!

http://www.unembedded.com

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Congress needs to investigate

where the hell he's getting his intel from. Who the heck are his private intel sources? So far everything they've predicted has turned out to have little basis in reality. Maybe he should forget about faith-based private eyes and go back to the CIA for reliable information.

[IndianaGreen]

5. Tom Ridge's intel source is...

[Mercurius]

13. Plan 9

Hilarious! :)

[Terwilliger]

2. relieved my ass

he created the terror worry then took credit when nothing happened...bunch of liars!

[PATRICK]

3. I'll bet he is

He seems the front man naif of the bunch. Doesn't even know his neck is stuck out or what the circus is really all about. At least, that is the impression. I sense that same kind of goodwill floundering among other officials(health, safety, labor)trying to cope with the bells and whistles details of fear and not the causes or the exploiters of the game.

Body bags, medals, organized hand holding. Soldiers of the Empire operating under the pretext of prevention.

For any person of real thought or values or practical experience the whole sorry show rises like bile in the throat.

[ScrewyRabbit]

4. Oh you're being too kind

I think he's in the know. He's certainly there whenever they're reviewing the "evidence" that leads them to raise the warning level.

[pinto]

11. kick...n/t

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. *ahem .. no bodybags here .. gentle ambiguous term "transfer tubes" please

.
.

[arikara]

6. 'Relieved' must be newspeak for...

"Rats... Foiled again!"

[RedSock]

7. air france story

has apparently dried up and blown away.

not one word of it in today's new york times.

[Shadder]

8. Whatever....

Sure ya are, we believe whatever ya say...sure we do, yup....

[readmylips]

9. I'm stealing your line..'

'Ridge also said he was responsible for the sun rising today, sugar tasting sweet, and babies being cute.'

Perfect to send to Wolfie's CNN.

I can add: Ridge also said and he is responsible for the a$$hold, which main purpose is for crapping.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Anyone know how many times Ridge has raised

the alert or issued warnings? And out of all these alerts and warnings, has he ever gotten even one right?

[Newsjock]

12. This is orange alert #5

But that doesn't count the numerous other warnings of impending doom.

[koolkitty]

14. Alerts are just a joke.

There was an old man in France who used to get up every morning
at five A.M. He would then go and sprinkle a white powder on
the roads.
When he was asked what he was sprinkling on the roads, he answered
that it was elephant powder.
The person then remarked "But everybody knows that there are no elephants in France!" to which he answered "I guess it must be working then!"

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. Unfortunately it's not a joke

and every week at Code Orange costs us (you and me) $1 Bil per Week. Not to mention how many First Responders had to work over Christmas instead of being with their families? How many people had to cancel vacations? How many people were harassed at airports because of heightened security?

Where is the accountability?. Tom Ridge sounds like Chicken Little. This is a man who does not have a background in this stuff? A man who admits to relying on 'private' intelligence sources. And to date, which is typical in the Bu$h administration, his deptartment is not held accountable for anything? The dangerous part is that HS can not be relied upon to tell the difference between credible and bogus threats, so that when there is another credible threat they are still likely to ignore it.


BTW: Welcome to DU

[IndianaGreen]

17. As many Leftist said at the time, creating Homeland Security Dept was...

As many Leftist said at the time, creating Homeland Security Dept was a major mistake. It created an additional layer of bureaucracy. Oh sure, many people felt "safer" with HSD as they did with the capture of Saddam, but feeling safer and being safer are horses of different color.

The failure to prevent 9/11 was one of information sharing. The people in the field knew there was a problem, they just could not get their bosses in Washington to realize it. We could have better invested the money wasted in the creation of HSD by creating a single data warehouse available to all the agencies, from INS to FBI to CIA, and with better coordination between them (which was the traditional role of the National Security Council).

Culprits for 9/11: Condi Rice for not doing her job, Ashcroft for being more worried about boobs on statues, and Bush for being the Chief Executive.

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Funny,

I was just reading an article about how the Clinton administration had started to do just what you are suggesting. In the process they were giving a lot of new power to the FBI and the CIA was not too thrilled because the FBI were going to be allowed access to areas that normally feel under the CIA's domain. I bet that when W took over, he quit working on that project too?

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Well lets give Ridge somethign of a Break

And assume for a second that the threats were real.

(Flame me after you read the rest)

Why couldn't he and the administration handle it the same way
MI5 handles alerts?

Hmm how abut Shin Bet? (I knwo they are not too popular but)

How about Cistes (Canucks)

How about the PJF (Mexico)

I could go on... and it was the way it was handled in 2000 when the
threat was very real...

Shit we did not raise alrests in any VISIBLE way beyond having some
more police prescence, but the Millenium Plot was averted

As the cynic of my hubby points out, he needs to justify his existence

See we ARE doing our job... and the side benefit is, we are keeping the sheep scared... oh never mind Ridge that you just gave the game away and they will NOT strike when you are at Orange... oh never mind that no level of alert like this can be kept up for ever.

And of course the boy that screams wolf repeteadly gets told, WOOOFFF!

[xxqqqzme]

19. we were all going 2 B

(a)gassed; (b)blown up; (c)murdered in our sleep or (d)biologically eliminated on the 4th of July (remember parades were cancelled? ridge wasted tons of cred on that holiday); labor day weekend and every other holiday on the calendar, plus let us not forget the plastic 'n duct tape road show...Relieved?...relieved? who's writing their script anyway?

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. I think I have a clue

and he poses as Daleel Almojahid.