Looks like people are starting to talk. ________________________ Terrorism Alerts Based Politicals, Not Facts Doug Thompson Capitol Hill Blue http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1445.shtml January 2, 2003 Intelligence professionals say privately the Bush administration is engaging in “hysterics” with multiple terrorism alerts that have little or no basis in fact. The alerts, instead, are part of a carefully scripted White House campaign to keep terrorism on the minds of American voters along with public approval ratings of administration handling of the stalled war on terrorism. “Unfortunately, we haven’t made a lot of progress against al Qaeda or the war on terrorism,” says one FBI agent assigned to the task. “We’ve been spinning our wheels for several weeks now.” Sources within both the FBI and CIA tell Capitol Hill Blue the Bush administration keeps up the pressure to come up with “something, anything” to support the glut of vague terrorism alerts from both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. “Most of the time, we have little to go on, only unconfirmed snippets of information,” admits another FBI agent. “Most alerts are issued without any concrete data to back up the assumptions.” Disgruntled agents say the latest nationwide manhunt for “five Arab men” is an example of politics superseding normal investigative procedures. “We have very, very little to support the notion that these five represent any more of a threat than any of the other thousands of people who enter this nation every day,” says terrorism expert Ronald Blackstone. “It’s a fishing expedition.” And some of the fish may not even be in this country. On Wednesday, a Pakistani jeweler, Mohammed Asghar, said he was one of the five men in the pictures distributed by the FBI. The Associated Press tracked him down in Pakistan, not the U.S., and Asghar said he’s never been in this country. “I imagine the finger pointing has started at the White House,” Blackstone said. “Somebody screwed the pooch on this one.” Another source said early today that the tip on the five men came from a known document forger who was arrested and is trying to cut a deal to avoid prosecution. "Hopefully, they have more than that," Blackstone adds. "Felons will say anything to try and stay out of jail." FBI sources say the bureau has two classifications for keeping track of potential terrorists: those identified by real police work and those tagged by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. The White House files are often referred to as the “Japanese Camp” files, a reference to the detention of Japanese-Americans in camps during World War II. “Don’t misunderstand, there is a real terrorist threat to this country,” says another FBI agent, “but every time we go public with one of this phony ‘heightened state of alerts’ it just numbs the public against the day when we have another real alert.” Sources inside both the FBI and CIA say recent disclosure of a White House planning memo listing the war on terrorism as a legitimate political advantage and fundraising tool is just one of many documents that discuss how to use the threat to greatest political advantage. “Of course the White House is going to exploit the terrorism threat to the fullest political advantage,” says Democratic strategist Russ Barksdale. “They would be fools not to. We’d do the same thing.” Yet political strategists on both sides admit the administration is playing “with fire” and urge caution. “We can’t slam the Democrats on a daily basis for politicizing the war on terrorism and then do the same thing ourselves,” says one GOP consultant. “It’s very, very dangerous.” The White House would not return phone calls seeking comment on these reports.
What a joke of an article. Let me get this straight. If Bush says nothing and terrorists attack, then he will be criticized for inaction. If he alerts the public to all possible threats, he gets criticized for being hysterical. Back seats drivers are SO annoying.
The fact that prior to 9/11/2001, we had not had a major terrorist attack in this country complicates the alert efforts. Due to the scenario t####### mentioned above, Bush is put in an untenable situation. The authorities are trying to determine which terror threats to make public and which to dismiss. This is not an easy proposition. A balance must be struck and in time it will be.
Yeah, I'm an idiot. On the topic, t, have you not noticed the stunning regularity that these announcements come out? They are not close to presenting every lead to the public, but yet we hear something at least once every two weeks. Looks like the folks at the White House get a report and look for the "sexiest" rumor out there and then build it up into a "threat" to write a press release about. I agree with Ref that in the best possible world, this is not easy, and I do hope a balance will be struck, but it looks like (from this article and other anecdotal evidence) that the pedulum is still far to the political side. It may work to keep everyone on edge for awhile, but eventually the administration will come to be seen as the boy who cried wolf and we won't take a real threat seriously. If you talk to some knowledgeable local law enforcement folks, you'll find that this is already starting to happen or at least they are worried about it. I think some of the guys down the line at the FBI are starting to get tired of this approach. t: "Back seat driver?" It's called democracy. Learn to live with it.
Looks can be deceiving. I wouldn't say that it is political. After 9/11, a substantial % of the American people were very critical of the administration because they had information and didn't share it. For this reason I think they have jumped the proverbial gun a few times in releasing information. As a whole, we have NEVER taken a real threat seriously. Most people don't change their daily plans at all due to terror threats...remember that 70,000 people packed Reliant Stadium 10 times this season...even in the face of terror alerts. I am sure that some of the FBI agents have also arrested individuals who were planning attacks. It would be extremely naive to think that since 9/11 that there have been no attempts to have another attack. Since there have been no successful attacks, one must assume that the terrorists either messed it up or that they had been detained for questioning by the FBI (or some other similar scenario). We'll never know for sure.
These are the only two sentences that really interest me: <I>Sources inside both the FBI and CIA say recent disclosure of a White House planning memo listing the war on terrorism as a legitimate political advantage and fundraising tool is just one of many documents that discuss how to use the threat to greatest political advantage. ... “We can’t slam the Democrats on a daily basis for politicizing the war on terrorism and then do the same thing ourselves,” says one GOP consultant. “It’s very, very dangerous.” </i> Of course, according to t*, that's just Democratic whining and media bias. Never mind the fact that its straight from the GOP.
Ref, you're coming at this as if every threat is legitimate and real. I don't think that's the case, otherwise we'd be in agreement. I think the administration is using some of the threats for what they think is a political advantage. This is one area that should not be spun and demands honesty. If that is not the case (as I think it is) then it is a disservice to the country and will end up hurting your party in the long run more than they gain initially. Seriously, "five arab males?" Why not just say "Five males?" We're intelligent enough to look at their photos and figure out the ethnicity. Also, at least one of these guys is not even in the country. I suspect these threats are well on the way to becoming the equivalent of Soviet missile or Vietnam body counts... overstated and inflated to enhance the support for administration policies.
