I find it interesting that since Bush isn't running, there have been no Terrorist Threat alerts. I clearly remember during the last election, those colors were rising every few days. I wonder if they will resume when McCain really goes into action? Just an observation. We'll see . . .

Thank those who have been working tirelessly these last few years to make life in the US more secure than it was before. The threats are there, but hard work and dedication of thousands within the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security are letting the millions sleep better at night and go about their work and play in relative safety.

My theory (and it is simply a theory) is that when Bush was running for office, we were new to the terrorist on US soil concept. So, anything that our intelligence community heard became a potential threat and was treated as such. This, however, was not working because it was becoming a Chicken Little event. Today, I believe there are still threats but, as yet, they are simply threats. When (if?) our intelligence or our allies' intelligence come up with real threats, I sincerely hope we will be warned.

The threats are something I definitely do not put at Bush's door. I've lived in the Middle East. The fanatics are beyond the pale. Their hatred of America is palpable. It was in the 50s and 60s. It was when I visited there in the late 80s and early 90s. The only thing differences are that today's fanatics or extremists, if you prefer, are more willing to die, they are better funded so attacking America has become more feasible and today's weapons make it easier to do major damage.

Among other theories there is one that states the cessation of not only terrorist threats but any further 9/11-like events.....because of the unifying effect that comes with it.
And at this point in time the terrorists do not want Bush or the "current administration" lauded in any way shape or form.

I don't argue for or against it. ....it's sorta pointless. Why?

The terrorists intents are clear...their agenda emphatically stated....their accomplishments testimony to their intents!!!!

The core values of the terrorists and their beliefs against Christians and pro kill Americans is the driver.....NOT any partisan or any candidate effect what so ever.

As has been stated by many in authority (not a partisan term!) it is not if....but when and it is not party sensitive ONLY those on their target....which is all of us on this forum!!!!

BTK

I agree BTK, but, batten down the hatches, it is my opinion that Karl Rove thought the alerts were a convenient and deceptive tool to use during the last election. They had peaked and subsided and then around election time (4 years after 9/11) they peaked again. To me it smells of Rove. Puppet and puppeteer? Just curious to see what happens around the time of this election.

p.s. I'm not naive, I know there are "real" threats against us. I've traveled a lot and know how the Americans are hated. And guess what, it's not just in the Middle East.

I'm sure we are continuing to have threats, we've had them for years, maybe the public wasn't aware of them. However, I do believe that Bush played the fear factor and the whole concept of the "evil doers" in the last election. I sincerely hope the American people have wised up to that by now.

Originally Posted by Lil Dancer

I'm sure we are continuing to have threats, we've had them for years, maybe the public wasn't aware of them. However, I do believe that Bush played the fear factor and the whole concept of the "evil doers" in the last election. I sincerely hope the American people have wised up to that by now.

Wised up to what?

Yes, the threats have been there for years. The prior administration under the pretext of cost-savings managed to cripple the American capacity to identify and deal with these threats on the other side of the oceans as we had been doing successfully for a couple of decades So, what we have today is the old "pay me now or pay me later" situation, and "later" is always much more expensive.

If the next administration, no matter which party gets it candidate to 1600 PA Ave, again takes the paring knife to the defense and intelligence budgets, it will be like the movie "Groundhog Day" and the 2020 generation will get the tab big-time. Will we ever learn....

I just find it incredibly hard to believe that there are people so narrow minded to believe that terror threats have to contrived. God bless this country when we ever have to suffer thru the next attack....and believe me there will be another no matter who the president is.

Noleguy, I personally never said terror threats were contrived, it's my opinion the terror alert color system was used as a fear factor tool in the last election. Hey, jump in the deep end, we all know they will be another attack. That's not news.

Pardon my skepticism, but the Terrorism alerts smelled too strongly of politics. How interesting that in the past election, whenever Bush's popularity numbers were down, there came about another "alert". It was his ace in the hole. Get people scared, talk in vague terms about the evil doers, etc., and people will be too afraid to make a change; they'll stick with the guys promoting the war because they think they'll be "safer". Plus, many people erroneously thought that Iraq was somehow involved with 9/11, and the war was a way of punishing the attackers.

Sorry, I'm one of the many who don't believe the war has made us safer. We're spending billions of dollars of our resources on the civil war over there, instead of bolstering our national security. What have we done to protect our nuclear plants, our water supplies, etc.?

The Iraq war seems to be more about controlling the supply of oil to the United States. Many wars have been ultimately about who controls various natural resources from some Indian wars and the need of miners to get to gold, silver and other metals; to various diamond mine conflicts in Africa; to Hitler's attack on Stalin's Russia for control of oil in various parts of the USSR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa . Seems to me that Japan attacked China and then the US also to gain control of oil reserves in China??? http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/e...r/pearlhbr.htm

Originally Posted by Lil Dancer

Pardon my skepticism, but the Terrorism alerts smelled too strongly of politics. How interesting that in the past election, whenever Bush's popularity numbers were down, there came about another "alert". It was his ace in the hole. Get people scared, talk in vague terms about the evil doers, etc., and people will be too afraid to make a change; they'll stick with the guys promoting the war because they think they'll be "safer". Plus, many people erroneously thought that Iraq was somehow involved with 9/11, and the war was a way of punishing the attackers.

Sorry, I'm one of the many who don't believe the war has made us safer. We're spending billions of dollars of our resources on the civil war over there, instead of bolstering our national security. What have we done to protect our nuclear plants, our water supplies, etc.?

