Nbadan
01-29-2005, 03:36 AM
Friday, January 28, 2005 7:26:58 PM ET
By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Departing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Friday he believed another attack on the United States was inevitable, and warned that America should not focus just on al Qaeda, but also on similar groups that could carry out attacks.
"I have accepted the inevitability of another attack or attacks," Ridge said in an interview on the eve of his departure from the department launched two years ago to guard against another attack like that of Sept. 11, 2001.
"It could be al Qaeda or it could be al Qaeda-like organizations," said Ridge, who departs on Feb. 1. "I do think, when we talk about global terrorism, (it is) better ... that America doesn't focus just on al Qaeda."
"There are a lot of al Qaeda-like organizations and there are quite a few (Osama) bin Laden wannabes out there -- you've got one of them operating in Iraq right now," he said, referring to al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Ridge said the other groups he views as possible threats are driven by the same ideology as al Qaeda and they would use "terrorist attacks" as their means to that end.
more...
Metro News (http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=53152)
Nothing like a little departing fear-mongering by ole Tommy boy to keep all the gullible locals anxious for awhile. Perhaps if he had caught and convicted someone, anyone domestically with connections to Al-Queda, or even a 'Al-Queda like plot' to harm Americans, all this could have been avoided, but he did take away our freedoms and created a near-useless color coded warning chart, so Tommy you see, Ridge hasn't been totally ineffective and useless.
One has to wonder, what happened to Ridge's wonderful sense of timing on announcements like this? Oh that's right - the Iraqi elections.
By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Departing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Friday he believed another attack on the United States was inevitable, and warned that America should not focus just on al Qaeda, but also on similar groups that could carry out attacks.
"I have accepted the inevitability of another attack or attacks," Ridge said in an interview on the eve of his departure from the department launched two years ago to guard against another attack like that of Sept. 11, 2001.
"It could be al Qaeda or it could be al Qaeda-like organizations," said Ridge, who departs on Feb. 1. "I do think, when we talk about global terrorism, (it is) better ... that America doesn't focus just on al Qaeda."
"There are a lot of al Qaeda-like organizations and there are quite a few (Osama) bin Laden wannabes out there -- you've got one of them operating in Iraq right now," he said, referring to al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Ridge said the other groups he views as possible threats are driven by the same ideology as al Qaeda and they would use "terrorist attacks" as their means to that end.
more...
Metro News (http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=53152)
Nothing like a little departing fear-mongering by ole Tommy boy to keep all the gullible locals anxious for awhile. Perhaps if he had caught and convicted someone, anyone domestically with connections to Al-Queda, or even a 'Al-Queda like plot' to harm Americans, all this could have been avoided, but he did take away our freedoms and created a near-useless color coded warning chart, so Tommy you see, Ridge hasn't been totally ineffective and useless.
One has to wonder, what happened to Ridge's wonderful sense of timing on announcements like this? Oh that's right - the Iraqi elections.