- "... Credible reporting indicates that Al Qaeda
is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the
United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process...
-
- "This is sobering information about those who wish
to do us harm... But every day we strengthen the security of our nation."
(DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, 8 July 2004)
-
-
- Does this last announcement by Homeland Security Secretary
Tom Ridge entail a code red emergency scenario of "closing down the
country" (prior to the November elections) as conveyed by Secretary
Ridge in a previous statement:
-
- "If we go to [code] Red ... it basically shuts down
the country," (22 December 2003, emphasis added)
-
- Homeland Security and the White House no doubt have several
"scenarios" in mind to "win" the presidential elections
in November.
-
- (See Steven Moore, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOO407A.html
).
-
- Recent developments suggest that Homeland Security is
indeed contemplating a code red alert.
-
- (See http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402A.html
).
-
- At the same time, the Bush Administration is also maneuvering
cautiously behind the scenes, with a view to embedding formal "guidelines"
into federal election procedures, which would allow for the cancellation
or postponement of an election in the event of a terror attack.
- To reach their objective, the Bush Administration is
using the jurisdiction of one of its bogus federal agencies, the Election
Assistance Commission (EAC) , established in 2003 under the Help America
Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) .
-
- Concurrent with Homeland Security's statement regarding
the possibility of a large scale "9/11 type attack", EAC director
DeForest B. Soaries , a Bush appointee, has hinted to the need for:
-
- "establishing guidelines for canceling or rescheduling
elections if terrorists strike the United States again".
-
- "Look at the possibilities. If the federal government
were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political
implications. If the federal government chose not to suspend an election
it has political implications... Who makes the call, under what circumstances
is the call made, what are the constitutional implications?... I think
we have to err on the side of transparency to protect the voting rights
of the country... I'm hopeful that there are some proposals already being
floated. If there are,! we're not aware of them. If there are not, we will
probably try to put one on the table ... The states control elections,
but on the national scale where every state has its own election laws and
its own election chief, who's in charge?". (quoted in AP, 8 July 2004,
emphasis added)
-
- What is important in this new initiative, is that if
these so-called guidelines were to be adopted, the Administration would
technically be able to postpone or cancel an election, "with the stroke
of a pen", and without resorting to far-reaching emergency procedures
and/or martial law.
-
- A temporary postponement might be considered by Republican
strategists as a (desperate) propaganda ploy, for swinging votes away from
the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Whether these guidelines will be accepted prior
to November by the Democrats is, at this stage doubtful.
-
- The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is described
as a "clearinghouse of voting information and procedures". The
statements and news coverage seem to suggest that if guidelines on the
postponement or cancellation of elections are to be formulated, they should
emanate from the EAC, which has a (bipartisan) mandate under the US Congress
to oversee federal voting systems, rather than the DHS.
-
- But the EAC is an "informal arm" of the Department
of Homeland Security. Both the DHS and the White House are indelibly behind
the proposed "guidelines" initiative, calling the shots from
behind the scenes.
-
- EAC Director Reverand DeForest "Buster" Soaries,
a former Baptist minister, is a handpicked appointee. He was New Jersey
Secretary of State under Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who is a political
crony of Sec. Tom Ridge, going back to their days as GOP governors of the
neighboring states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Todd Whitman was appointed
by the Bush Admistration to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
and has since then worked very closely with Tom Ridge in the domestic war
on terror.
- The press reports suggest that DeForest "Buster"
Soaries took the initiative on his own accord, acting on behalf of a federal
governmental body. He has even complained: "that he was rebuffed when
he wrote to Ridge seeking to discuss election security, including how to
handle rescheduling the election if it were to be disrupted by an attack."
(Associated Press, 9 July 2004).
-
- Secretary Tom Ridge has said that he is "against
the guidelines." What he does not say is that various procedures have
already been carefully worked out by Homeland Security analysts, who have
simulated precise red code alert scenarios including situations, implying
the cancellation or postponement of elections. (See http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402A.html
).
-
- Ridge says that "he doesn't agree with all of the
conclusions in Soaries' letter, but the department is working on constitutional
and security questions, and Soaries will be involved in the process."
(AP, 9 July 2004 )
-
- Homeland Security is intent on establishing entrenched
procedures under the EAC. The "guidelines" to postpone or suspend
the elections could then be presented as a means to "protecting democracy"
in the case of a terror attack.
-
- The setting of so-called "guidelines" at the
level of an official body, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), would
establish a "trigger mechanism" under the jurisdiction of a federal
commission.
-
- A code red alert would contribute to activating the guidelines,
although the latter could indeed be activated without resort to "the
highest" terror alert level.
