Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has a head-on collision smashing in his gut.
From The Chicago Tribune:
Fearing complacency among the American people over possible terror threats, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in Chicago Tuesday that the nation faces a heightened chance of an attack this summer.
"I believe we are entering a period this summer of increased risk," Chertoff told the Chicago Tribune's editorial board in an unusually blunt and frank assessment of America's terror threat level.
"Summertime seems to be appealing to them," he said of al-Qaeda. "We do worry that they are rebuilding their activities."
Still, Chertoff said there are not enough indications of an imminent plot to raise the current threat levels nationwide. And he indicated that his remarks were based on "a gut feeling" formed by past seasonal patterns of terrorist attacks, recent al-Qaeda statements, and intelligence he did not disclose.
There is an assessment "not of a specific threat, but of increased vulnerability," he added.
There have been reports already that suggest intelligence warnings at a similar level to the summer before Sept. 11, 2001 and that al-Qaeda may be mobilizing.
In recent days, ABC news reported that a secret law enforcement report prepared for homeland security warns that al-Qaeda is preparing a "spectacular" summer attack. On Tuesday, ABC News also reported that "new intelligence suggests a small al-Qaeda cell is on its way to the United States, or may already be here."
Chertoff sternly echoed those sentiments at the Tribune.
"We've seen a lot more public statements from Al Qaeda," he said. "There are a lot of reasons to speculate about that but one reason that occurs to me is that they're feeling more comfortable and raising expectations.
"We could easily be attacked," Chertoff added. "The intent to attack us remains as strong as it was on Sept. 10, 2001."
The dire warnings and Chertoff's comments come as the Bush administration faces political and business opposition over its immigration and border policies that have security implications.
..."We have done a lot to degrade the enemy's capability," he said. "But the enemy has also done a lot to retool its capability...It leads me to feel we ought to be more vigilant."
I suppose the libs and other Bush-haters will say that Chertoff is playing games.
John Edwards is likely to say that Bush's puppet Chertoff is relaying the bumper sticker slogans about the terrorists solely to play on our fears.
The Bush administration is using the same old scare tactics to get Americans to support the President, and the immigration bill in particular.
Conservatives against the bill may be reacting the same way, that Chertoff's "gut feeling" is just a political ploy.
Maybe I'm being naive, but I think Chertoff is being sincere.
We know that al Qaeda wants to hit us again, because the terrorists have been saying so since September 11, 2001.
I hope the only motive behind Chertoff's remarks is to get Americans to wake up. Clearly, many have grown complacent when it comes to the War on Terror; so much so that they contend the war is a political fabrication.
I hope Chertoff's "gut feeling" isn't a method to manipulate the public and get support for an immigration bill.
Maybe it is a bit of both. I don't know.
Whatever the case may be, it's certain that Islamic fascists want the Great Satan America to be defeated.
Again, we know this because they tell us. They want us dead.
That's not a personal "gut feeling." That's reality.
2 comments:
I don't think people are complacent about the War on Terror. But they are complacent (or more accurately, fed up) with regard to the War in Iraq – which any thinking person knows is a completely different entity that never had anything to do with shutting down Al Quaeda or protecting us from the real threats of terrorism.
If Chertoff merely wants Americans to remain alert and cautious, he could have noted how the recent bombing attempts in the UK were thwarted largely by the vigilance of regular people, then gone on to say that Americans should exercise similar vigilance.
But by making these ominous yet completely vague predictions, he does nothing but spread fear and create a pretext for the administration getting its way with regard to war and immigration legislation.
The comparison to the summer of 2001 also serves no purpose but to create fear. Even if average people had known something similarly vague that summer (i.e., Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S.) we would have been scared for sure. But having no specifics, would we have done anything differently? Would people have avoided flying? Or going to work in the WTC on September 11th? No.
My point being, Chertoff is not informing of his "gut feelings" for our safety. If he wanted us to be safer and more alert, he could tell us specific things to look out for, or how to act if we see something suspicious. What he said was yet another attempt to make any legislator who votes against the administration's wishes look like a "traitor" or a "coward" or "someone who doesn't care about keeping America safe." Which couldn't be further from the truth. America would be safer today if we had never gone to Iraq, and instead spent all those billions on border security and container inspections and ramping up intellience efforts.
Do you really believe that America would be safer if we had not deposed Saddam Hussein?
Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, John Kerry, etc. are all on the record saying that Saddam's Iraq posed a grave threat to the U.S.
And remember, the worst attack in our history occurred before we went into Iraq. The plot was hatched during the Clinton era.
Not too safe.
Post-9/11, money spent on war in Iraq could have been directed elsewhere. True enough.
However, the meaures you bring up to protect the country are defensive.
I think the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks called for us to go on offense.
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