Anyone think Larry King will ask Tom Ridge about this when he has him on tonight? Yeah, me neither. From Democracy Now--“The Man Who Conned the Pentagon”:
In December 2003, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned of “near-term attacks that could either rival or exceed what we experienced on September 11.” He claimed the information came from “credible sources.” But a new report in the latest issue of Playboy by investigative journalist Aram Roston shows that the source was a man who convinced the military and the Bush administration that the TV network Al Jazeera was transmitting secret messages to al-Qaeda sleepers.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a story that reveals the real source behind the Bush administration’s decision to raise the terror alert level to “orange” six years ago. It was December 2003. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned of, quote, “near-term attacks that could either rival or exceed what we experienced on September 11.” He claimed the information came from “credible sources.”
But a new report in the latest issue of Playboy magazine by investigative journalist Aram Roston shows that the source was a man who convinced the Bush White House, the CIA, the Navy, Special Forces Command, the Air Force, and the Senate Intelligence Committee that the TV network Al Jazeera was transmitting secret messages to al-Qaeda sleepers. Dennis Montgomery operated a small software company out of Nevada. He said he could predict terrorist attacks by decrypting secret bar codes hidden in Al Jazeera’s broadcast. The Bush administration relied on Montgomery for years to determine when to increase the terror threat level.
Well, I recently interviewed journalist Aram Roston, author of The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi. His article is called “The Man Who Conned the Pentagon.” I began by asking him just to explain the story.
Full transcript at Democracy Now.
(There's a short fund raising clip before the segment starts.)
