Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge with his boss
Simon Wollers
Radio Havana Cuba
July 9, 2004
In a procedure that would be completely unprecedented in US history, the Bush administration appears to be edging closer to attempting to put off the US presidential election due to what it consistently says are "terrorist threats."
The current manipulation of this terrorist threat goes against the promises of the White House not to take advantage of the September 11 attacks for its own political advancement, say opposition Democrats. Yet Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has been increasing the number of potential terrorist attack reports in relation to the election as the November date closes, and a report in the New Republic magazine quotes Pakistani intelligence officials as saying they were under pressure from the White House to provide an important capture - such as Osama bin Laden - before the coming Democratic Convention.
Ridge today held a press conference in which he said that there was a "credible risk" of an Election Day related terrorist attack although he added that there was no specific information as to when or from where such an attack may come. Mainstream news outlets in the US are all unquestioningly parroting the notion that a "steady stream of
intelligence information" is "leading to the conclusion" that a terrorist attack is likely.
A disparaging article published by the Center for Research on Globalization says that "it is clear that the Bush campaign will rely on a relentless pounding of the electorate with terror warnings, alerts, and alarms over the next four months.as psychological warfare to
strengthen the regime."
A small plane scare which panicked Congress last month is being investigated as a possibly orchestrated incident to terrorize legislators into submission to White House tactics. Yesterday, by using the terrorism card, Bush was able to prevent the House from rolling back one element of the radical Patriot Act in spite of previous support for a proposed amendment.
The head of the Federal Voting Commission, Deforest Soaries, also spoke up today to announce that guidelines were needed for cancelling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again.
Soaries, who is a Bush appointee, said he had written to Tom Ridge and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice expressing his "concerns." Further adding fuel to the fear factor, Soaries added that he'd like to know what security measures federal officials are taking for Election Day.