Well, for starters a review of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan may help to bring an answer to the protection of nuclear plants, water supplies, etc. (see http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/program...rial_0827.shtm). Add to that a check of the National Incident Management System (see http://www.nimsonline.com/) to understand what happens prior to, during and after an emergency management incident.

I hate to disappoint the political conspiracy theorists, but terrorist alerts and politics really don't mix. Each alert level and event has its own "triggers" and requires specific actions in response. The folk with the authority to announce an incident is imminent or occurred, or that additional preventive measures over-and-above what is going on at the moment do not "cry wolf." You just can't raise-a-flag and activate further measures unless there is something to act upon - there's just too many internal questions to answer otherwise and the commitment of resources in response requires something to respond to. In other words, the professionals in the national security business - not the politicians - watchdog the system and respond as necessary. There is nothing "amateur" about it, and that's why folk are able to live their lives within America with little-to-no interruption because the pro's (federal, state and local) do what they do, and do it well.

Originally Posted by SteveZ

Well, for starters a review of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan may help to bring an answer to the protection of nuclear plants, water supplies, etc. (see http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/program...rial_0827.shtm). Add to that a check of the National Incident Management System (see http://www.nimsonline.com/) to understand what happens prior to, during and after an emergency management incident.

I hate to disappoint the political conspiracy theorists, but terrorist alerts and politics really don't mix. Each alert level and event has its own "triggers" and requires specific actions in response. The folk with the authority to announce an incident is imminent or occurred, or that additional preventive measures over-and-above what is going on at the moment do not "cry wolf." You just can't raise-a-flag and activate further measures unless there is something to act upon - there's just too many internal questions to answer otherwise and the commitment of resources in response requires something to respond to. In other words, the professionals in the national security business - not the politicians - watchdog the system and respond as necessary. There is nothing "amateur" about it, and that's why folk are able to live their lives within America with little-to-no interruption because the pro's (federal, state and local) do what they do, and do it well.

Doubt if President George W. Bush or anyone in his cabinet have all that much control over "alert levels". Have to remember there is still a massive bureaucracy in the DC area despite whatever promises made by various Republicans have been made about doing away with much of this. There is too much entrenched power in various regulatory agencies and the like for conspiracy theories like this to really hold up under evidence.

Sometimes all this red tape around government projects is a good idea sometimes it is not.

Originally Posted by SteveZ

Well, for starters a review of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan may help to bring an answer to the protection of nuclear plants, water supplies, etc. (see http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/program...rial_0827.shtm). Add to that a check of the National Incident Management System (see http://www.nimsonline.com/) to understand what happens prior to, during and after an emergency management incident.

I hate to disappoint the political conspiracy theorists, but terrorist alerts and politics really don't mix. Each alert level and event has its own "triggers" and requires specific actions in response. The folk with the authority to announce an incident is imminent or occurred, or that additional preventive measures over-and-above what is going on at the moment do not "cry wolf." You just can't raise-a-flag and activate further measures unless there is something to act upon - there's just too many internal questions to answer otherwise and the commitment of resources in response requires something to respond to. In other words, the professionals in the national security business - not the politicians - watchdog the system and respond as necessary. There is nothing "amateur" about it, and that's why folk are able to live their lives within America with little-to-no interruption because the pro's (federal, state and local) do what they do, and do it well.

I'm glad you're so enamored with government and their "professionalism", however, I work in State government, and believe me, it's not all its cracked up to be. Politics is involved in everything. I worked on PR activities for Governor Pataki for awhile, and its amazing how the facts are twisted to give the correct "spin". But we're each entitled to our opinions. I just don't happen to agree with yours.

Originally Posted by Lil Dancer

I'm glad you're so enamored with government and their "professionalism", however, I work in State government, and believe me, it's not all its cracked up to be. Politics is involved in everything. I worked on PR activities for Governor Pataki for awhile, and its amazing how the facts are twisted to give the correct "spin". But we're each entitled to our opinions. I just don't happen to agree with yours.

Think it is more about a junk yard dog protecting her territory than "professionalism". Politics is in everything but many Presidents and others have tried to put in as many checks and balances in on various federal regulatory agencies such that you have a patchwork of junkyard dogs each protecting his or her turf.

Think this was a big problem with why we did not prevent 9/11 from happening and why there are so many problems still with safety at many of our airports, train stations, ports, etc.

I have been butting heads with these dogs on every level of government since 1991 trying to get practical materials for survivors of crimes into or accessible through libraries so that informed individuals can work as checks and balances on the legal system. Have had a huge number of failures and very few successes even though this concept looks like it would be something the Founding Fathers had in mind when they were trying to put in nails into the crooked timber of humanity.

New York Public Library does not even have a link to NY directory of victim assistance providers http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/law/ http://www.cvb.state.ny.us/HelpforCr...eaProgram.aspx
which should though prove your point Lil Dancer that politics and not common sense is in everything.

Certainly have found that in my interactions with Florida libraries trying to get a link to the FL Victim Services Directory http://myfloridalegal.com/directory at each FL law and public library. The junk yard dogs in the form of the Library Directors have really had the hackels up. Got hit with a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation lawsuit threat by the Palm Harbor Library General Counsel on March 2, 2004 for stuff I alleged said in e-mails to Palm Harbor Library staff about Palm Harbor Librray Director Gene Coppola but I did manage to get a link for survivors of crimes at Palm Harbor Library http://www.palmharborlibrary.org/links/florida.htm around March 15, 2004. That was after Gene Coppola had bragged in a March 2, 2004 e-mail to me that the library had had this link since 2000. All his then reference staff I spoke to about this link said there was no link.

My point I guess is that we have not evolved all that much from the territorial animals like dogs or members of a social tribe like breeds of monkeys.