September 16, 2001, CBS / 60 Minutes, The terror, by Tara Brown. Producers: Gareth Harvey, Peter Wilkinson.
January 12, 2002, New York Daily News, Victims' Kin Suing Airlines, by Robert Gearty,
August 03, 2002, New York Daily News, Flight 93 Widow Sues Airlines, by Robert Gearty,
September 8, 2002, CBS / 60 Minutes, Special Edition: September 11
September 8, 2002, CBS / 60 Minutes, New York fireman Louis Cacchioli,
May 5th, 2003, Prison Planet, Bombs in the Building: World Trade Center 'Conspiracy Theory' is a Conspiracy Fact, By Randy Lavello,
September 3, 2006, CBS / 60 Minutes, Return to Ground Zero, Producers: Lincoln Howes, Julia Timms,
September 5, 2009, CBS Evening News, Determined Father Pursues Sept. 11 Lawsuit, This story is by CBS News' Jeff Glor and Phil Hirschkorn,
October 20, 2009, Infowars, Ex-CIA Chief James Woolsey handed down gag-order to 9/11 Firefighters,
March 08, 2010, Associated Press / Staten Island Live.com, Ground Zero hotel wants to attract 9/11 tourists,
March 16, 2010, New York Daily News, Airlines were protected from 9/11 suits, but folks on ground at WTC got shortchanged, by Michael Daly,
September 7, 2010, The Seattle Times, WTC steel column installed at ground zero, by Deepti Hajela,
September 9, 2010, Associated Press / The Hindu, WTC steel column installed at ground zero,
August 27, 2011, New York Magazine, Holding Out, The family for whom the truth is more important than the money,
September 20, 2011, boston.com, Mass. kin, airline settle nation’s last 9/11 suit, Family wanted trial to show security gaps, by Bella English,
September 21, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Family of Kings scout Mark Bavis issues statement on 9/11 settlement,
September 21, 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune, Lloyd’s Insurers Drop 9/11-Related Claims Lawsuit,
July 1, 2012, Wall Street Journal, Cuomo Helps Silverstein's 9/11 Lawsuit, by Jacob Gershman and Eliot Brown,
September 16, 2001, CBS / 60 Minutes, The terror, by Tara Brown. Producers: Gareth Harvey, Peter Wilkinson.
On the ground in New York, reporter Tara Brown talks to some rescue workers looking for survivors and also interviews Australian Adam Hoppe, a landscape architect who was working high in the north tower of the World Trade Centre at the time of last Tuesday's terrorist attack.
Tara Brown in New York:
Read a transcript of the story. Click here.
For more information on the US crisis, visit our website.
Tara Brown in New York:
Read a transcript of the story. Click here.
For more information on the US crisis, visit our website.
Reporter: Tara Brown. Producers: Gareth Harvey, Peter Wilkinson.
January 12, 2002, New York Daily News, Victims' Kin Suing Airlines, by Robert Gearty,
Lawyers for the families of six plane passengers who died in the Sept. 11 hijackings announced lawsuits yesterday against two airlines and two airport security companies.
Until now, only one other suit had been filed against an airline stemming from the attacks.
By choosing to sue, the families will not apply for benefits from the Victims' Compensation Fund, which Congress established to shield the airlines from liability.
The six people were on board three of the four hijacked jets: United Airlines Flight 175, which slammed into the World Trade Center's south tower; American Airlines Flight 77, which struck the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. The passengers were identified in the lawsuits by initials.
Named as defendants are American, United, Huntleigh USA, the security provider at Boston's Logan Airport, and Argenbright Security, the security firm at Washington's Dulles International Airport and Newark Airport.
The lawsuits seek unspecified damages. They will be heard in Manhattan Federal Court, said attorney Mary Schiavo, who represents the families.
August 03, 2002, New York Daily News, Flight 93 Widow Sues Airlines, by Robert Gearty,
The widow of United Airlines Flight 93 hero Thomas Burnett Jr. filed a wrongful-death lawsuit yesterday against United and 10 other carriers that fly out of Newark Airport.
The suit by Deena Burnett, filed in Manhattan Federal Court, also names Argenbright Security and Boeing as defendants.
The lawsuit says that Thomas Burnett, 38, and a group of fellow passengers stormed the cockpit and overtook the terrorists who hijacked Flight 93 on Sept. 11. The plane crashed near Shanksville, Pa., killing all on board.
Deena Burnett has written a book, to be published this month, titled "We're Going to Do Something" - her husband's last words to her on a cell phone from the doomed jet.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Thomas Burnett also is survived by twin 5-year-old daughters and a 3-year-old daughter.
September 8, 2002, CBS / 60 Minutes, New York fireman Louis Cacchioli,
ninemsn in association with 60 Minutes presents a live interview with Louis Cacchioli, a fireman who was involved in the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center disaster.
Guide_OC_amicus says: Louis, thank you for joining us tonight to talk about such a horrendous event one year on.
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I want to thank everyone and to say I'm one of the lucky ones.
Guide_OC_amicus says: Louis, we will go directly to the questions from our chat guests, who have been eagerly awaiting your arrival.
Guest_itsjustme asks: I can only imagine the effect such an event would have on you, being so close to it. How have you been living your day since the World Trade Center attack?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: My life has changed tremendously. I take my life one day at a time. I'm retired from the Fire Department, which I hadn't planned. Each day I get up I try to keep busy and try to go on with the rest of the day, but not one day goes by without having terrible dreams about that day.
Guest_johnc asks: Why did you want to join the fire brigade?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I'm a people person, enjoy helping people, and thought being a firefighter, that's what you do. To be a firefighter in New York, you don't do it for the money and the benefits, you do it because it's in you and you want to do nice things for people. Even though all I went through, if I had my life all over again I'd still be a firefighter. I loved it; they were like my second family.
Guest_ruth asks: How do all Americans cope with the uncertainty this won't happen again, as us Aussies are concerned for you all?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Right now a lot of my friends and family all live with that fear behind our minds that it might happen again. Wherever we go, to a baseball game or the city where there's a lot of people, we have to live with this terrible fear.
Guest_mcat12 asks: How many firefighters did your company lose in the World Trade Center attacks?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: We were very fortunate. We didn't actually lose any firefighters from our company, we lost one fellow who used to work for us but he'd already transferred somewhere else. A total of 343 firefighters were lost that day.
Guest_poppy asks: Do you still live in New York?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Yes. I still live in the same place I've lived in for 25 years.
Guest_itsjustme asks: There has been a lot of hatred towards a variety of cultural groups due to the events of 9/11 — what would you like to say to those who share this hatred for people they don't know simply because of the actions of one man?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I have a lot of hate myself, I feel very bitter. Some days I get up and I'm very angry that there are people out there that did this. I don't know if it's religious or what it is. I wish I could talk to the people behind this and ask them why they did this. We have so much pain and grief here and now we have to live with the fear it could happen again.
Guest_itsjustme asks: Do you think the American government acted too slowly or too fast when the attacks happened? What are your thoughts on the actions they did take when they took them?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: At first when it happened I was very bitter and I wanted the government to react right away and I thought they would have acted a little sooner than they did. But for me, I'm still angry now, I feel we didn't act fast enough and we didn't get the person who's behind it. We're catching all these other terrorists who are getting ready to do something else, who are getting ready for next time.
Guest_myheartiswithyou asks: How do you explain September 11 to your young children?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: My children are a little older and I didn't have to go through that, because they saw if for themselves, but friends of mine have young children five or six years old and it's hard to have to explain to them that mummy or daddy isn't coming home. It's a very hard thing to have to explain to a child.
Guest_Mo asks: I guess that you would have counselling, but do you find yourself drawn to others who lived through this?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Absolutely. It took me a little while to go for counselling, I thought I didn't need it, maybe a bit of a macho thing too. But after a while I realised I needed it. I changed counsellors three times till I found the right one, not someone that had been through 9/ll, but someone who had lost someone that they'd really loved.
Guest_tassiebeck asks: Have you ever regretted going to help?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Absolutely not. I always wanted to be there as much time as I could, there was always the hope you'd find some, and by that I mean anyone, a firefighter, anyone, anyone that may have survived.
Guest_Bhak in asks: Do you feel guilty about being one of the firefighters that made it through?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Yes I do, that is one of the problems I have to deal with every day, because 343 firefighters died that day, many of them my buddies, and that day I should have been dead five times, getting stuck on the stairs, on the elevator, five chances, and my buddies didn't even get one. We're all equal, doing our job, why did I get saved? Why didn't some of my buddies get saved too?
Guest_enjays asks: How much will it help the healing process once Osama is captured?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: It'll help the healing a little bit because maybe we'll know it won't happen again, but the hurt that these families are going through isn't going to help them much — they've already lost their loved ones, but it'll help to know they've got the bastard.
Guest_cara asks: I think you got saved to tell the story of your friends; you can be their hero, their voice in so many ways!
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I don't look at it like that. I appreciate me being their hero and telling their story, I hear what you're saying and I appreciate it, but I don't look at it that way and don't feel that way, as I have to live with myself every day and I feel guilty because I got five chances and they got none and we were doing the same job. Why did I get five chances? I'm not better than them.
Guest_Belle asks: Being a survivor, has that changed the way you now live life, do you do things you would never had made time for, after realising how precious your time here is?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Yes, my life has changed drastically, I look at things differently now, my priorities are different now. I always worked two jobs, worried about my family, making sure they have what they need. I still worry about my family drastically, but as far as money and stuff like that, I don't care and I do whatever is good for my family and friends. I don't worry about the money part like I used to.
Guest_itsjustme asks: Is there some tension that there may be another attack this September 11?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: It's always at the back of your mind, like with these two people in Germany who had bombs, you never know what can happen, it's definitely a worry.
