Clarke claims 'terror' claims manipulated

[oldhat]

A former White House adviser has accused members of the US administration of using "terror warnings" to manipulate voters ahead of the presidential election in November.

Richard Clarke said on Tuesday that the conflicting assessments of risk showed how some officials sought to inflate the threat for political gain.

He specifically focused on differences in opinion between US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and US Attorney General John Ashcroft

Clarke is not alone in highlighting inconsistences over security warnings from different members of the administration.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B5264F06-E39D-419B-A29B-E2A92C3BBB30.htm

[liveoaktx]

1. Uh, that picture is not Clarke, it's Thompson

Heh, so one review calls Clarke's book "Plan of Attack" and this one puts a pictue of the guy who is on the opposite pole to Clarke on the page.

[oldhat]

2. It's Al Jazeera

It's Arabic Fox News.

[thebigidea]

4. only without that whole Right Wing agenda thing. And without Murdoch.

Come to think of it, it is nothing at all like FOX.

I'd like to see you come up with one or two innacurate things they've reported on - besides an image glitch on the english version of their site that will be fixed within the hour.

Go on, give it a try.

Show us how much you know about Al-Jazeera.

[Zhade]

13. He won't. al Jazeera does excellent work.

Too excellent, in the view of some U.S. military officials. Hence the attacks on and killings of al Jazeera correspondents.

Their coverage of the collective punishment of Fallujah was real and honest - all they had to do was turn on the camera. Of course, KKKimmet said the live images being broadcast weren't showing what they were clearly showing.

"Who ya gonna believe, me or yer lyin' eyes?"

If anyone has Worldlink on DirecTV, check out "al Jazeera: Arab Voices" (I think that's the title) if it airs again. Quite informative and interesting, I thought.

[htuttle]

11. Al Jazeera isn't biased, at least not the English edition

They exercise editorial control over the topics they cover and who they interview. That's not a 'bias', that's a editorial viewpoint. All media sources have one, except maybe the open IndyMedia newswires, where anyone can post anything.

Factually, I have never found an inaccuracy in their English edition. I have no idea about the Arabic edition, since I don't read Arabic.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Not even close. They've done a better job of reporting the news than...

...ANY of the U. S. captive mainstream media outlets.

[jdj]

3. Thank God for Clarke!!

Ashcroft was really shaking his "terra-fied" ass today on C-span, saying that al qaeda was planning to attack this summer or fall.

Any reasonably intelligent person would see this as more of a reason to dump Bush, the further away from this we get, the more obvious a intelligence failure it will appear. It will end up being the legacy of the Bush presidency, the largest U.S. intel failure ever, and he will always be the president who sat in a FL classroom for 20 minutes while the towers were burning, and made the ridiculous statement that he saw the first plane hit.

[tom_paine]

10. If he says there is going to be attack, believe him

The man that knows best is the one purposefully letting our guard down to let it strike...

Yes, I'm speaking about you, Heinrich A.

[AndyTiedye]

17. Not so ridiculous if they MIHOP.

> made the ridiculous statement that he saw the first plane hit

Just because the first impact wasn't on TV doesn't mean the
pRez didn't get to see it.

For a major operation like that, they probably had somebody
sending video of the whole thing.

[crossroads]

5. More terrurrrr.... confusion!

...and I'm not supprised anymore at anything... that is not a pic of Clark, is it? With all the lies of this administration and media, this is just another piece of BS to add to the mix of confusion...


:nopity:

[AspenRose]

6. Well there's a big surprise....

Richard Clarke, American Hero

Please don't fly aboard light aircraft anytime soon, sir.

[struggle4progress]

7. Here's the story from a different source:

Terror threat political game

<snip>
Clarke, who resigned last year, said the conflicting assessments of the risk of terror attacks presented by US Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge and US Attorney General John Ashcroft last week showed how some officials sought to inflate the threat for political gain.

"That was ass-covering, or perhaps, dare I say it, politics in an election year," said Clarke, who was in Berlin on a book tour to promote his unflattering account of US President George W Bush's anti-terrorism policies, entitled Against All Enemies
<snip>

Clarke said Ashcroft had offered a far more alarmist view compared with Ridge's remarks "saying 'We're going into the summer and we should have heightened security but we have no new intelligence about it.'"
<snip>

The Washington Post later reported that Ridge allies within the Bush administration and members of Congress criticised Ashcroft for failing to co-ordinate that threat information with the White House and Homeland Security.
<snip>

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1538546,00.html


I don't have any feel for the reliability of Aljazeera, but there are good political reasons to prefer other sources.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. And just what are those "good political reasons to prefer other sources"?

[struggle4progress]

14. Widespread American fear of all things Arab mostly. Disgusting ...

but a fact.

[stickdog]

15. The fact that right wingers automatically think all 'ragheads' are

lying SOBs?

[saigon68]

16. If these creeps get thier way

all "ragheads" will be dead </sarcasm>

[damnraddem]

9. And note the poll on Iraqi sovereignty after the fake hand-over.

Maybe not worth DUing an Aljazeera poll -- but poll freaks might want to put in their views.