Many 911 Questions

Are Not Being Asked

To the Editor:

The Family Steering Committee for the Independent 9/11 Commission consists of 12 family members who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. Among them are the “Four Jersey Moms” without whose heroic lobbying the 9/11 Commission would not even exist. The FSC has sought to ensure that the 9/11 Commission objectively determines the complete truth about 9/11 and thus help save lives in the future. These young mothers have stood up to government harassment, FBI lies, bureaucratic roadblocks, hate mail, and attacks from idiots in the media.

The FSC May 22 press release states:

“The Family Steering Committee remains dissatisfied with the quality of questioning during the commission’s public hearings... The commission’s continued lack of aggressive questioning raises concerns about the credibility and value of the commission’s final report... The time needed to answer the questions that the FSC and the public have submitted to the commission has nearly run out. We respectfully request that the commission include an addendum to the final report in order to attend to these questions. And, we strongly urge the commission to make the final declassified report definitive and thoroughly documented in its conclusions. History demands nothing less.”

According to FSC widow Sally Regenhard, “This commission is a joke.”

Aides to both Senators Dodd and Lieberman tell me that this is not the view of our senators, who must therefore be hopelessly out of touch. Lieberman has refused to write a letter to commissioners expressing the importance of the families’ questions. Congresswoman Nancy Johnson wrote such a letter at my request and attached all FSC questions. I am waiting to hear from Dodd, Shays, Governor Rowland, and the other legislators. Readers: please call these people now. Insist that they write the letter. Your call will have great impact. See the FSC questions at www.911independentcommission.org.

At the recent hearings in New York commissioners wasted time as they failed to ask vital questions of family groups. At one point, as family members in the audience shouted their outrage and shouted questions, Commission Chairman Governor Thomas Kean had the breathtaking arrogance to say, “You are only wasting time.”

Yesterday, I spoke to Elizabeth Hawkings, Rep Christopher Shays’ chief of staff. She told me that, over a year ago, she stood outside the White House in the pouring rain with the Jersey Moms as they held signs questioning the administration’s stonewalling of the 9/11 Commission.

The young mothers were approached by several men in long coats. The men took their names.

“They were CIA agents,” said Ms Hawkings.

If watching bereaved and traumatized widows get bullied, ignored, lied to, and stepped on by the government makes you angry, then you’re in good company. A rapidly growing number of Americans are standing up: we simply will not allow this outrage to continue.

As the FSC battles on heroically, another 9/11 widow has stepped forward. Her name is Ellen Mariani. She is a 66-year-old widow whose husband Neal was on flight 175.

Mrs Mariani has filed a RICO lawsuit against the government, charging obstruction of justice and wrongful death of her husband. She intends to prove in court that top officials had prior knowledge of the impending attacks and allowed them to occur. Her attorney is former deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania Phillip Berg. Over 10,000 people have signed her online petition, which challenges the Bush administration’s efforts to squash her lawsuit. Details: www.911forthetruth.com.

Former UN WMD inspector Scott Ritter stood by her side at Riverside Church in Manhattan last Wednesday as she told her story. His presence sent a clear message.

The final 9/11 hearings are scheduled for June 8 and 9 in Washington, D.C.

James Allen

Main Street, Newtown                                               May 26, 2004