Guest_steve asks: Some say something good always comes out of something bad. What has come from September 11 that you consider to be good?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: That's a tough question. One good thing that I noticed, the only thing after I came out of Ground Zero after digging all day, was seeing people supporting you, clapping and cheering you. It made you feel united; the whole world came and showed their support.
Guest_mc asks: What security measures are being taken at the moment, in case of anniversary attacks?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Fighter planes have to be more alert as to what's going on in the air, but I'm afraid the next time they're gonna attack us it's not gonna be by air, it's gonna be by something else. The first time was with a truck going into a building and the second time was with planes, the next time could be by water or with chemicals and one of my biggest fears is suicide bombers. All you need is one psycho to walk in with a timer and blow the whole place up.
Guest_moocow asks: If you had the chance to say something to Osama bin Laden, what would you say?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I'd probably love to grab a hold of him, I don't know, I'd probably go crazy because of what he did, but I'd have to ask him why? What made you do something like this and why are you training young kids to do this; it's not the right way to handle things. And then I'd probably go crazy, as I've got so much hate from all the hurt he's caused.
Guest_spider asks: Is there anything that the rest of us can do for the people of New York on September 11?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Australia and the rest of the world has shown us so much already, the only thing people can really do is say a prayer for us, which I know they do already, and give us support. Now is a healing time.
Guest_SuperJo asks: Did you lose any of your faith in God after the events of the day?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I'm a practicing Catholic and after the day I did lose faith in God for a little while. I was blaming him, asking "How could you do this?" but as time went on I realised I'm blaming the wrong person and I still have some doubts sometimes, but I'm back praying to God and getting on with my life, as far as that goes.
Guest_Mike asks: Louis, I'm a police officer here and I have two very good friends in NYPD who survived at Ground Zero. I just wanted you to know your emergency services brothers here grieve with you.
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I appreciate that very much and that's because I understand that we're all in it together, we're all one big family, we're all out there risking our lives every day, not thinking of ourselves but only of the civilian.
Guest_Damien asks: Louis, you're an inspiration. What should be erected on the WTC site?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Thank you for saying that. Personally, the WTC for me right now is a cemetery, that's what I consider it to be, but they want to put blocks of 40 or 50 stories high back there — it's prime real estate. But there should be a big memorial for all the people we've lost, reason being that many people have never been found, so their loved ones, where are they gonna go? They have to be happy with it.
Guest_Danielle88 asks: Mr Cacchioli, after 9/11, did you ever think of leaving New York and making your home somewhere else?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: No, I never thought that, I'm a true New Yorker, reason being that this is where I've lived all my life, all family is here, my mother, father, mother-in-law, and if I leave New York it shows them that they won and I'll never show them that. They got us good but not for long, in the long run they'll lose.
Guest_amidala asks: Louis, what will you be doing on the anniversary?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I've already started doing interviews and my goal is to try and encourage people and show them we have to go on, so I'm involved in a lot of TV, and on the day of the anniversary I'll be down there when they hit the bells and be part of it and I'll be down there to see the families and give them all the support I can.
Guest_clarkii asks: Louis, what does the future hold for you?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: All I want to do right now is stay close to my family and friends, take one day at a time and I have to stay positive.
Guide_OC_amicus says: Louis, thank you for joining us tonight to talk about what is a very painful experience and deeply personal memories. Do you have any last words for the people of Australia before we finish?
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: I would just like to thank Australia for all their support and if I could say one thing, it's enjoy yourself, try to stay close to your family and don't let little things bother you, try to push them to the side and get on with your life and make each day count and do not go to bed mad with one another because you never know what the next day can bring.
Guide_OC_amicus says: Again, Louis, thank you and goodnight.
Guest Louis Cacchiolo says: Goodnight.
July 1, 2012, Wall Street Journal, Cuomo Helps Silverstein's 9/11 Lawsuit, by Jacob Gershman and Eliot Brown, 9:49 p.m. ET,
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration is leaning on airlines and their insurers to settle a long-running lawsuit over the 9/11 attacks with World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein, in a bid to help Ground Zero construction.
Mr. Cuomo's top insurance regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, recently warned airline insurers that the absence of a settlement has "undermined public confidence in the insurance industry and slowed redevelopment of the attack site."
People familiar with the case said Mr. Lawsky's intervention came as a surprise to the insurers of American Airlines and United Airlines, which operated the hijacked jets that slammed into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. As superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services, Mr. Lawsky has no formal role in the legal dispute, which is essentially a third-party insurance fight knotted with unsettled legal issues.
Mr. Lawsky's message was conveyed in a May 18 letter ordering the insurers to produce confidential information about their reserves and exposure to 9/11-related claims. State attorneys have also directly broached a possible settlement with American and United. Both airlines declined to comment.
"The Department regularly seeks to help resolve insurance disputes and has done so successfully with respect to ground zero under previous administrations," Mr. Lawsky said in a statement. "We look forward to receiving the requested information and, irrespective of the goals of either side, working to see if a settlement is possible that will benefit the people of the state."
The Cuomo administration's intervention marks a turn for Mr. Silverstein's effort to make the aviation industry compensate him for what he said were "reckless" security breaches that allowed Islamic hijackers to board airplanes with weapons and gain access to the cockpits.
Mr. Silverstein sued American and United in 2004, seeking $12.3 billion in damages. But the developer's case has struggled in U.S. District Court.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has already capped potential damages at $2.8 billion and signaled support for the airline's main argument—that any award would be offset by the more than $4 billion Mr. Silverstein recovered from his property insurers in a 2007 settlement.
State officials said they aren't taking sides with Mr. Silverstein but are anxious to help development in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood still caught between rebuilding and recession.
While Mr. Silverstein has the right to build three towers at the World Trade Center site, the 2007 settlement has thus far resulted in only one building, 4 World Trade Center, which was topped out last week.
The lawsuit doesn't affect One World Trade Center, the signature tower under development by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Mr. Silverstein has said the other two planned towers —2 World Trade Center and 3 World Trade Center—aren't feasible without securing large tenants, given a slowly recovering economy and an environment where lenders are hesitant to finance new office towers.
In theory, a large infusion of insurance money could help him to move forward with those buildings, although it would likely take several hundreds of millions of dollars just to start on one of them.
"This problematic and prolonged state of affairs is not in the public interest," Mr. Lawsky, the superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services, wrote in letters addressed to a number of individual insurers and two insurance pools, U.S. Aircraft Insurance Group and Global Aerospace. Both insurance pools declined to comment.
A spokesman for Silverstein Properties said resolving the dispute "would accelerate full completion of the World Trade Center rebuilding, and deliver jobs for thousands of unemployed construction workers."
Mr. Lawsky, one of Mr. Cuomo's closest aides, started taking a closer look at the lawsuit about a year ago after Mr. Silverstein's attorneys filed a complaint with the department about the gridlock in negotiations.
Legal experts said Judge Hellerstein will likely dismiss the suit. Given the more than $4 billion he already won, Mr. Silverstein "has no legally recoverable claim pursuant to New York law," said Timothy Tomasik, a partner at Clifford Law Offices, which was part of a committee representing insurers and property owners in the same lawsuit. Most of the group settled with the airlines in 2010 for $1.2 billion.
Mr. Silverstein would likely turn to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals if Judge Hellerstein rules against him.
State officials said their efforts to resolve the case are similar to those of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's in 2007, when the state's insurance czar, Eric Dinallo, pushed property insurers and Mr. Silverstein to the negotiating table and brokered the record-breaking $4 billion settlement.
Mr. Silverstein's lawyers have argued that only a fraction of that settlement—$646 million of lost rental income—should count against any recovery from the airline industry.
A version of this article appeared July 2, 2012, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Cuomo Helps Silverstein's 9/11 Lawsuit.
August 27, 2011, New York Magazine, Holding Out, The family for whom the truth is more important than the money.
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(Photo: John Bohn /the Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Ninety-six families declined to apply for the Victim Compensation Fund and pressed ahead with lawsuits against United and American Airlines.
That fund, which would ultimately deliver $7 billion in awards to 5,560 applicants [H2], was doing more than delivering tax-free largesse to the families of 9/11 victims. It was also executing a government policy to shield from legal consequence two corporations that had failed to protect hundreds of their paying customers from being incinerated by suicidal maniacs. It was an unprecedented role for Kenneth Feinberg, the special master of the fund: He had to persuade thousands of angry, grief-stricken families to accept a sum that he himself would determine in exchange for waiving their right to sue United Airlines or American Airlines, the Port Authority, the architects of the World Trade Center, the United States government, the city of New York, or any other domestic entity.
H2: Eligible Parties for the Victim Compensation Fund• “The ‘Personal Representatives’ of deceased individuals aboard American Airlines Flights 11 or 77 and United Airlines Flights 93 or 175, except for terrorists.”
• “The Personal Representatives of individuals who were present at the World Trade Center, Pentagon, or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, site at the time of or in the immediate aftermath of the crashes and who died as a direct result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes.”
• “Individuals present at the World Trade Center, Pentagon, or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, site at the time of or in the immediate aftermath of the crashes and who suffered physical harm as a direct result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes.” Rescue workers had to be on-location within the first 96 hours; for non–rescue workers, the window closed at twelve hours.
This last stricture meant that many first responders and construction workers were ineligible for relief. After a long fight, the fund was reopened with a $2.775 billion appropriation via the passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act on January 2, 2011.
The motives of the 96 families who refused a payout varied. Some were seeking larger settlements than the compensation fund was likely to offer them; Feinberg had assigned the arbitrary limit of $250,000 for each victim, plus $100,000 per dependent, for noneconomic damage, and the statute required that life insurance be deducted from the final payout. But many who sued hoped to use the litigation process to compel disclosure of a fuller picture of what the airlines did—and left undone—on 9/11 and in the days, weeks, months, and years leading up to it.
