Former Homeland Security Chief Admits Bushies Played with the Terror Alert Levels

Even though I knew this was happening, to read this felt like a sucker punch.

From The Carpetbagger Report:

It seems like quite a coincidence. The Bush White House, anxious for a second term and intent on making the election about national security, would intermittently announce new terror-alert warnings to the public, each time leading to a bump in the president’s approval rating. Sure enough, the president won and we haven’t heard another terror-alert warning since. Interesting fluke, right?

And in case we didn’t have enough reason to be cynical, Tom Ridge now insists many of those election-season warnings weren’t necessary.

The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.


Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or “high” risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.

His comments at a Washington forum describe spirited debates over terrorist intelligence and provide rare insight into the inner workings of the nation’s homeland security apparatus.

No shame. No apologies. No stopping the Bushies.

We're just puppets with strings to pull to them.