NY Paper about 9/11 Activists: Bush knew

Update: 9/11 widow fights, wonÂ’t settle
"Ellen Mariani wants answers" :
"Lawsuit against President Bush and others" (Portsmouth Herald 12/24)
AP (12/24)

Update: Ellen Mariani's lawsuit and DC Press Conference Footage now also linked at Pravda Forum (12/23)

Update: Another lawsuit: Firefighter families "want to get to the truth" (12/24)

Update: Families sue U.S., reject 9/11 `bribe' (Toronto Star, Mariani's case not mentioned 12/23)

Sign the Petition of Mariani/Berg

Update: Exclusive Footage of Mariani/Berg DC-Press Conference now up at INN World Report
Rackateering lawsuit over 9-11 coverup (12/23)
Ellen Mariani's lawsuit against Bush Admin now mentioned in NY paper

Democratic presidential candidates take up the cry from 9/11 activists

White House stonewalling August, 2001 briefing fuels suspicions

NY Staten Island Advance -Sunday, December 21, 2003

Bush knew?

Former Vermont Gov. and current presidential candidate Howard Dean is just the latest Democratic critic of President Bush to suggest that he had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Off and on for over the last two years, Democrats have flirting with the allegation ever since then Rep. Cynthia McKinney of North Carolina blurted it out during an April 2002 interview on a Berkely, Calif., radio station.

"We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on Sept. 11," declared the fiery Ms. McKinney, who was subsequently defeated for re-election by a Democratic primary opponent. "What did this administration know and and when did they know it?...Who else knew and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered?"

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Although she quickly backed down in the face of widespread condemnation, the accusation seemed to acquire legitimacy in Democratic circles here barely a month later when it was reported that Bush was was told at an Aug. 6, 2001 top-secret intelligence briefing at the White House that Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida followers were planning airliner hijackings in the U.S.

The revelation, which was apparently leaked by staffers for the congressional intelligence committees involved in their Sept. 11 probe, triggered a chorus of Democratic demands for a investigation of Bush.

"What did the president know and when did he know it?" demanded House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, repeating Ms. McKinney's reprise of the famous impeachment slogan used against President Richard Nixon during the Watergate-scandal era.

The biggest finger-pointer was Sen. Hillary Clinton. Brandishing a newspaper with the front-page headline, "Bush Knew!" she appeared on the Senate floor to declare, "The president knew what? My constituents would like to know the answer."

The suspicion that Bush was tipped off about 2001 terrorist onslaught has also long been percolating among the activist relatives of Sept. 11 victims. It is perhaps the main reason why they were disgusted with recent decision by the special commission investigating the attacks not to subpoena the transcripts of all the classified intelligence briefings given to Bush in the weeks prior to Sept. 11.

One Sept. 11 widow, Ellen Mariani of New Hampshire, has even filed a federal lawsuit in Philadelphia accusing the president of letting the attacks happen to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"As an American who lost a loved one in the 'war on terror,' I do pray [for] and support the troops who were sent to Afghanistan and Iraq by you," she said in a recent "open letter" to Bush. "These troops have died and will continue to die for your lies."

As evidence that Bush had something to hide, Mrs. Mariani, whose husband was on one of the planes flown into World Trade Center, pointed to the White House's suppression of the 28-page portion of the intelligence committees' Sept. 11 report dealing with question of whether the Saudis provided al-Qaida with financing.

The redacted pages also figured in Dean's recent speculation on Bush's possible culpability. While fielding questions on a radio call-in show here in Washingon, D.C., he hypothesized that material contained proof that president knew what was coming.

"The most interesting theory I've heard so far...is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis," Dean said, adding, "Now, who knows what the real situation is?"

Another Democratic presidential contender, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, has taken the direct approach to blaming Bush for Sept. 11. As president, Bush has to assume responsibility for the terrorist onslaught because it happened on his watch, Clark argued in an October speech.

"This is not something that can be blamed on lower-level intelligence officers," Clark said. "Our great Democratic president Harry Truman said, 'The buck stops here.' And when it comes to our nation's foreign policy, the buck sits squarely on George W. Bush's desk."

Clark urged fellow Democrats not to shrink from this line of attack.

"We must say it again and again, until the American people understand it," he said.

Postscript: In their July 2003 final report, the congressional intelligence committees concluded that although Bush and the intelligence agencies received warnings of impending al-Qaida attacks, the information was not specific enough to have been used to prevent Sept. 11. The panels reported that, according to intelligence officials, the August 2001 White House briefing merely alluded to "uncorroborated information obtained...in 1998 that bin Laden wanted to hijack U.S. planes to gain the release U.S.-held extremists."

But the committees never saw the transcript of the briefing. The White House refused to turn it over.

Terence Kivlan is the Advance's Washingon correspondent. His column appears each week in the Sunday Advance Perspective section. He can be reached at terence.kivlan@newhouse.com.

Families sue U.S., reject 9/11 `bribe' (Toronto Star 12/23)

WASHINGTON ”For some, it's blood money, a repugnant payoff they feel they have no choice but to accept.

For a handful of others, the process of claiming compensation is too painful: they find themselves paralyzed by grief and unable to reopen emotional wounds barely healed from the deaths of their loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But as many as 73 families see the process of U.S. government compensation as an attempt to protect those who should be held accountable for what they believe was mass murder.

They ignored a midnight deadline last night, their last chance to apply for government cash.

And today, they begin a new stage in an arduous odyssey and will sue their government, airlines and state and local authorities.