It was the claim of these plaintiff families that, as their attorney Don Migliori, from the firm Motley Rice, put it, “every single flight had unequivocal evidence that 9/11 was preventable at the checkpoints.” The goal was to place United Airlines employees on the stand under oath in a public courtroom to answer uncomfortable questions that the plaintiffs felt that the 9/11 Commission had neglected to pose. Nearly half of the people Motley Rice’s investigators deposed had never been questioned by any arm of the federal government, Migliori told me. One of the airport screeners required an English translator.
Throughout the legal mediation process that followed, Sheila L. Birnbaum, the court-appointed mediator, argued that litigation was not a good way to find the truth. “We get two stories, usually, at a trial, and the jury picks between the two,” she said, speaking in a Skadden, Arps conference room overlooking Times Square. “But that doesn’t mean we ever get to truth.” She also argued that settling would help families reach closure. “As long as this case was alive, they were not going to be able to move on.”
Ninety-five of the families accepted that logic and settled with the airlines, for a total of $500 million. But one family still plans to take its claim against United Airlines to trial. Mark Bavis died on United Flight 175 on 9/11, and his family is determined to see the case through to the end. Their aim, said Mark’s twin brother, Mike, is not money but accountability. The Bavises want to force a public reckoning that they feel, ten years after 9/11, has been denied them and the other victims’ families by both the airlines and the federal government. “We have a right to know everything that happened and why. We never even considered for one second settling for anything other than a full airing of the facts,” Mike said.
“A lot of people can very casually comment to me that people should move on or need to move on,” he continued. “My reply to them is that people should also do the right thing. If the airlines want to do the right thing, and acknowledge all the facts, then we’ll move on.”
They are scheduled to go to trial in November.
September 5, 2009, CBS Evening News, Determined Father Pursues Sept. 11 Lawsuit, This story is by CBS News' Jeff Glor and Phil Hirschkorn,
Mike Low wishes his trial was already over. Alone among nearly 3,000 families that lost loved ones in the September 11th terrorist attacks, Low, from Batesville, Arkansas, has a trial date set for his wrongful death lawsuit against airlines and airport security companies.
"I want people to know 9/11 could have been prevented. These Saudi thugs could have been stopped," Low told CBS News. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers that day were from Saudi Arabia.
Low's 28-year-old daughter, Sara, was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to strike the World Trade Center.
"This is an excruciating thing as a parent to continue this, but I don't have a choice," Low said. "I could just not quit until I know I've gone as far as I can go, because I would have her image hanging over me the rest of my life saying, 'You quit, you quit.'"
Low will be in Lower Manhattan next week for ceremonies to mark the eighth anniversary of the day when a pair of American Airlines planes and two belonging to United Airlines were commandeered by al Qaeda hijackers and crashed into the twin towers in New York, the Pentagon, outside Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania.
At first, American Airlines told Low and his wife, Bobbie, and their other daughter, Alyson, that Sara wasn't on Flight 11, but the employee had been reading the passenger list. Later, they found out the awful truth.
"The intensity of our loss has not changed. The pain, the emotion, and the loss is still there," Low said.
By the end of 2003, 98 percent of the Sept. 11 families renounced any legal claims against the airlines and airport security companies in return for payments from a government fund that totaled $7 billion. Though 96 families pursued lawsuits, all but three have settled, collecting a total of $500 million.
"If it was about money, I would have been gone a long time ago. It's about ferreting out all the untold stories of the days leading up to 9/11 and 9/11. It's accountability, it's exposure, it's shining a light on some of those areas that have been successfully hidden from the public," Low said.
Specifically, Low and other plaintiffs have pointed to breakdowns in passenger screening areas where the hijackers armed with box cutters, knives, and pepper spray passed by. The defendants include not only the airlines, but also Massport, which runs Boston's Logan Airport, where Flight 11 and the second trade center flight, United 175, originated; Globe Aviation Services, then the primary security contractor for American; and Boeing, the manufacturer of the hijacked 767 jets that lacked impenetrable cockpit doors.
The lawsuit has generated 1 million pages of documents that Low would like to eventually see deposited in a public archive after his trial, scheduled for next April in Manhattan federal court.
"It's not hard for me to continue when I know there is so much information that needs to be made public," Low said.
His attorneys from the firm of Motley Rice have taken more than 200 depositions, including from every airport security worker on duty September 11th in Boston, at Dulles Airport in northern Virginia, where American Airlines Flight 77, which struck the Pentagon, originated, and in Newark, where United Flight 93 had taken off only to crash in Shanksville, Pa. after a passenger uprising spurred by word of the other hijackings.
"There was an incredible amount of negligence, incapacity, and neglect, and that story has not been told," Low said. "To read the depositions is a difficult process. I get angry every time I read them because of so many missed opportunities."
While much of the evidence in the case remains under seal, Low calls the information he has learned about Sara's heroic actions aboard the doomed flight a gift.
"In the last 30 minutes of Sara's life, she was moving passengers to the back, helping keep them stay calm," Low says. "She helped identify the seat numbers of the hijackers, which we think was promptly sent to the right officials and hopefully had some effect on the other flights and people on board's decision - Flight 93 later in the day."
After earning a business degree and working three years in her father's limestone mining business, Sara Low became a flight attendant in 1999.
"She tried the banking for a while, but it wasn't exciting enough for her," her father said. "She said, 'Dad, I have to have my adventure."
Sara had always felt at home inside an aircraft. Her father, a private pilot, had taken her for flights since she'd been in diapers, falling asleep to the hum of the engines.
"Sara was a wonderful young lady, a delight, and a challenge at the same time," Low said. "Loved to travel, love good food and wine, and loved to go out and dance, a great athlete" who loved to ski and run and was a member a state champion high school track team.
Today, the family hosted its third annual Sara Low Memorial five kilometer race to raise money for a scholarship fund in her name - 264 people ran, raising $5,000.
Months after Sept. 11, some of Sara's remains were discovered at Ground Zero, along with a ring embedded with lapis stone that her father had given her. Mike Low regularly wears the ring on a chain around his neck along with a laminated photo of Sara.
"I am not seeking an apology....I want the all the facts known," Low said.
Desmond Barry, an attorney representing the defendants, had no comment on the lawsuit.
"When the trial is complete, I will have done all that I can do," Low said. "And when I see that old man in the mirror in the morning, I'll be comfortable."
September 21, 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune, Lloyd’s Insurers Drop 9/11-Related Claims Lawsuit,
Without explanation, a group of insurers today dropped its lawsuit against Saudi Arabia and several Saudi organizations claiming they should cover the $215 million the group has paid out in claims related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Stephen Cozen, a Philadelphia lawyer representing Lloyd`s Syndicate 3500, filed a notice today that the group is voluntarily dismissing its lawsuit. Cozen, by email, refused to discuss the reasons for dropping the case.
Cozen previously said his group filed the lawsuit to hold terrorism sponsors accountable.
Lloyd`s Syndicate 3500, part of the company more commonly known as Lloyd`s of London, filed the lawsuit on Sept. 8. The group contends that Saudi Arabia and the other defendants knowingly provided material support and resources to al-Qaida in the years preceding the terrorist attacks.
The defendants included the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Saudi Joint Relief Committee for Kosovo and Chechnya, Saudi Red Crescent Society, the Saudi-based National Commerce Bank, Al Rajhi Banking and Investment Co. and three Saudi citizens connected to the organizations.
After nearly 10 years of wrongful death litigation, the family of Mark Bavis, a Roslindale native and a professional hockey scout killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, reached a settlement yesterday with United Airlines and its security contractor. The family was the lone holdout among the thousands that either accepted money from the $7 billion Victim Compensation Fund or settled their lawsuits.
Until now, Bavis family members hadsteadfastly refused to settle their suit, saying they wanted a trial so they could reveal just how woefully inadequate airport security measures were on the day the hijackers boarded at Logan International Airport.
Family members attributed their change of heart about settling to frustration over the legal system that they say gutted their case by limiting its scope.
“For almost 10 years, my family never even considered the word ‘settle,’ ’’ said Mike Bavis, Mark’s identical twin brother. “We were always going to trial. How that changed has everything to do with the court, the legal system, and the rulings from Judge [Alvin] Hellerstein.’’ The amount of damages in the settlement is confidential.
The lawsuit, said Mike Bavis, was about “wrongful death, gross negligence, and a complete lack of appreciation for the value of human life.’’ Instead, the judge changed it to a case about federal regulations, he said.
The trial had been set to begin Nov. 7 in federal court in Manhattan.
Mark Bavis was one of the 56 passengers who departed Logan International Airport on United Flight 175, the second plane to hit the World Trade Center. The 31-year-old Newton resident was headed to a Los Angeles Kings training camp in Los Angeles.
The settlement came 12 days after Hellerstein ruled Sept. 7 that United Airlines and its security contractor, Huntleigh USA, had to prove only that they adhered to federal aviation safety standards, and didn’t have to meet the state standards of wrongful death that the plaintiffs had sought. The defense then asked the judge to dismiss the case.
In response, the Bavises’ lawyers late Friday filed a 100-page brief with 127 exhibits outlining the evidence they intended to present at trial, including depositions obtained from more than 200 screeners working on Sept. 11, 2001, at Logan, their supervisors, chiefs of security for the airline, and Federal Aviation Administration officials.
The testimony revealed that the five terrorists who boarded Flight 175 passed through screeners at United Airlines who did not speak English - one even required a translator for her deposition - did not know who Osama bin Laden was or what Al Qaeda was, and were inexperienced and underpaid. In addition, many of the screeners on duty that day “did not know what Mace and pepper spray were.’’
According to the documents, screeners and their supervisors failed to act on the suspicious behavior of two of the hijackers, who were let through even though they didn’t speak English and could not respond to security questions. Additional screening, the Bavis lawyers allege, would have included a hand search of their carry-on bags, which contained knives, Mace, and pepper spray.
A spokesman for United Airlines said in a statement yesterday that “the tragic events of 9/11 impacted all of us, and we are pleased to resolve this case.’’ A lawyer for Huntleigh did not return repeated telephone calls.