-
- E-Democracy or Electoral Fraud?
-
- The same Bush sponsored body, the Election Assistance
Commission (EAC), which has hinted to the need for "guidelines"
in the case of a terror attack, has also been pushing for the establishment
in several states of the Diebold electronic voting system .
-
- Diebold is a black box system which very conveniently
does not leave a paper trail. In other words, it does not leave a paper
record of the vote. In fact: "all three black box computer manufacturers
are Republican-led corporations actively involved in Bush,s re-election
campaign."
-
- (Steve Moore, July 2004, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOO407A.html
).
-
- In June 2004, Diebold Inc, which is backing the Bush
campaign, congratulated EAC Chairman DeForest Soaries for assisting Diebold
in marketing is E-election system:
-
- We welcome the opportunity to provide input on these
important issues and pledge our strong support to the EAC," said Mark
G. Radke, director of marketing for Diebold Election Systems, Inc. 'This
initiative by Chairman Soaries and the EAC will further increase voter
confidence in the election process as election practices and procedures
transition to more efficient, accurate technology," said Walden W.
O'Dell, chairman and CEO of Diebold, Incorporated, the parent company of
Diebold Election Systems."
-
- (Diebold News Release, http://www.diebold.com/news/newsdisp.asp?id=3083
).
-
- Diebold's CEO Walden O'Dell confirmed in a subsequent
interview that:
-
- "he has been a top fund-raiser for the Republican
president, but said he intends to lower his political profile and "try
to be more sensitive" in light of the national criticism he has faced.
... Because the fund-raising revelations fell closely on the heels of security
questions raised about Diebold's machines in a later-questioned Johns Hopkins
University study, O'Dell's critics began to suggest that Diebold should
not be allowed to be involved in elections. (The Plain Dealer, 16 September
2003),
-
-
- Michel Chossudovsky is the author of War and Globalization,
the Truth behind September 11, Global Outlook, 2004
-
- © Copyright MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY 2004
-
- http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO407C.html
-
- * * *
-
- Related Articles
-
- E-Democracy, Stealing the Election in 2004, by Steve
Moore, Global Outlook, no. 8, Summer 2004 http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOO407A.html
-
- Will the 2004 Election Be Called Off? Why Three Out of
Four Experts Predict a Terrorist Attack by November, by Maureen Farrell,
April 2004, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/FAR404A.html
-
- The Criminalization of the State, by Michel Chossudovsky,
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402A.html February 2004
-
- Orange Code Terror Alert based on Fabricated Intelligence,
by Michel Chossudovsky 3 January 2004. http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO401A.html
-
- Bush's Christmas Terror Alert, by Michel Chossudovsky,
24 December 2003, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO312D.html
-
- Manufacturing Hysteria: Bogus Terror Threats and Bush's
Police State, by Kurt Nimmo, 31 December 2003, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/NIM312A.html
-
- FBI points finger at the CIA: Terror Alert based on Fabricated
Information, 14 February 2003, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CRG302A.html
-
- "Homeland Defense" and the Militarisation of
America, by Frank Morales, 15 September 2003, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR309A.html
-
- The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca
grants permission to cross-post original Global Research (Canada) articles
in their entirety, or any portions thereof, on community internet sites,
as long as the text & title of the article are not modified. The source
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in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: editor@globalresearch.ca.
-
-
-
- Comment
- From Ted Twietmeyer
- tedtw@frontiernet.net
- 7-14-3
-
- The choir is singing....
-
- In my essay SEVEN months ago, Jan 2004 I wrote
- "Don't You Know What Freedom Is ?"
- (http://www.rense.com/general48/sdr.htm)
-
- I wrote the following. However, based on what I've learned
since then, its more likely the attacks will NOT
- come until the CHILDREN ARE BACK IN SCHOOL so they can
seperate the children from the parents
- using FEMA school lockdown rules, already now in effect:
-
- "NO ELECTION IN NOVEMBER IS LIKELY AND WHY Several
things are almost a certainty, unless people get really mad about all this
and stop it: Here is what logic dictates will happen, based on the publicly
admitted motivations of people in office now. There WILL be another attack
this year, before November. More than likely in spring or summer because
of military logistics."
-
- And last month, I wrote in
- "Facts Why Bush Will Remain President"
- (http://www.rense.com/general54/facts.htm)
-
- BUSH BACKUP PLAN
-
- There is plenty of time, between now and November to
perform another orchestrated attack on America. Just one more big event
will cause the head shrub to declare martial law. When that happens, even
if he's not president-elect he still doesn't need to step down and Congress
can just go home or back to the golf course, because military law will
rule the USA.
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