"This may be uncharted waters, but I was thrown in a pool on Sept. 11, 2001 and had to learn to swim," said Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband Richard in the World Trade Center attack.

"I am doing this for my husband. He was a gentle man, and he was alive, trying to get out of that building that day. The dead. The dying. The smoke. The terror. No one should have suffered like that. I want accountability. I need answers."

USA Today -December 23

...Nearly 100 individual and class-action lawsuits have been filed. More are likely by this Sept. 11, which under New York state law — the guideline being used for claims related to the attacks— is the two-year deadline for filing personal-injury lawsuits. Behind some of the lawsuits are prominent lawyers who have won billions of dollars from tobacco and asbestos companies in verdicts and settlements.

9/11 widow fights, wonÂ’t settle

Portsmouth Herald/SeacoastOnline -December 24

Ellen Mariani wants answers and sheÂ’s willing to forgo money to get them - a lot of money. The Derry womanÂ’s husband was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Neil Mariani was on United Airlines Flight 175, the second of two planes to crash into the World Trade Center in Manhattan. "I want answers," she said. "We are living in fear, and itÂ’s called orange, yellow and red. "ItÂ’s also called Homeland Security and the Patriot Act," said Mariani during a telephone interview from her home on Tuesday, her late husbandÂ’s birthday.

... But itÂ’s not about money, she said.

Mariani was the first family member to file suit against United Airlines in New York in 2001. She was also the first to file a lawsuit against President Bush and others, including Kenneth Feinberg, the governmentÂ’s special counsel for the Victim Compensation Fund. She filed that lawsuit late last month.

Mariani said the lawsuit is aimed at proving that the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 were no surprise to the government. She believes the federal government was aware the attacks would take place.

"IÂ’m 100 percent sure that they knew," she said. "IÂ’m challenging the courts, the government, United Airlines and the courts in Manhattan."

Information has been withheld from the families, said Mariani, and she wants that information. An example is the list of passengers on the flights, she said.

"I donÂ’t see any foreignersÂ’ names on there," she said, referring to the Arab hijackers. "They know the list of all the people getting on the plane; give it to us."

Mariani said she also wants to know who entered the planes that crashed.

"I want to see their surveillance tapes and the black boxes; you canÂ’t destroy them," she said. "Where are they? Why are they telling control-tower employees to shut their mouths?"

She also wants to know why the president took certain actions following the attacks.

"I want to know why President Bush blocked out 28 pages with his own hand," she said. "What is he doing in his briefings?

"Bring it out. This is not a game. We want the truth," she said.

Mariani is a woman on a mission.

"I want to be able to sleep at night, knowing I did everything in my power to get to the bottom of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001," she said.

Mariani, now 65, and her husband, who would have been 61 had he lived, had been on their way to their daughterÂ’s wedding in California on the day her husband was killed. They were booked on separate flights.

It is not only the recent lawsuit that has made her life difficult. She said her life in general since Sept. 11, 2001, has been hell.

It was difficult to get a lawyer to take her case, she said.

"Nobody dared take this case because itÂ’s against the government - nobody. I talked to a lot of them. Big shots - I mean, big-time attorneys didnÂ’t want this case," she recalled.

A lawyer named Phil Berg from Pennsylvania took on MarianiÂ’s case and filed suit on her behalf against the president, Feinberg and others in federal court late last month.

The "RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) action lawsuit against President Bush and other high level members of his administration is based upon prior knowledge of 9/11; knowingly failing to act, prevent or warn of 9/11; and the ongoing obstruction of justice by covering up the truth of 9/11; all in violation of the laws of the United States," said a statement printed by Berg on the www.911forthetruth.com Web site, the official Web site for the Mariani case.

Meanwhile, she stands by her decision not to take money from the Victim Compensation Fund.

"I was the first and IÂ’m going to be last to hold out, because itÂ’s a shut-up fund and go-away fund," she said.

"IÂ’m not going away, government, so donÂ’t try to shut me up. I wonÂ’t give up. I wonÂ’t give in. And I wonÂ’t give out." Ellen Mariani wants answers

Tampa attorneys file 9/11 lawsuit

St. Petersburgh Online -December 24, 2003

TAMPA - Tampa attorneys Barry Cohen and Richard Salem have filed a lawsuit on behalf of 12 families of New York City firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York on Monday, claims the city of New York ignored warnings that the hand-held radios issued to firefighters did not work in the World Trade Center.

The flaws prevented firefighters from hearing orders to get out of the north tower before it collapsed, the suit states.

"The city officials knew that the radios did not work in the World Trade Center," Cohen said Tuesday. "These families want to get to the truth of what happened to their loved ones."

Officials with the city of New York could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the New York Fire Department declined comment to the New York Times.

According to the lawsuit, an assistant fire chief issued an order to all firefighters in the north tower to evacuate at about 9:32 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. The vast majority of the firefighters in the tower at that time did not receive the message over their hand-held radios, a system manufactured by Motorola, the suit states.

After the south tower collapsed about 9:59 a.m., a battalion chief issued an emergency order for all firefighters to get out of the north tower, the suit states. But that message also went unheard by many of the firefighters.

A few minutes later, a police helicopter pilot reported over the radio system that the north tower was glowing red about 15 floors from the top and that collapse was imminent. That warning was not conveyed to the firefighters in the north tower, the suit states.

At 10:29 a.m., the north tower collapsed, killing dozens of firefighters, including all those named in the lawsuit.

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