With the release of the depositions, the Bavises were able to accomplish a major goal, said Mike Bavis: to make public the airline’s failure to screen passengers adequately.
“Is this a moral victory?’’ he said. “It depends on what happens. If the government and the FAA are more accountable in doing their jobs, then it will be worth it.’’
Mary Bavis and her six surviving children filed the wrongful death lawsuit in 2002 against United, Huntleigh, and Massport, which runs Logan Airport, but Hellerstein dismissed the claim against Massport in July.
“The entire Logan Airport community will forever carry in its heart the events of 9/11,’’ David S. Mackey, Massport’s interim chief executive and longtime legal counsel, said after the claim was dismissed. “Our thoughts and prayers will always be with the victims of that tragic day and their families.’’
Mary Bavis is 80 now and still lives in the Roslindale home where she and her husband raised their children. Richard Bavis, a Boston police officer, died in 1990 of heart failure at age 62.
In an interview in August, Mary Bavis told the Globe that she and her children decided just after Sept. 11, 2001, that they needed answers about how the hijackers got on board Flight 175.
“The big thing, in our hearts and soul, was we really feel as if security and United should have spotted these guys,’’ she said. “Every time I hear an airplane, it’s like a stab in my heart. It brings it all back.’’
The family’s lawyer, Donald Migliori of the firm Motley Rice, said yesterday that the settlement was the result of the family’s frustration with court delays and rulings, and its relief that the depositions were finally released.
“It has been a long battle for this family to get to this point,’’ he said. “I think in the end what the family wants is to be able to give Mark voice, and to the extent these documents have been shared with the public - long after the lawsuit is closed, they hope it contributes to the discussion about safety in the air.’’
Migliori said more depositions in the case will remain sealed because they contain “sensitive security information’’ that the Transportation Security Administration has determined is confidential.
Mike Bavis said the easiest way to prevent the “tragedy and horror’’ of 9/11 would have been “to have an airline industry that made a reasonable effort to provide security for its passengers. The evidence shows that they most certainly did not.’’
Bella English can be reached at english@globe.com.
September 09, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Families persevere 10 years after 9/11 took L.A. Kings scouts, by Helene Elliott,
Los Angeles Kings scouts Mark Bavis and Ace Bailey were aboard United Flight 175 on Sept. 11, 2001. Their families have kept their memories alive with charitable foundations and more.
In his official Kings photo, Mark Bavis smiles confidently, his blue eyes gazing toward a boundless future.
After one season as a scout, he was on track for success, combing the U.S. and colleges while capitalizing on his many contacts. He loved his work and his colleagues. Dave Taylor, who was the Los Angeles Kings' general manager and hired him after several recommendations, called him a new style of scout, fluent in many sides of the business.
Mark Bavis might have become the team's scouting director. More likely, he would have turned to coaching. He loved coaching.
"He had a quiet personality but was very focused, very professional," Taylor said. "He had a tremendous future, whatever avenue he was going to go down."
That future was taken from him 10 years ago Sunday.
Mark Bavis and veteran scout Garnet "Ace" Bailey, as charming as he was skilled at evaluating talent, were heading to Los Angeles for training camp aboard United Flight 175 when it became the second hijacked aircraft steered by terrorists into the World Trade Center. Their deaths tore holes in the hearts of two loving families.
"You don't know the day that's going to be a hard day for you," said Mike Bavis, Mark Bavis' identical twin and associate head hockey coach at their alma mater, Boston University.
"The families I know and my family, I think they've moved on to be very productive and not dwelling in grief, but it doesn't mean it's not still hard."
Barbara Pothier, sister of Ace Bailey's wife, Katherine, said the 53-year-old Bailey was the heartbeat of their clan, a captivating storyteller. A big kid.
"I grew up in a family of nine children, and when Ace married Kathy, he became every bit a brother to all of us," Pothier said. "Not a brother-in-law, a brother. We were all extremely close to Ace."
Inspired by love, the Bavises and Baileys determined to honor their lost loved ones. The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation provides mentoring and college scholarships to kids. The Ace Bailey Foundation renovated the neonatal intensive care unit at the Floating Hospital for Children at Boston's Tufts Medical Center and brightened the environment for families of ailing kids. Diminishing donations nearly closed the foundation in 2008, but Pothier, its executive director, and Katherine Bailey felt their work wasn't done.
"When we go to the hospital and see the people using the facilities that we've built, it's really rewarding," Pothier said, "and we know when we're looking at it that Ace's spirit is in that. Ace would love what we'd done. And so out of bad comes good."
The Bavises want more than to perpetuate good deeds in Mark Bavis' name. They want justice for his death, and they stand alone in pursuing a civil lawsuit related to the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Bavises filed a wrongful-death suit against United and Huntleigh USA, a security company that staffed the checkpoint at Boston's Logan Airport. The trial is scheduled for November.
There were 5,560 claims filed with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which dispensed more than $7 billion to victims and their families on the condition that they would not file lawsuits. Other victims and families filed suits but settled before trial.
The Bavises refused to settle, traveling an emotionally rutted road to learn why Mark died.
"It's the very basic principle of right and wrong and accountability," Mike Bavis said. "For my family, we've never been able to get past the point of moving forward on the level of accountability and exposure as to what the facts were regarding this event. If you don't expose the fact and let the information out, you just enable the next company, the next industry, to be grossly negligent and then claim ignorance."
Mike Bavis said a "dramatic" amount of information about threats existed before 9/11, contradicting arguments that the attacks were unimaginable. "For there to be inaction on the airlines' part was nothing more than negligence based on a profit motive," he said.
"Our hope is that the legal system still can work the way it was meant. It's unacceptable that my brother had to spend the last 21 minutes of his life in the type of situation that he had to. It's unacceptable, given what we believe was known prior to 9/11 and the inaction by the airlines and the security companies. It's what motivated us to stay strong through this test of will."
He said his family has support from other 9/11 families, some of whom he said were "broken down by the process" and settled. "They have a right to know why this happened so easily. And right now my family is providing that for them," he said.
Pothier understands why the Bavises continued and others did not.
"A lot of the other families had little children that needed to be supported, and the Bavises, having a large extended family, could continue and fight for that, and they feel very strongly about it," she said. "And I have to hand it to them because it's very wearing.
"I wish them good luck with it. I hope whatever the outcome is that they will find some peace with that."
That the Bavises stood on principle doesn't surprise Kings scout Stephen Greeley, who has known them since he was 7 and idolized the twins before he was coached by them at the youth and college levels.
"They're fighting for something they really believe in," Greeley said. "This isn't about just the money to them. I think there's a big picture here."
The portrait of Mark Bavis on the wall in the Kings' offices always stirs Greeley, who has much the same duties as Bavis did. Greeley's uncle coached the twins in high school; his father played golf with Mark Bavis a week before that terrible day. Greeley said his younger brother, Jack, cherishes a handwritten note from Mark Bavis that offered advice in choosing a college, a gesture both typical and classy because Jack Greeley wasn't NHL material and Mark Bavis gained nothing professionally from it.
"It's not just a 9/11 face to me. It's the face of a guy that was so good to me, so good to my family, that I do think about him quite a bit," said Greeley, who attended Mark Bavis' funeral and participates in the annual golf tournament that funds the foundation. "Mark was such a unique person."
On Sunday the Bavises will gather in Boston. "That's where we feel we should be," Mike Bavis said. The extended Bailey family will visit a monument in Boston's Public Garden, and one of Ace Bailey's nieces, 20-year-old Sarah Pothier, will sing at a service at the State House. They'll return to suburban Lynnfield, where Ace and Kathy Bailey had lived in the same house since 1972 and where Kathy Bailey will speak at a memorial ceremony.
"We miss him so much," Barbara Pothier said. "One of the redeeming things is, as incredibly devastated as we all were to lose the life-center of our family, you can't feel sad for too long without somebody mentioning a story or a little quip and we're all hysterical laughing. Ace's comedy and humor and good cheer are in us all now."
Those graces have resurfaced in Evan Garnet Bailey, the 2-year-old son of Ace and Kathy Bailey's son, Todd.
"He's adorable, and he's the apple of my sister Katherine's eye," Pothier said. "He doesn't look like Ace, but he certainly has his qualities."
Someday he will learn about his grandfather and Mark Bavis, and he will be better for it.
September 21, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Family of Kings scout Mark Bavis issues statement on 9/11 settlement,
The family of Mark Bavis, one of two Kings scouts killed when United Flight 175 was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, issued a statement Wednesday on its decision to accept a settlement and agree to end its lawsuit against United and the airline's security contractor.
Bavis, 31, was traveling to Los Angeles with fellow scout Ace Bailey to attend the Kings' training camp when the planes were hijacked during the day's terrorist attacks.
Mike Bavis, Mark's twin, had been adamant about pursuing the suit and it was the last remaining 9/11 wrongful death suit. His public letter explains why the family changed course.
"After ten long years, our family has had a change in position regarding the litigation on behalf of our son and brother, Mark. Mark was a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 175 when it crashed into the World Trade Center. This change is the result of a recent ruling by the Honorable Judge Alvin Hellerstein. With the stroke of his pen, Judge Hellerstein very cleverly changed this lawsuit.
"The lawsuit was about wrongful death, gross negligence and a complete lack of appreciation for the value of human life. He instead made it a case about a federal regulation. He ignored 100 years of aviation law and relied on an environmental case to apply federal preemption. He essentially gutted the case so that the truth about what led to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, would never be told at trial.
"To the families of the 9/11 victims: We can honestly say that our family envisioned a day when you could hear all the evidence, evidence that would provide an important step in moving beyond the events of that day. This process has taken a toll on us that only you could understand.
"We fought this long for two reasons, because we valued Mark's life in the time spent together, the shared experiences and the expectation of what life would continue to be. Secondly, the truth as to why this happened so easily should be important. Mark did not have to endure the tragedy that ended his life and neither did your loved ones.
