Finally — someone’s done what I’ve been agitating for for a long time: they’ve put together a timeline of terror alerts, showing the correlation to dips in approval ratings and political events. (Thanks, Mac)
February 5, 2002 – Angry lawmakers to subpoena Ken Lay over Enron scandal. Journalists inquire about Lay’s close connections to the Bush administration
February 12, 2002 – Attorney General John Ashcroft on Tuesday called on “all Americans to be on the highest state of alert” after an FBI warning of a possible imminent terrorist attack.
May 22, 2002 — Bush goes on the record as opposing the formation of an independent commission to look into why 9/11 happened. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee votes to issue subpoenas to the Bush administration for information on its contacts with bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp.
May 24, 2002 – Railroad and other transit systems across the country received a Transportation Department warning based on “an unconfirmed, uncorroborated report”, and were told to “remain in a heightened state of alert”.
June 14, 2004 – VP Dick Cheney is caught lying about the alleged ties of Saddam Hussein to al Qaeda. Cheney is unable to provide any evidence to his assertions after journalists inquire. On June 15 Bush Bush defends Cheney’s unsourced assertions but does not provide any evidence either that there was a “link” between Iraq and al Qaeda or the 9/11 attacks.
June 15, 2004 – The Justice Department announces to the press they have thwarted an imminent terror plot to bomb malls in Ohio. Somali immigrant arrested and charged on the case.
Later on it is revealed that the Somali immigrant had been arrested one year earlier for his connections to terrorism, but there was nothing “imminent” in that case. The suspect was arrested in Nov. 28, 2003, and the Court papers filed by the government allege that a plot dated to March 2000. His indictment wasn’t announced until June 15, 2004.
etc. etc. etc.
