Why is Michael Chertoff trying to scare us?
July 18th, 2008 at 07:44am Pat Cunningham
I don’t get it. Or maybe I do.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff TOLD a congressional committee Thursday:
1) That European terrorists are trying to get into the United States;
2) That he has “a good degree of confidence we can catch people coming in”;
3) But that “there’s no guarantee” the government will catch them.
Chertoff has said stuff like this before, and he offered no new evidence this time of specific threats or an imminent attack.
So what’s the big deal? Is he trying to frighten the American people in the belief that it will benefit the incumbent party — the party to which he owes his appointment — in the November elections?
Anybody who really thinks about it figures, or at least hopes, that Chertoff and the other security people in the government are doing their best to guard against terrorism. But we don’t expect — at least I don’t — that every little matter of vague concern that comes down the intelligence pipeline is going to be shared with the American people. Such a practice would have us all in a constant state of paranoid frenzy.
Consider this:
Just weeks before the horrible events of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush received an intelligence briefing memo entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.” The fact that the contents of that memo were not forthwith shared with the American people or made known to Congress is not a mark against the Bush administration.
Rather, the real failure, as we learned from the Sept. 11 Commission, is that the memo didn’t prompt any urgent follow-up by the administration. There were no high-level meetings to deal with the matter, no warnings to FBI agents out in the field.
The matters of concern raised yesterday by Chertoff seemingly fall far short of the Bin Laden memo in terms of urgency. They do not suggest a need for any heightened public vigilance. They should be of immediate importance only to the people professionally charged with keeping our nation safe and secure.
So, the question arises: Why is Chertoff crying wolf?
I can only surmise that his motives are political.
Entry Filed under: Michael Chertoff
7 Comments Add your own
1. echo4charlie | July 18th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I don’t believe that he’s not trying to scare anyone. He’s trying to encourage our citizens to be alert, aware of our surroundings, and reporting suspicious behavior.
We have clandestine operatives around the world intercepting communication, and we are addressing all credible scenarios.
We can’t be perfect, they just want to try and encourage our self-centered, lethargic, fantasyworld culture, here in America, out of complacency, and realize that it takes more than a few elected officials and civil volunteers to deter terrorism. We all need to be aware of our surroundings, and pay just a little bit less attention to our iPods, cell phones, cell phone texts, PSPs, and Nintendo Ds(s).
The military has what are called General Orders. The first of which is: “To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing”.
A key phrase in that (which is the 1st) General Order that every citizen can apply is “Keeping always on the alert and observing
everything that takes place within sight or hearing”.
They just want us alert. Americans still don’t realize that we aren’t cozy and safe anywhere in the world, not even on our home soil. Radical Islamists who are willing to give their life in support of their religious, political and ideological beliefs are indiscriminate in whom they injure/kill. All they see is Jihad against our infidel lifestyle, and the propulsion of Islam as instructed by Mohammed.
Remember, Muslim teaching, specifically from the mouth of the Prophet Mohammed, instructs that if an infidel can not be converted to Islam by the word, then they must be converted by the sword.
2. Pat Cunningham | July 18th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Echo: Your last sentence about Islam and infidels kind of reminds me of the admonition from God found in Deuteronomy 13: 7-11 in the Old Testament:
“If your brother, the son of your father or of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the spouse whom you embrace, or your most intimate friend, tries to secretly seduce you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ unknown to you or your ancestors before you, gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near you or far away, anywhere throughout the world, you must not consent, you must not listen to him; you must show him no pity, you must not spare him or conceal his guilt. No, you must kill him, your hand must strike the first blow in putting him to death and the hands of the rest of the people following. You must stone
him to death, since he has tried to divert you from Yahweh your God.”
3. Craig Knauss | July 18th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Homeland Security is the same bunch that told us terrorists were going to hijack spent commercial nuclear fuel and turn it into a “dirty bomb”. That was a good story for riling up weak-minded conservatives, but for the rest of us, it was a good joke. Personally, I was hoping some jackass would try to hijack some spent fuel. Ah, the smell of toasted terrorist in the morning!
4. Q Jordon | July 18th, 2008 at 8:58 am
It is starting to smell like an administration and its cronies are not wanting to leave D.C. anytime soon.
The arrogance of this White House is best defined in a book called, “Vice”. It shows how Dick Cheney thinks the Executive Branch should be able to do whatever is necessary during the time of war.
I believe this is another political game to keep the Republicans in power. Though I have to believe if we have such an incident in the U.S., it shows the need to have a Democratic President because that means the Republican policies would have failed and a change would be needed.
5. hokumboy | July 18th, 2008 at 9:11 am
When those folks in HS find the anthrax mailer, I may start to listen to them again.
I sometimes think this administration is purposely screwing up every aspect of our governmental agencies and making them so totally inept that we will accept it when they are disolved and “private” concerns take over.
Tomato, anyone?
6. Milton Waddams | July 18th, 2008 at 9:26 am
In a word? Yes. It worked in 2004 for them, so they are gonna try it again in 2008.
7. Mr. Bolivar Brito | July 18th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Homeland Security - we have to wonder what ever happened to Civil Defense. “An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation. We must take steps to insure our domestic security and protect our homeland.” Was this Bush, Cheney, or Chertoff? No, it was Adolf Hitler
Fascism
Political ideology that denies all rights to individuals in their relations with the state; specifically, the totalitarian nationalist movement founded in Italy in 1919 by Mussolini and followed by Hitler’s Germany in 1933. Remember the Gestapos, well, now we have ICE.
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