"Due to our family’s refusal to settle before this time, our attorneys at Motley Rice LLC have been able to conduct the most comprehensive investigation to date regarding how the airlines and airport security companies failed so miserably on 9/11 and in the days, weeks and months leading up to 9/11. Motley Rice’s attorneys have recovered ten times more information than the 9/11 Commission in regards to the failure of the aviation industry.
"Why? Because we, and other 9/11 families, wanted answers. We want that information to be available to whoever cares to read it. It is important to us that some change comes out of the information held in those briefs. The system is clearly broken when an industry like aviation has enough power to keep a federal agency such as the FAA from implementing more stringent security measures, especially during a heightened terrorism threat level. The tail is wagging the dog, and someone in Washington needs to stand up and start holding people accountable.
"It is not out of the question that our country could endure a similar event in the future. Such a tragedy, however, should never again be the result of lack of oversight or preparation or because lobbyists have so much influence and power in Washington, D.C., that American lives are at risk. Our government’s job is to protect the people -- from foreign armies, terrorists and even our own American corporations. It is time that our elected officials take responsibility for the authority we have given them.
"All of the events of September 11, 2001, are open to opinion and discussion, but we believe the easiest way to have prevented the kind of horror and tragedy of 9/11 would have been to have an airline industry that made a reasonable effort to provide security for its passengers. The evidence shows that they most certainly did not.
"Lastly, we are thankful to have had a law firm like Motley Rice that was willing to stand by us and fight for the truth. Without them, we would have never learned so much about why this happened. In particular, we want to thank Don Migliori, Mary Schiavo and their entire team."
Bavis Family
March 16, 2010, New York Daily News, Airlines were protected from 9/11 suits, but folks on ground at WTC got shortchanged, by Michael Daly,
Just 11 days after the attack on the World Trade Center, when the ruins were still smoldering and we were just beginning to recover our dead, Congress rushed to protect the airlines from being sued.
That's right. Congress saw the footage of the hijacked airliners flying into the towers and those poor trapped souls jumping and thousands more pulverized by the twin collapses and one of its foremost concerns was this:
"The families might sue the airlines!"
The airlines must have been all the more concerned because they had for decades been resisting advice to secure the cockpits against intruders.
El Al had done so and nobody ever commandeered one of their planes.
The American carriers had decided it would cost too much money and the result was 9/11. The airlines would have faced billions in suits had their friends in Congress not quickly pushed through the Air Transportation Safety and Stabilization Act.
What should have been called the Airline Protection Act barred 9/11 victims and their survivors from suing the airlines.
Instead, people would seek what they needed at a September 11 Victim Compensation Fund that the act established to make the whole thing politically viable.
As it happened, it all worked out for the best.
The fund proved to be responsive and efficient and fair.
And, lest you think badly of all lawyers, hundreds of them volunteered to assist free of charge. They were called "attorneys of mercy" with absolutely no irony.
Then the fund expired in 2003.
Mayor Bloomberg pressed Congress to revive it.
The city's representatives in Washington did their best.
But it was not like a big special interest like the airlines was in jeopardy.
It was just a bunch of New York cops and firefighters and construction workers suffering illnesses as varied as the toxins in The Pit.
And there was no longer any political necessity to protect them.
So the effort to revive the victim fund went nowhere.
Instead, Congress allocated $1 billion for the city and its contractors to resolve the suits that were now the victims' only redress.
The defense was led by the firm Patton Boggs, whose home page has the words "POWER BASE" in huge letters. The firm's head "toxic tort" guy, James Tyrrell, once represented the manufacturer of Agent Orange in a suit involving 2.4 million Vietnam war veterans. He has also defended the makers of defective breast implants and of a pregnancy drug that gave women cancer.
The total defense bill in this 9/11 case has exceeded $200 million. There have been reports of hourly fees exceeding $580 and a "business dinner" tab of as much as $1,250.
The plaintiffs' lawyers are working with no guarantee of payment but figure it would be only right to take a third of the $575 million to $657 million settlement proposed last week, plus expenses, of course.
Compare all that to the "attorneys of mercy" during the Victim Fund, back in that time when an attack of pure evil brought out the very best in us.
If Congress wants to bring some of that goodness back, it can still revive the fund.
We could call them politicians of mercy.
Hey and the airlines will still be protected.
Faces of Ground Zero, Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001, by Joe McNally, with a Tribute from Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Louie was separated from his fire company and single handedly saved the lives of some forty civilians by leading them out of Tower 1. Moments before the North Tower fell Cacchioli was helping an injured Battalion ( 2 ) Chief to safety; a moment that was captured by a Daily News photographer. Louie was caught in the collapse and barely survived. Several members of this rescue-team were killed. Nine of them belonged to the same firehouse in the Yorkville section of Manhattan's Upper East Side and were later dubbed "The Yorkville Nine."
Throughout much of 2002, Cacchioli took part in the project Faces of Ground Zero: A Photographic Tribute to America's Heroes, a traveling 9/11 photo exhibit. (Faces was the brainchild of Joe McNally, a freelance photographer who has shot assignments for numerous advertising agencies and publications.)
To promote the 9/11 exhibit, Mr. Cacchioli's photo was chosen to be featured in numerous advertisements which put a face on the tragedy. Twenty-six portraits of this exhibit, including Cacchioli's, later appeared in the Life photo-book: One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001. (One Nation spent five months on The New York Times Best Sellers list.)
The photo-book Faces of Ground Zero: Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001 followed next. It contains 150 McNally portraits; those from the exhibition as well as several that had previously never been shown before. Mr. Cacchioli's photo is prominently featured on the front cover of both the hardcover and abridged soft-cover versions of that book. The American Spirit: Meeting the Challenge of September 11 was a 2002 follow-up book that featured new essays regarding the 9/11 tragedy. Mr. Cacchioli ( 3 ) was featured in that book as well.
He has been featured in several documentaries, television programs, and radio shows including the very popular well respected television news program 60 Minutes and Imus in the Morning. Soldier is not the first book Cacchioli has collaborated with. He can also be seen in the Life photo books that have been listed on The New York Times Best Sellers List;
Joe McNally Page
Biography
Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed American photographer and long-time photojournalist. From 1994 until 1998, he was LIFE magazine's staff photographer, the first one in 23 years. His most well known series is the "Faces of Ground Zero -- Portraits of the Heroes of September 11th", a collection of 246 giant Polaroid portraits shot in the Moby C Studio near Ground Zero in a three-week period shortly after 9/11. A large group of these historic, compelling life-size (9' x 4') photos were exhibited in seven cities in 2002, seen by almost a million people. The exhibit and the book, printed by LIFE, helped raise approximately $2 million for the 9/11-relief effort. This collection is considered by many museum and art professionals to be the most significant artistic endeavor to evolve to date from the 9/11 tragedy.
Some of McNally's other renowned photographic series include, "The Future of Flying," a 32-page cover story for National Geographic, published in December 2003, commemorating the centennial observance of the Wright Brothers' flight. Joe is a 20 year contributor to National Geographic, and this story was the first all digital shoot for the magazine. This issue was a National Magazine Award Finalist, and one of the magazine's most popular covers. He has shot cover stories for Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Geo, Fortune, New York,
Some of McNally's other renowned photographic series include, "The Future of Flying," a 32-page cover story for National Geographic, published in December 2003, commemorating the centennial observance of the Wright Brothers' flight. Joe is a 20 year contributor to National Geographic, and this story was the first all digital shoot for the magazine. This issue was a National Magazine Award Finalist, and one of the magazine's most popular covers. He has shot cover stories for Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Geo, Fortune, New York, Business Week, LIFE and Men's Journal, among others.
McNally's advertising, marketing and promotional work includes FedEx, Nikon, Sony, Land's End, General Electric, MetLife, Bogen, Adidas, Kelby Media Group, Wildlife Conservation Society, and American Ballet Theatre.
In 2008, McNally published his critically acclaimed, award winning book, The Moment It Clicks, which has been touted as, "one foot on the coffee table and one foot in the classroom."
In 2009, McNally published his newest, much anticipated book, The Hotshoe Diaries. Just like its predecessor, it immediately cracked Amazon's top ten list of best sellers, within the first week of publication.
Joe McNally is known internationally for his ability to produce technically and logistically complex assignments with expert use of color and light. As part of his teaching activities, he conducts numerous workshops around the world.
Faces of Ground Zero: Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001,
Publication Date: February 2, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0756774322 | ISBN-13: 978-0756774325
LIFE Magazine photographer Joe McNally presents 150 photographs taken with his one-of-a-kind camera, a 12-foot by 12-foot high Polaroid which takes pictures 40 inches wide by 80 inches tall - larger than life-size. The series presents the (mostly) anonymous heroes of Ground Zero.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Publication Date: 2001
During our nation's most trying times, it has been LIFE that has provided the images that help us understand, remember, and in the process, renew. Now the editors of LIFE have assembled a moving, brilliantly illustrated account of tragedy and triumph. This is about firemen going in amidst the rubble, but it is also about a Frenchman in Paris holding up a sign that says, "We are all Americans." This is about our leaders taking charge, but it is also about schoolchildren in Iowa hanging an American flag on a tree in their backyard. Beginning with the history of lower Manhattan, the book explains what happened on September 11, profiles many of the heroes, victims and rescuers (fireman, police, doctors, and rescue dogs among them), and paints an inspiring portrait if a nation and world coming together in sadness, pride and resolve.The book is more than photographs. Explanatory text runs throughout, and the book also includes a selection of original essays about America and September 11, written by such notables as Maya Angelou, Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List), Stephen Ambrose, Melissa Fay Greene (The Temple Bombing), Andrei Codrescu, Gordon Parks, Doug Stanton (In Harm's Way), Bob Greene (Duty), James Bradley (Flags of Our Fathers), and others. All profits from the sales of this book will be donated to American Red Cross, September 11th Fund, International Association of Fire Fighters, New York Fraternal Order of Police WTC Fund, The National Organization for Victim Assistance, and The Twin Towers Fund. When Americans think of photographic journalism at its finest, they think of LIFE magazine. This book will draw upon the best photographers employed by TIME, LIFE, PEOPLE and other magazines. Many of the photographers have had their own collections published in book form.
