Ashcroft and Ridge at odds over terrorist alert...

[kentuck]

Jeanne Meserve, reporter for CNN, said on the Wolf Blitzer show that Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge had not seen any specific evidence to warrant any warning. In fact, he said he thought the risk was much higher during the last Christmas season. So what's going on? Why aren't Ashcroft and Ridge on the same page??

[pinto]

1. DOJ hates the Homeland folks, who feel left out, who hate the CIA, who

hates the DOD, who hates everybody it seems, who all now hate us...

Is this any way to run a country?

ps, Busboy will be on vacation.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Civuk war at the highest levels?

Or will tom find a need to go spend more time wiht the family soon
enough?

[salin]

3. Maybe Ashcroft is trying to steal center stage, again

remember his "Press Conference from Russia" giving the impression that this BREAKING news was SO important that he had to give an IMMEDIATE press conference from Russia. A terrorist who had a dirty bomb was just caught in Chicago! First the WH dealt with it (they don't like W to be outshone)... then it turned out that the man held had been in custody for months - and that there was little evidence of much, let alone anything suggesting he had access to a dirty (nuke) bomb. (Isn't this guy still being held, incommunicado? Have any charges - now a year and a half or so later - ever been brought?)

I would bet this is Ashcroft grandstanding on some very weak info that in his neoconneoreligious zeal he misread, rather than a sign that Ridge is out of the loop.