Posted on 12/04/2004 11:39:17 AM PST by ApesForEvolution
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) expressed no alarm Saturday about a warning from his outgoing top health official that the U.S. food supply is vulnerable to terror attacks but would not deny the assessment and assert that the nation's food is safe.
Reuters Photo
Thompson Resigns From Cabinet Post (AP Video)
Bush was questioned, after an Oval Office meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, about comments by Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson about the vulnerability of the U.S. food supply. Thompson spoke Friday as he announced his coming departure from the Bush administration.
"We're a large country with all kinds of avenues where somebody can inflict harm," Bush said. "We're doing everything we can to protect the American people. There's a lot of work to be done."
Thompson had said he worries "every single night" about a possible terror attack on the food supply, and despite dramatic increases in inspections of food imports, only "a very minute amount" of food is tested at ports and airports.
"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," Thompson said. "We are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that."
Thompson was the latest of eight members to quit Bush's 15-member Cabinet as the president moves into a second term.
Bush himself decided that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would not go, ignoring criticism about Rumsfeld's handling of Iraq (news - web sites) and giving the secretary a strong vote of confidence to remain at the Pentagon (news - web sites). That decision, sealed Monday in an Oval Office meeting with Bush but not announced until Friday, settles one of the last major questions about who in the Cabinet goes and who stays.
Besides the eight members whose departure has been announced, Treasury Secretary John Snow has not received a public endorsement of continued service, even though White House officials have described him as a valuable member of the president's economic team.
Snow, who has been in the job less than two years, declined in an appearance Friday on CNBC to reveal whether he has submitted or offered to submit his resignation.
Rumsfeld's tenure has been marked by unanticipated postwar violence in Iraq and more than 1,250 U.S. deaths, as well as enormous increases in spending on the military after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Despite controversies, the hawkish, sometimes acid-tongued Rumsfeld has kept Bush's confidence.
Rumsfeld also has a long history of influential support from Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) from their days together in the Ford administration in the mid-1970s.
Rumsfeld has a full plate: continuing military operations in Iraq, focused now on securing the country ahead of January elections; the ongoing effort in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and a plan to modernize the military.
Bush believes Rumsfeld is "the right person at this moment in our history in fighting the war on terror to lead our armed forces," a senior administration official said in describing the president's decision.
The secretary's future had been the subject of much speculation, after revelations about abuses at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. Though Bush steadfastly backed his defense chief — one of the more hawkish members of his administration — Rumsfeld had many detractors in Congress and the military.
It had been widely believed at the Pentagon that Rumsfeld wanted to stay on, at least for a time, in order to oversee the continuing transition in Iraq and shepherd his plan for a fundamental transformation and modernization of the U.S. military.
Rumsfeld, 72, is the oldest person to serve as secretary of defense. He also was the youngest when he ran the Pentagon for President Ford.
Rumsfeld took intense criticism from members of Congress last spring when the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal became public. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) that he would quit if he thought that would help, but not simply to satisfy the administration's political enemies.
Rumsfeld said he would take the blame for the scandal. After the completion and publication of several in-depth investigations, the pressure for him to resign abated during the summer.
In recent interviews, Rumsfeld had refused to talk about his future, except to say he remained committed to transforming the military to make it more capable of fighting wars of the 21st century.
Many have criticized him for failing to foresee the insurgency that has taken thousands of Iraqi lives and killed hundreds of American troops since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime was toppled in April 2003.
Rumsfeld has acknowledged that the strength and resilience of the insurgency was underestimated.
It was not clear how long Rumsfeld's top deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and chief policy adviser, Douglas Feith, would remain. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Friday that Feith told his staff he intended to stay for a while.
No problem, have fun reporting back to the DUmp.
I asked a question, Dane. As for pesticides, yes, I realize farmers here use them. Go look up the stuff that has been banned here, still being used in Mexico. I'm not going to do it for you, so go antagonize someone else, I won't read anymore of your posts to play some dumb game with you.
Become a rancher, buy some livestock.
Get a John Deere and turn some soil, plant some crops.
Do it near cheap, illegal labor though, since you're probably a lazy American...lol
Will do Dane, have a manic day...
I didn't start the "dumb game".
And you continue on with your depressive one.
Dane = Chief Bush-bot GOP Cheerleader, complete with kneepads and mouthwash...
Don't let Dane get this thread pulled (his M.O. in exchange for GOP/Bush-bot Honor Badges)...
Commentary from an expert on such things(i.e cheereleading, hyperbole, etc.).
It is bizarre.
I do believe it's time to do something about it, post-haste...
We spend a lot of money on completely worthless, repugnant things. Why we wouldn't secure the borders and what comes into our ports and across our borders doesn't square with Homeland 'Security'.
Bye bye big mouth!
Go Dane Go! Anywhere!
1. Check all of the food consumed in the US.
2. Check every ocean shipping container coming into the US.
3. Search the holds, engine rooms, storage areas, crew quarters and all the hiding places on every ship that docks at a US port.
4. Open and examine the contents of every piece of air cargo coming in and going out of the US.
5. Stop every vehicle crossing the Mexican Border into the US and search it and positively identify all the occupants.
6. Put enough people on the Mexican Border to watch every foot of it 24 hrs. a day.
6. Check every vehicle crossing the Canadian Border.
7. Put enough people on the Canadian Border to watch every foot of it 24 hrs. a day.
8. Examine and check the background of every passenger and that passengers luggage on every flight coming into the US from out of our country.
9. Put a defensive perimeter around every source of drinking water that exists in the US.
10. Test drinking water that is going to every home, office, factory in the US and test if frequently enough so no one can receive contaminated water.
11. Put defensive perimeters around every oil refinery, chemical factory, electric power plant, gas and oil pipe line in every location that exists in the US.
12. Put a defensive perimeter on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Coasts of the US so no one can come into the US via that route.
Every one that is bitching about their favorite thing that "isn't being done" step up and tell me how it all can be done and what it will cost to do it.
Have you read the current Federal Fiscal Budget?
What on earth does being a "BushBot" have to do with anything AFR?
You appear to have a dis"dane" for the accomplishments that have been make in the era of post 9/11 by Dubya.
If this is the case, what realistic endeavors are suitable IYO to make change for the better?
Couldn't have said it better myself. Great list. It will get you in trouble, you know, with certain people that think it is easy.
The only easy thing that I wish they would do, that wouldn't cost any money is the NO drivers license, or matricular consular cards for illegals. Also, they need to start UPHOLDING THE IMMIGRATION LAWS WE ALREADY HAVE. Just start a convoy of buses down to Mexico with everyone that doesn't have a legal reason to be here.
Sounds like sour grapes to me. Thompson must have been asked to resign, and he's not happy about it.
Ask Dane.
As for a soulution, the first concept is closing the borders and securing the ports. A nation that doesn't control both is one that can be turned off rather quickly.
I believe much has been done, but not near enough.
I would start by prosecuting and disbanding the ACLU under RICO statues. Currently, they receive Federal funding to attack America with.
I've been very clear how I would handle the death cult and it's adherents.
I'll have all the 'details' in the upcoming book. It will be online and available for a small donation to support fallen military members' families.
How much was each of the 3,000 lives lost on Sept. 11th, 2001 worth? Or the previous attacks? How much?
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