Recently Mr. Cacchioli took part in a photo shoot and his picture will be appearing in an upcoming LIFE photobook that is due out in September 2011. (That book does not yet have a title.) Louie was also recently interviewed for a new book,
September 9, 2010, Associated Press / The Hindu, WTC steel column installed at ground zero,
Officials hoisted a 70-foot (21 meter) piece of World Trade Center steel at ground zero on Tuesday and vowed to open the September 11 memorial by next year, although they acknowledged that the ongoing construction at the site would limit where and how the public could visit.
The memorial, with waterfall-filled pools set above the footprints of the fallen towers, its wall of victims' names, its trees and green spaces, is expected to open by the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.
Officials said it would be open to the public after that. But they will be able to enter the memorial only from the western edge of ground zero, while fenced boundaries that surround the site on three other sides of the eight-acre plaza will still be there, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.
Millions to visit
Once the official memorial is open, officials estimate, 7.1 million people will visit it in the first year. Bloomberg said a northeast section of the plaza would be closed at some point while a transit hub is being built underneath it, and other parts of the plaza could close as needs warrant.
Thirty-six storeys of World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, are rising from the northwest corner of the site. It is scheduled to open in 2013, along with a second office tower. The column put in place on Tuesday was part of that.
The 70-foot structure, with its three-pronged trident top, was salvaged from the rubble.
AP
September 7, 2010, The Seattle Times, WTC steel column installed at ground zero, by Deepti Hajela, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK —Officials hoisted a 70-foot piece of World Trade Center steel at ground zero Tuesday and vowed to open the Sept. 11 memorial by next year, although they acknowledged that the ongoing construction at the site would limit where and how the public could visit.
The memorial, with reflecting, waterfall-filled pools set above the footprints of the fallen towers, its wall of victims' names, its trees and green spaces, is expected to open by the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks. Officials have said it would be open to the general public after that.
But the public will only be able to enter the memorial from the western edge of ground zero, while fenced boundaries that surround the site on three other sides of the 8-acre plaza will still be there, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday.
"Every once in a while they're going to have to move a beam or something and they'll close off a part of it," the mayor said, but said visitors would be able to still walk through the cobblestoned plaza and pause by the memorial pools, which have been built up to street level.
"You'll be able to come, walk the plaza, sit, contemplate, the fountains will be working, look at the names, you can reflect," he said.
Thousands of visitors come to peer inside the fenced construction site or visit two adjoining museum sites a day. Once the official memorial is open, officials estimate 7.1 million people will visit it in the first year.
Bloomberg said a northeast section of the plaza would be closed at some point while a transit hub is being built underneath it, and said other parts of the plaza could close as needs warrant. Several of the 400 trees that are planned at the plaza - including 16 that were planted this summer - will still need to be installed after the 10th anniversary passes.
Bloomberg and other officials described progress at the memorial and at half a dozen other projects underway at the 16-acre site, including the signature, 1,776-foot skyscraper meant to replace the fallen trade center towers. It was followed by the hoisting of a salvaged 50-ton steel column that was once part of the north tower's facade to mark what will be the entrance of the memorial museum.
"I think there had been doubts, there had been concerns but we are here today to truly acknowledge what has happened recently," said Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.
Thirty-six stories of 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, are rising from the northwest corner of the site. It is scheduled to open in 2013, along with a second office tower.
The column put in place Tuesday was part of that. The 70-foot structure, with its three-pronged trident top, was salvaged from the rubble after the Sept. 11 attacks. A second column is expected to be raised Wednesday. The columns will be at the entrance of the museum, which will occupy space underneath the site and is scheduled to open in 2012.
Officials cited an agreement reached with developer Larry Silverstein in recent months that they said would speed up the financing and construction timetables of up to three towers the private developer hopes to build. The Port Authority agreed to put up to $1.6 billion in public financing towards two of Silverstein's towers, including one where it plans to rent office space.
The Port Authority is also building a transit hub expected to be close to the size of Grand Central Terminal for commuter rail lines to New Jersey and connections to a dozen subway lines. The hub is expected to be finished in 2014.
Plans for two other towers are uncertain and dependent on market conditions. A performing arts center is also planned for the site, but its design, financing and construction schedule are not complete.
But once the towers, memorial and hub open, Silverstein said, the area known as ground zero would transform into something else.
"It will be an extraordinary dimension to this neighborhood in terms of what it will have created," he said.
Los Angeles Kings scouts Mark Bavis and Ace Bailey were aboard United Flight 175 on Sept. 11, 2001. Their families have kept their memories alive with charitable foundations and more.
In his official Kings photo, Mark Bavis smiles confidently, his blue eyes gazing toward a boundless future.
After one season as a scout, he was on track for success, combing the U.S. and colleges while capitalizing on his many contacts. He loved his work and his colleagues. Dave Taylor, who was the Los Angeles Kings' general manager and hired him after several recommendations, called him a new style of scout, fluent in many sides of the business.
Mark Bavis might have become the team's scouting director. More likely, he would have turned to coaching. He loved coaching.
"He had a quiet personality but was very focused, very professional," Taylor said. "He had a tremendous future, whatever avenue he was going to go down."
That future was taken from him 10 years ago Sunday.
Mark Bavis and veteran scout Garnet "Ace" Bailey, as charming as he was skilled at evaluating talent, were heading to Los Angeles for training camp aboard United Flight 175 when it became the second hijacked aircraft steered by terrorists into the World Trade Center. Their deaths tore holes in the hearts of two loving families.
"You don't know the day that's going to be a hard day for you," said Mike Bavis, Mark Bavis' identical twin and associate head hockey coach at their alma mater, Boston University.
"The families I know and my family, I think they've moved on to be very productive and not dwelling in grief, but it doesn't mean it's not still hard."
Barbara Pothier, sister of Ace Bailey's wife, Katherine, said the 53-year-old Bailey was the heartbeat of their clan, a captivating storyteller. A big kid.
"I grew up in a family of nine children, and when Ace married Kathy, he became every bit a brother to all of us," Pothier said. "Not a brother-in-law, a brother. We were all extremely close to Ace."
Inspired by love, the Bavises and Baileys determined to honor their lost loved ones. The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation provides mentoring and college scholarships to kids. The Ace Bailey Foundation renovated the neonatal intensive care unit at the Floating Hospital for Children at Boston's Tufts Medical Center and brightened the environment for families of ailing kids. Diminishing donations nearly closed the foundation in 2008, but Pothier, its executive director, and Katherine Bailey felt their work wasn't done.
"When we go to the hospital and see the people using the facilities that we've built, it's really rewarding," Pothier said, "and we know when we're looking at it that Ace's spirit is in that. Ace would love what we'd done. And so out of bad comes good."
The Bavises want more than to perpetuate good deeds in Mark Bavis' name. They want justice for his death, and they stand alone in pursuing a civil lawsuit related to the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Bavises filed a wrongful-death suit against United and Huntleigh USA, a security company that staffed the checkpoint at Boston's Logan Airport. The trial is scheduled for November.
There were 5,560 claims filed with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which dispensed more than $7 billion to victims and their families on the condition that they would not file lawsuits. Other victims and families filed suits but settled before trial.
The Bavises refused to settle, traveling an emotionally rutted road to learn why Mark died.
"It's the very basic principle of right and wrong and accountability," Mike Bavis said. "For my family, we've never been able to get past the point of moving forward on the level of accountability and exposure as to what the facts were regarding this event. If you don't expose the fact and let the information out, you just enable the next company, the next industry, to be grossly negligent and then claim ignorance."
Mike Bavis said a "dramatic" amount of information about threats existed before 9/11, contradicting arguments that the attacks were unimaginable. "For there to be inaction on the airlines' part was nothing more than negligence based on a profit motive," he said.
"Our hope is that the legal system still can work the way it was meant. It's unacceptable that my brother had to spend the last 21 minutes of his life in the type of situation that he had to. It's unacceptable, given what we believe was known prior to 9/11 and the inaction by the airlines and the security companies. It's what motivated us to stay strong through this test of will."
He said his family has support from other 9/11 families, some of whom he said were "broken down by the process" and settled. "They have a right to know why this happened so easily. And right now my family is providing that for them," he said.
Pothier understands why the Bavises continued and others did not.
"A lot of the other families had little children that needed to be supported, and the Bavises, having a large extended family, could continue and fight for that, and they feel very strongly about it," she said. "And I have to hand it to them because it's very wearing.
"I wish them good luck with it. I hope whatever the outcome is that they will find some peace with that."
That the Bavises stood on principle doesn't surprise Kings scout Stephen Greeley, who has known them since he was 7 and idolized the twins before he was coached by them at the youth and college levels.
"They're fighting for something they really believe in," Greeley said. "This isn't about just the money to them. I think there's a big picture here."
The portrait of Mark Bavis on the wall in the Kings' offices always stirs Greeley, who has much the same duties as Bavis did. Greeley's uncle coached the twins in high school; his father played golf with Mark Bavis a week before that terrible day. Greeley said his younger brother, Jack, cherishes a handwritten note from Mark Bavis that offered advice in choosing a college, a gesture both typical and classy because Jack Greeley wasn't NHL material and Mark Bavis gained nothing professionally from it.
"It's not just a 9/11 face to me. It's the face of a guy that was so good to me, so good to my family, that I do think about him quite a bit," said Greeley, who attended Mark Bavis' funeral and participates in the annual golf tournament that funds the foundation. "Mark was such a unique person."
