VINDICATION!

Hey! I'm not a paranoid conspiracy theorist in need of psychological help after all!

Well, maybe I am, a little. But with Tom Ridge's recent revelations about the Bush administration issuing terror warnings to strike fear in the public in order to manipulate the election, I feel so vindicated. I just want to jump up and down, pointing, and shout, "I told you so! I told you so! I told you so!" But, that would be immature of me and besides, I was certainly not the only one saying that the Bush administration was putting out phony terror alerts for political gain. Right-wing media called us paranoid, conspiracy theorists and unbalanced for voicing such an opinion. Shall we review?

In the year leading up to the election, there were no less than 16 warnings/alerts issued by the government. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but frankly, I'm exhausted and need to post this before it goes on longer and I get totally disgusted.

December 4, 2003-Foxnews.com reports that the FBI warns that terrorists could be developing plans to hijack airplanes to use as weapons.

December 13, 2003-FBI warns that terrorist operatives may rely on almanacs to assist with target selection and pre-operational plannings and suggests the possibility of attacks against the United States by early 2004 that could rival the terrorist attack of September 11 in scope and impact.

March 4, 2004-Fox News obtains FBI bulletin that terrorists may use pen guns containing poisonous chemicals and biological toxins.

April 2, 2004-FBI warns that terrorists might attempt to slip into the U.S. using cultural, arts or sports visas.

May 20, 2004-FBI issues a bulletin advising police to be on the lookout for suicide bombers attempting to strike inside the U.S. Warned to look for people wearing bulky Jackets on warm days, smell of chemicals, trailing wires from jackets, bombers disguised as pregnant women or in stolen military, police, or firefighters garb.

May 26, 2004-The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department issue a joint statement that "credible intelligence from multiple sources" indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States during the period leading up to the November elections. The New York Times subsequently reports that "Some federal officials and terrorism experts questioned the credibility and the timing of the announcement, noting that much of Mr. Ashcroft's information had been widely disseminated for months." According to the New York Times,Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary, was not with Mr. Ashcroft for the news conference and suggested that the announcement might have averted required consultation between agencies on domestic threats . . . Late Friday, apparently in an effort to counter the perception of a split, Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Ridge put out a joint statement saying that 'we are working together' to deter terrorist attacks.

May 28, 2004-The FBI issues an urgent bulletin to several cities warning of a terrorist attack within 24 hours. According to the New York Times, the FBI rescinds the alert hours later because the intelligence proves unfounded, officials said.

June 14, 2004- Attorney General John Ashcroft announces that a shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio, has been threatened by Al Qaeda bomber, stating dramatically, "The American heartland was targeted for death and destruction." It is subsequently revealed that the suspect to whom Ashcroft referred had been in custody for seven months at the time of the announcement and that there was nothing in the indictment about a shopping mall.The charges against him made no mention of a shopping mall.

June 25, 2004-The FBI issues a warning to be on the lookout for booby-trapped floating material in and around the nation's marinas, warning they could contain explosives, explaining that plastic-foam containers, inner tubes and buoys could be rigged to blow up on contact. On June 27, 2004, a homeland security official tells CNN that there is "no intelligence terrorists are planning to or want to do this."

July 6, 2004-Senator John Kerry selects Senator John Edwards as his running mate, monopolizing most of the media attention.

July 8, 2004-Tom Ridge announces that, "Al Qaeda is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process." There was no such plot.

July 12, 2004-Deforest B. Soaries Jr., the head of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, confirms he has written to Ridge about the prospect of postponing the upcoming presidential election in the event it is interrupted by terrorist acts.

July 16, 2004-The FBI warns local authorities that the al- Qaida terror network may be recruiting non-Arabs less likely to attract notice as they carry out attacks in the United States and specifically, that Al-Qaida wants operatives who have American citizenship or legal residency status.

July 29, 2004-The Democratic Party nominates Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards as their Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, respectively. Again, the media attention focuses on the Democratic ticket. 

August 1, 2004-The Department of Homeland Security raises the terror alert for financial centers in New York, New Jersey, and Washington to orange based on very out-of-date evidence..

August 7, 2004-The FBI issues a pair of warnings to 18,000 police agencies nationwide that al-Qaida could try launching attacks in the United States by packing explosives into rental limos or helicopters, which could help terrorists sneak near targeted buildings.

September 8, 2004-Vice President Dick Cheney tells a town hall audience in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday that there will be an increased risk of terrorist attacks if Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is elected president.

September 22, 2004-A report from a joint CIA-FBI agency called the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. describes a scenario whereby Al Qaeda would use “weapons of mass destruction to launch multiple simultaneous attacks on the United States and overwhelm the US government.”

The weekend before the November 2004 Presidential election- Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft push Ridge to raise the color-coded warning for what Ridge believed were political reasons. In his new book, Ridge writes, "An election-eve drama was being played out at the highest levels of our government" after Osama bin Laden released a pre-election message critical of President George W. Bush, and we weren't seeing any additional intelligence that justified it. In fact, we were incredulous... I wondered, 'Is this about security or politics?'" This incident prompted Ridge to resign shortly after Bush was re-elected.

Even though I do feel vindicated, it still scares the crap out of me that the top echelons of the government conspired to manipulate the public in order to stay in power. It is equally scary that the general public was so gullible and that these people vote. The reluctance of the Obama administration to launch a full scale investigation of this matter seemingly assures that these former government officials got away with their abuse of power.