Local Residents Petition In Support Of 9/11 Commission

By Kaaren Valenta

A group of Newtown residents has launched a petition drive to ask the Legislative Council to pass a resolution supporting the national commission that is investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The group, organized by Main Street resident James Allen, plans to hold a public meeting at 8 pm Wednesday, October 8, in the Meeting House at the flagpole to explain their proposed 9/11 resolution.

“Eighty signatures are required to place this resolution on the council’s agenda,” Mr Allen explained.

A private music teacher, Mr Allen was moved to become an activist when he saw news reports detailing the efforts of four young widows to learn the truth about governmental policies and events surrounding the terrorist attacks on the United States. The four women are members of the Family Steering Committee of the Independent 9/11 Commission, also known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

“The four widows spearheaded efforts that led to the creation of the Independent 9/11 Commission. They are demanding to know what our government knew before and after the terrorist attacks, and what’s being done to protect us today,” Mr Allen said.

At a meeting on September 24 at the Meeting House, the group of Newtown residents, joined by a handful of individuals from Woodbury and Southbury, discussed the possibility of launching petition drives in their towns.

 “I want to sign [the petition] immediately,” said Peggy Neff of Sandy Hook. “It is imperative that this information be put to the public. We as individuals need to seek the truth.”

Mrs Neff said her family was on a job posting outside of the country when the terrorist attacks took place, but they were glued to their television set, watching the tragedy unfold.

 “We had been overseas for the past 17 years, but when we came back to the United States, I got really involved,” she said. “I started a Yahoo group to ask questions.”

Mrs Neff’s daughter, Emelye, 15, a sophomore at Newtown High School, said she has been surprised by the lack of knowledge shown by many students about 9/11 and the war in Iraq.

“I heard students in the lunchroom say we have to go to war in Iraq to pay back what Saddam Hussein did to the United States on September 11,” she said. “Many of them think he was behind the attacks, even though the Bush Administration has admitted that there is no evidence linking him to these events.”

Emelye said students are interested in what is happening in the world.

“We are in it as much as anyone, so I think that our congressional representatives and legislators should come into our classrooms and discuss it with us,” she said.

The proposed resolution includes 11 requests beginning with the official placement on the 9/11 Commission’s agenda of all questions selected by the Family Steering Committee; the completion of the commission’s entire mandate to investigate 9/11 within the established timeframe, which ends in May 2004, and continued funding as needed. It also calls for testimony by key decisionmakers; all testimony under oath, and all proceedings in an open, public forum.

The resolution says the requirement that government employees must be accompanied by “minders” when called upon to give testimony should be prohibited.

The final commission report should include a detailed timeline of what happened on September 11, 2001, the resolution said, and it should include specific conclusions about the accountability of individuals, agencies, and departments.

The resolution specifies a legal limit of 30 days for the White House to review and release the commission’s report and, finally, specific acknowledgement in the final report or a follow-up report of all questions still deemed insufficiently answered by the Family Steering Committee.

The resolution asks US Rep Nancy Johnson, Sen Chris Dodd, Sen Joseph Lieberman, and Rep Chris Shays to “work diligently” toward legislation that would enforce these measures. Members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees also should strictly review the appropriateness of any redactions in the final report that may occur through the exercise of executive privilege.

The petition said that besides approving this resolution, the town of Newtown should call on other towns and cities to pass similar resolutions, “to help ensure that these important and legitimate questions assume their proper place in our national dialogue.”

Mr Allen said it is vitally important for people to get involved in this issue on the local level.

“By next year I see hundreds of towns passing this resolution,” he said.

Members of the group stressed the resolution should not be interpreted as an attack on the President nor as being unsupportive of the US troops in Iraq.

“The families [of the 9/11 victims] thought these are all legitimate questions,” Mr Allen said. “They have done all the homework.”

Newtown resident Nancy Kennedy said she planned to send a copy of the resolution to the offices of all of Connecticut’s representatives.

“I’m a citizen of the United States of America and I have a right to do this,” she said. “It’s important to remember that.”

Mr Allen said any resident interested in signing the petition can call 270-9659 or attend the meeting on October 8. More information on the Family Steering Committee is available at www.911independentcommission.org.