On Sunday the Bavises will gather in Boston. "That's where we feel we should be," Mike Bavis said. The extended Bailey family will visit a monument in Boston's Public Garden, and one of Ace Bailey's nieces, 20-year-old Sarah Pothier, will sing at a service at the State House. They'll return to suburban Lynnfield, where Ace and Kathy Bailey had lived in the same house since 1972 and where Kathy Bailey will speak at a memorial ceremony.
"We miss him so much," Barbara Pothier said. "One of the redeeming things is, as incredibly devastated as we all were to lose the life-center of our family, you can't feel sad for too long without somebody mentioning a story or a little quip and we're all hysterical laughing. Ace's comedy and humor and good cheer are in us all now."
Those graces have resurfaced in Evan Garnet Bailey, the 2-year-old son of Ace and Kathy Bailey's son, Todd.
"He's adorable, and he's the apple of my sister Katherine's eye," Pothier said. "He doesn't look like Ace, but he certainly has his qualities."
Someday he will learn about his grandfather and Mark Bavis, and he will be better for it.
September 21, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Family of Kings scout Mark Bavis issues statement on 9/11 settlement,
The family of Mark Bavis, one of two Kings scouts killed when United Flight 175 was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, issued a statement Wednesday on its decision to accept a settlement and agree to end its lawsuit against United and the airline's security contractor.
Bavis, 31, was traveling to Los Angeles with fellow scout Ace Bailey to attend the Kings' training camp when the planes were hijacked during the day's terrorist attacks.
Mike Bavis, Mark's twin, had been adamant about pursuing the suit and it was the last remaining 9/11 wrongful death suit. His public letter explains why the family changed course.
"After ten long years, our family has had a change in position regarding the litigation on behalf of our son and brother, Mark. Mark was a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 175 when it crashed into the World Trade Center. This change is the result of a recent ruling by the Honorable Judge Alvin Hellerstein. With the stroke of his pen, Judge Hellerstein very cleverly changed this lawsuit.
"The lawsuit was about wrongful death, gross negligence and a complete lack of appreciation for the value of human life. He instead made it a case about a federal regulation. He ignored 100 years of aviation law and relied on an environmental case to apply federal preemption. He essentially gutted the case so that the truth about what led to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, would never be told at trial.
"To the families of the 9/11 victims: We can honestly say that our family envisioned a day when you could hear all the evidence, evidence that would provide an important step in moving beyond the events of that day. This process has taken a toll on us that only you could understand.
"We fought this long for two reasons, because we valued Mark's life in the time spent together, the shared experiences and the expectation of what life would continue to be. Secondly, the truth as to why this happened so easily should be important. Mark did not have to endure the tragedy that ended his life and neither did your loved ones.
"Due to our family’s refusal to settle before this time, our attorneys at Motley Rice LLC have been able to conduct the most comprehensive investigation to date regarding how the airlines and airport security companies failed so miserably on 9/11 and in the days, weeks and months leading up to 9/11. Motley Rice’s attorneys have recovered ten times more information than the 9/11 Commission in regards to the failure of the aviation industry.
"Why? Because we, and other 9/11 families, wanted answers. We want that information to be available to whoever cares to read it. It is important to us that some change comes out of the information held in those briefs. The system is clearly broken when an industry like aviation has enough power to keep a federal agency such as the FAA from implementing more stringent security measures, especially during a heightened terrorism threat level. The tail is wagging the dog, and someone in Washington needs to stand up and start holding people accountable.
"It is not out of the question that our country could endure a similar event in the future. Such a tragedy, however, should never again be the result of lack of oversight or preparation or because lobbyists have so much influence and power in Washington, D.C., that American lives are at risk. Our government’s job is to protect the people -- from foreign armies, terrorists and even our own American corporations. It is time that our elected officials take responsibility for the authority we have given them.
"All of the events of September 11, 2001, are open to opinion and discussion, but we believe the easiest way to have prevented the kind of horror and tragedy of 9/11 would have been to have an airline industry that made a reasonable effort to provide security for its passengers. The evidence shows that they most certainly did not.
"Lastly, we are thankful to have had a law firm like Motley Rice that was willing to stand by us and fight for the truth. Without them, we would have never learned so much about why this happened. In particular, we want to thank Don Migliori, Mary Schiavo and their entire team."
Bavis Family
March 16, 2010, New York Daily News, Airlines were protected from 9/11 suits, but folks on ground at WTC got shortchanged, by Michael Daly,
Just 11 days after the attack on the World Trade Center, when the ruins were still smoldering and we were just beginning to recover our dead, Congress rushed to protect the airlines from being sued.
That's right. Congress saw the footage of the hijacked airliners flying into the towers and those poor trapped souls jumping and thousands more pulverized by the twin collapses and one of its foremost concerns was this:
"The families might sue the airlines!"
The airlines must have been all the more concerned because they had for decades been resisting advice to secure the cockpits against intruders.
El Al had done so and nobody ever commandeered one of their planes.
The American carriers had decided it would cost too much money and the result was 9/11. The airlines would have faced billions in suits had their friends in Congress not quickly pushed through the Air Transportation Safety and Stabilization Act.
What should have been called the Airline Protection Act barred 9/11 victims and their survivors from suing the airlines.
Instead, people would seek what they needed at a September 11 Victim Compensation Fund that the act established to make the whole thing politically viable.
As it happened, it all worked out for the best.
The fund proved to be responsive and efficient and fair.
And, lest you think badly of all lawyers, hundreds of them volunteered to assist free of charge. They were called "attorneys of mercy" with absolutely no irony.
Then the fund expired in 2003.
Mayor Bloomberg pressed Congress to revive it.
The city's representatives in Washington did their best.
But it was not like a big special interest like the airlines was in jeopardy.
It was just a bunch of New York cops and firefighters and construction workers suffering illnesses as varied as the toxins in The Pit.
And there was no longer any political necessity to protect them.
So the effort to revive the victim fund went nowhere.
Instead, Congress allocated $1 billion for the city and its contractors to resolve the suits that were now the victims' only redress.
The defense was led by the firm Patton Boggs, whose home page has the words "POWER BASE" in huge letters. The firm's head "toxic tort" guy, James Tyrrell, once represented the manufacturer of Agent Orange in a suit involving 2.4 million Vietnam war veterans. He has also defended the makers of defective breast implants and of a pregnancy drug that gave women cancer.
The total defense bill in this 9/11 case has exceeded $200 million. There have been reports of hourly fees exceeding $580 and a "business dinner" tab of as much as $1,250.
The plaintiffs' lawyers are working with no guarantee of payment but figure it would be only right to take a third of the $575 million to $657 million settlement proposed last week, plus expenses, of course.
Compare all that to the "attorneys of mercy" during the Victim Fund, back in that time when an attack of pure evil brought out the very best in us.
If Congress wants to bring some of that goodness back, it can still revive the fund.
We could call them politicians of mercy.
Hey and the airlines will still be protected.
Faces of Ground Zero, Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001, by Joe McNally, with a Tribute from Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Louie was separated from his fire company and single handedly saved the lives of some forty civilians by leading them out of Tower 1. Moments before the North Tower fell Cacchioli was helping an injured Battalion ( 2 ) Chief to safety; a moment that was captured by a Daily News photographer. Louie was caught in the collapse and barely survived. Several members of this rescue-team were killed. Nine of them belonged to the same firehouse in the Yorkville section of Manhattan's Upper East Side and were later dubbed "The Yorkville Nine."
Throughout much of 2002, Cacchioli took part in the project Faces of Ground Zero: A Photographic Tribute to America's Heroes, a traveling 9/11 photo exhibit. (Faces was the brainchild of Joe McNally, a freelance photographer who has shot assignments for numerous advertising agencies and publications.)
To promote the 9/11 exhibit, Mr. Cacchioli's photo was chosen to be featured in numerous advertisements which put a face on the tragedy. Twenty-six portraits of this exhibit, including Cacchioli's, later appeared in the Life photo-book: One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001. (One Nation spent five months on The New York Times Best Sellers list.)
The photo-book Faces of Ground Zero: Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001 followed next. It contains 150 McNally portraits; those from the exhibition as well as several that had previously never been shown before. Mr. Cacchioli's photo is prominently featured on the front cover of both the hardcover and abridged soft-cover versions of that book. The American Spirit: Meeting the Challenge of September 11 was a 2002 follow-up book that featured new essays regarding the 9/11 tragedy. Mr. Cacchioli ( 3 ) was featured in that book as well.
He has been featured in several documentaries, television programs, and radio shows including the very popular well respected television news program 60 Minutes and Imus in the Morning. Soldier is not the first book Cacchioli has collaborated with. He can also be seen in the Life photo books that have been listed on The New York Times Best Sellers List;
Joe McNally Page
Biography
Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed American photographer and long-time photojournalist. From 1994 until 1998, he was LIFE magazine's staff photographer, the first one in 23 years. His most well known series is the "Faces of Ground Zero -- Portraits of the Heroes of September 11th", a collection of 246 giant Polaroid portraits shot in the Moby C Studio near Ground Zero in a three-week period shortly after 9/11. A large group of these historic, compelling life-size (9' x 4') photos were exhibited in seven cities in 2002, seen by almost a million people. The exhibit and the book, printed by LIFE, helped raise approximately $2 million for the 9/11-relief effort. This collection is considered by many museum and art professionals to be the most significant artistic endeavor to evolve to date from the 9/11 tragedy.
Some of McNally's other renowned photographic series include, "The Future of Flying," a 32-page cover story for National Geographic, published in December 2003, commemorating the centennial observance of the Wright Brothers' flight. Joe is a 20 year contributor to National Geographic, and this story was the first all digital shoot for the magazine. This issue was a National Magazine Award Finalist, and one of the magazine's most popular covers. He has shot cover stories for Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Geo, Fortune, New York,
Some of McNally's other renowned photographic series include, "The Future of Flying," a 32-page cover story for National Geographic, published in December 2003, commemorating the centennial observance of the Wright Brothers' flight. Joe is a 20 year contributor to National Geographic, and this story was the first all digital shoot for the magazine. This issue was a National Magazine Award Finalist, and one of the magazine's most popular covers. He has shot cover stories for Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Geo, Fortune, New York, Business Week, LIFE and Men's Journal, among others.
