wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

the bush administration had tool, or several!

that was why they resorted to such idiotic tactics.

It sickens me that a radio station I help fund is giving this lying clown a chance to promote his "book."

I wouldn't read it if someone gave me a copy. I would sell it on the street.

What "other techniques" don't give him pause? Does he mean the slamming a detainee against the wall as long as its made of plywood?

what's his next book going to be about?

If Tom Ridge seriously thinks Saddam would have given weapons of mass destruction to Al Quiada, he is in need of a serious lecture about how those two despised each other. Has this man never studied the subject he claims to be an expert in? Or is he lying to me?

had no idea what a weakling he was (and is, not that it matters anymore). scary.

Still saying he's glad that he was part of the decision to go to war. You repulse me Ridge.

Is this his first book? What kind of advance did he get? Where does he work now? I see this book ending up remaindered rather quickly.

Mr. Ridge seems rather unemotional about the war against Iraq...."we thought there were WMDs and went in. And then we were there."

With finite resources, wouldn't he have wanted to target existing, actual threats? You know, like Osama bin Laden.

Nail Him!

Obfuscation, obfuscator, obfuscating, obfuscker!
I doubt he knows anything about security! only words and falling back on others and as he accepted he was joked by famous talk show and comedians!! Ask him if he knows what VIBGYOR means else ask him GREEN, YELLOW and RED means for him.

I think everybody got the "ideology" behind the color-coded system, I just think between that and George Bush's infantile bad-guy speak ("axis of evil," "with us or against us," "war on terror") it came off as even more clownish an idea in the news than it is on its own. I mean, the way human life was juggled during that administration with grade school speech is going to be the "Bush, Jr." legacy.

Mr Ridge
If there were other reasons to invade Iraq, then why did we NOT invade Iraq BEFORE September 11?

Shuck'n and Jive'n. Spin and more spin. Of course I don't agree with much of the current administration's policies, but dang I'm so glad that the lunatic administration of 01-08 is (pretty much) out of power.

Please ask Mr. Ridge what was his personal opinion of President Bush's leadership style. Please also ask him if he feels attacking Iraq was the proper response to the 9/11 attacks.

if we as citizens were not supposed to act in any way to these alerts, why were they reported at all? this seems to serve absolutely no purpose other than to frighten the body politic.

The creation of the Terror Alert system in and of itself was political. The public at large was never informed on how to react to the supposed warnings. There was nothing an ordinary citizen could do but become scared by these "warnings". Every threat increase or decrease had the effect of creating a state of fear throughout the populace. Fear is the best tool available for government to control their people and the Bush administration had few other tools available to them.

I recall Mr. Ridge going on Jon Stewart's show (after leaving office) and mocking his own use of the color-coded "threat" levels. Am I misremembering this, or perhpas just a tiny bit accurate?

Fran Townsend - first she said there were no political considerations, then she cites a political consideration (raising terror level might hurt Bush). Disgraceful.

LL - please ask him why he didn't resign once he figured out the White House was using his agency to score political points.

Hey Tom, if you need a job, I hear there are some openings at Barnum and Bailey for Back peddling clowns.

I was deeply troubled and disturbed by Secy Ridge's remarks yesterday where he backpedaled from his previous comments about politics and terror alerts. Mr Ridge is not a profile in courage. He is a profile in commerce.

I think Tom Ridge's actions to raise the terror alert level for political expendiency right after the Democratic Presidential Convention in 2004 is more than just controversial--it is criminal, both on his part and on the part of anyone in the Republican Party who suggested it. Massive amounts of money were spent in response to this terror alert to guard supposed targets such as Citicorp (the blockades they erected there in response to that alert cost businesses in that building to lose business for a long period of time, huge inconveniences for commuters, and what I think everyone neglects to mention: the psychological impact caused by these threat alerts. Many people, especially those who have already experiences trauma or loss, do suffer from the fear invoked by these alerts,; they do not necessarily dismiss these alerts as political moves as they do not believe their government would be capable of such incredible cynicism and waste.