Sept. 11 Families Seek
the Truth

Bush Cover-up Suspected

by Gerald Lenoir

Aileen Ryan of Princeton, N.J. and Hedda Chernoff of Yardley, Penn., demand an independent investigation into the Sept. 11 intelligence failures at a Capitol Hill rally of the families of Sept. 11 victims

The families of many of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks are speaking out and organizing to make sure the Bush administration fully accounts for why the attacks were not prevented. A recently released congressional report has prompted many of them to question the Bush administration's commitment to a full 9/11 investigation.

The 900-page report details the intelligence failures of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency prior to Sept. 11, 2001. The report concludes that the agencies had sufficient intelligence on Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist activities which, if handled correctly, might have enabled authorities to prevent the attacks.

"I have a lot of anger. Bush is engaged in a monumental cover up," said Bob McIlvaine, who lost his son Robert in the World Trade Center and is a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows (www.peacefultomorrows.org). "No one is being held accountable for the intelligence lapses. We want accountability. There has to be blame."

Peaceful Tomorrows believes that the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq were "immoral and unjustified" diversions from fighting the actual terrorists, and that those wars are likely to increase terrorism.

The Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission (www.911independentcommission.org) is also actively seeking a full and accurate accounting of the intelligence failures. The 12 families represented by the committee successfully lobbied the U.S. government to set up the 9/11 Independent Commission chaired by Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey.

The commission is scheduled to complete its report by May 2004. The Steering Committee monitors the work of the commission and regularly meets with commission staff to ask questions and provide input.

HARD QUESTIONS

Steering Committee member Beverly Eckert, who lost her husband Sean Rooney in the twin towers, says, "Parts of the congressional report made me weep. It dredges up a lot of anxiety and torment about all the missed opportunities to prevent this tragedy. It reinforces my commitment to make sure the Independent Commission answers all of the questions. No one in the U.S. intelligence agencies should be able to run and hide under the guise of 'national security' or 'foreign policy.'"

In early August, Kean publicly chastised the Bush administration for obstructing the inquiry by not providing key documents. He criticized the administration's requirement that witnesses from intelligence agencies be accompanied by government "minders" as having a chilling effect on government employees willingness to speak candidly. Since Kean's criticism, several previously withheld documents have been turned over to the commission.

Another group of Sept. 11 victims' families, Voices of September 11 (www.voicesofsept11.org), says the congressional report doesn't answer critical questions, such as:

• Vice President Dick Cheney has admitted that U.S. officials knew that terrorist were planning something "big" and "soon." Why was there no preventive planning or public notification?
• Why did U.S. government officials say, "No one could have imagined the type of attack that occurred on Sept. 11" when a September 1999 federal report states, "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash land an aircraft into the Pentagon"?
• How did the U.S. government know the details of a conversation between two of the hijackers a week before the attacks unless they were being monitored? And if they were being monitored, why wasn't the attack foiled?
• Why did some Pentagon officials suddenly cancel their travel plans for Sept. 11, 2001, the day before the attacks?

September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows is sponsoring an event to commemorate the two-year anniversary of their loved ones deaths. The families are asking the public to join them in a candlelight vigil at the World Trade Center site on the night of Sept. 10, 2003. They will also be providing materials for discussion circles to explore the psychological and political impact of Sept. 11 on individuals, communities and the world.

Gerald Lenoir is the War Times Art Editor.

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