McNally's advertising, marketing and promotional work includes FedEx, Nikon, Sony, Land's End, General Electric, MetLife, Bogen, Adidas, Kelby Media Group, Wildlife Conservation Society, and American Ballet Theatre.
In 2008, McNally published his critically acclaimed, award winning book, The Moment It Clicks, which has been touted as, "one foot on the coffee table and one foot in the classroom."
In 2009, McNally published his newest, much anticipated book, The Hotshoe Diaries. Just like its predecessor, it immediately cracked Amazon's top ten list of best sellers, within the first week of publication.
Joe McNally is known internationally for his ability to produce technically and logistically complex assignments with expert use of color and light. As part of his teaching activities, he conducts numerous workshops around the world.
Faces of Ground Zero: Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001,
Publication Date: February 2, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0756774322 | ISBN-13: 978-0756774325
LIFE Magazine photographer Joe McNally presents 150 photographs taken with his one-of-a-kind camera, a 12-foot by 12-foot high Polaroid which takes pictures 40 inches wide by 80 inches tall - larger than life-size. The series presents the (mostly) anonymous heroes of Ground Zero.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001, (One Nation alone spent more than five months on NYT Best Sellers List.)
Leather Bound: 192 pages
Publisher: The Easton Press: Norwalk, Connecticut; First Edition edition (2001)
ASIN: B001DF2Q3K
Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.1 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
During our nation's most trying times, it has been LIFE that has provided the images that help us understand, remember, and in the process, renew. Now the editors of LIFE have assembled a moving, brilliantly illustrated account of tragedy and triumph. This is about firemen going in amidst the rubble, but it is also about a Frenchman in Paris holding up a sign that says, "We are all Americans." This is about our leaders taking charge, but it is also about schoolchildren in Iowa hanging an American flag on a tree in their backyard. Beginning with the history of lower Manhattan, the book explains what happened on September 11, profiles many of the heroes, victims and rescuers (fireman, police, doctors, and rescue dogs among them), and paints an inspiring portrait if a nation and world coming together in sadness, pride and resolve.The book is more than photographs. Explanatory text runs throughout, and the book also includes a selection of original essays about America and September 11, written by such notables as Maya Angelou, Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List), Stephen Ambrose, Melissa Fay Greene (The Temple Bombing), Andrei Codrescu, Gordon Parks, Doug Stanton (In Harm's Way), Bob Greene (Duty), James Bradley (Flags of Our Fathers), and others. All profits from the sales of this book will be donated to American Red Cross, September 11th Fund, International Association of Fire Fighters, New York Fraternal Order of Police WTC Fund, The National Organization for Victim Assistance, and The Twin Towers Fund. When Americans think of photographic journalism at its finest, they think of LIFE magazine. This book will draw upon the best photographers employed by TIME, LIFE, PEOPLE and other magazines. Many of the photographers have had their own collections published in book form.
The American Spirit: Meeting the Challenge of September 11, which also contains an exclusive interview with Cacchioli.
- Paperback: 128 pages
- Publisher: Life/Time, Inc. (2002)
- Language: English
- ASIN: B007EH0HX2
- Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
Louie was also mentioned prominently in the book
Debunking 9/11 Lies by The Editors of Popular Mechanics.
Publication Date: August 15, 2006
Conspiracy theories about Sept. 11, 2001 continue to spread. Now, in a meticulous, scientific and groundbreaking new book, Popular Mechanics puts these rumors to rest. The magazine’s editors analyze the 20 most persistent claims underlying 9/11 conspiracy theories—and conclusively disprove each one. The result is a triumph of hard fact over conspiratorial fantasy.
Recently Mr. Cacchioli took part in a photo shoot and his picture will be appearing in an upcoming LIFE photobook that is due out in September 2011. (That book does not yet have a title.) Louie was also recently interviewed for a new book,
From Battlemind to Homemind, about post-traumatic stress disorder, that is due out in 2012 by Henrik Krogh.
Over the next four months Cacchioli is going to be interviewed and featured in two television documentaries.
Louie became an activist who has been heavily involved in a variety of causes including 9/11 remembrance, charities, and the World Police & Fire Games.
Louie became an activist who has been heavily involved in a variety of causes including 9/11 remembrance, charities, and the World Police & Fire Games.
He is also participating with 9/11 Families United Against Terrorism, a class action lawsuit against those who financed the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
When possible, Louie volunteers his time giving guided tours at Ground Zero, which is coordinated through Tribute WTC 9/11 Visitor Center.
Louie Cacchioli ( 4 ) currently lives in Marlboro, New Jersey.
It should be pointed out that there is only a small number of books that were put out by other firefighters who were also survivors of 9/11. However, of all those books, each of the authors was an officer in the FDNY. In addition to
Keegan's Closure and Kerik's The Lost Son deal with NYPD and PAPD police departments. Police issues are obviously very different from the material discussed in Cacchioli's book.
Of all the books mentioned here
It should be pointed out that there is only a small number of books that were put out by other firefighters who were also survivors of 9/11. However, of all those books, each of the authors was an officer in the FDNY. In addition to
Strong of Heart by Commissioner Thomas Von Essen (2002) and
Last Man Down by Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto (2003), there was also
First In, Last Out by Battalion Chief John J. Salka Jr. (2005),
American by Choice by Captain Alfredo Fuentes (2004), The author of Fuentes's book is a creative writing teacher and the book was not picked up by a major publisher (self-published).
The Second Tower's Down: A firefighter's Story by Lt. John McCole (2002). The books by Captain Fuentes and Lt. McCole did not receive widespread distribution.
Two more that deserve mention in this category are
Closure: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Recovery Mission by PAPD Lt. William Keegan Jr. and
The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice by Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.
Louie Cacchioli's book is the first (and so far only known) book of this kind written by a "grunt" (non-officer). That makes Soldier distinct in this unique category and provides a very different perspective that has not been previously explored. Cacchioli has elaborated on how his book was different:
Louie Cacchioli's book is the first (and so far only known) book of this kind written by a "grunt" (non-officer). That makes Soldier distinct in this unique category and provides a very different perspective that has not been previously explored. Cacchioli has elaborated on how his book was different:
"Instead of someone who was giving orders, I was taking orders. That is just one way how my story is different from the other books in this field."
Commissioner Von Essen's Strong of Heart is an excellent book. Unfortunately the role of the Fire Commissioner is not to take part in coordinating actual fire/rescue situations. Von Essen was with the mayor on 9/11 and not inside the burning towers.
Also the Commissioner's book was published in early 2002 and did not have luxury of discussing the long term aftermath. So his perspective is very different.
Commissioner Von Essen's Strong of Heart is an excellent book. Unfortunately the role of the Fire Commissioner is not to take part in coordinating actual fire/rescue situations. Von Essen was with the mayor on 9/11 and not inside the burning towers.
Also the Commissioner's book was published in early 2002 and did not have luxury of discussing the long term aftermath. So his perspective is very different.
Salka's book First In, Last Out in described as a book that is about "lessons in leadership" in which the author takes his experiences and applies them to real life situations. This is a very different approach when compared to Cacchioli's.
Keegan's Closure and Kerik's The Lost Son deal with NYPD and PAPD police departments. Police issues are obviously very different from the material discussed in Cacchioli's book.
Of all the books mentioned here
Last Man Down by Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto is probably the closest to Cacchioli's. Unfortunately that book encountered some difficulties. Among some of the criticisms is that the book only discusses the events of just one particular day. To fill up space, there was a lot of unnecessary description of details.
Worst of all, the book unfortunately ran into controversy after it was published. ("9/11 STORY DOUBTED: Some Bravest Say Chief's Book Exaggerates His Role" New York Daily News 26 November 2002).
Lieutenant (E.M.S.)
Cacciola, Grace (pdf file)
10/24/01
October 20, 2009, Infowars, Ex-CIA Chief James Woolsey handed down gag-order to 9/11 Firefighters,
This tale begins during and shortly after 9/11/2001, when a writer named Randy Lavello published a story at Prison Planet, Bombs in the Building: World Trade Center ‘Conspiracy Theory’ is a Conspiracy Fact. Among the many tales in this article, a number of which were picked up in Mike Rivero’s web site, what really happened, is a conversation between Lavello and Lieutenant Fireman and former Auxiliary Police Officer, Paul Isaac Jr. It’s a head-spinner…
The Woolsey gag order created an Omerta-like mob silence that Firefighters and Police Officers have had to deal with to this day.
“[Lieutenant Fireman and former Auxiliary Police Officer, Paul Isaac Jr.] explained to me [Lavello] that, ‘many other firemen know there were bombs in the buildings, but they’re afraid for their jobs to admit it because the ‘higher-ups’ forbid discussion of this fact.” Paul further elaborated that former CIA director Robert Woolsey, as the Fire Department’s Anti-terrorism Consultant, is sending a gag order down the ranks. ‘There were definitely bombs in those buildings,’ he told me.”
Isaac also addressed the FBI gag order in an article by Greg Syzmanski, saying “It’s amazing how many people are afraid to talk for fear or retaliation or losing their jobs.” He mentions that the FBI gag order placed on law enforcement and fire department officials prevented them from openly talking about any inside knowledge of 9/11. Syzmansky praised Isaacs in a highly interesting article titled One-Man Investigative Team.
Syzmansky wrote that “When he [Isaacs] worked as an auxiliary fireman specializing in emergency and disaster communications response, Isaac said after 9/11 he began monitoring all emergency units to see if any patterns or information about the perpetrators could be learned.
“Over the last four years he’s compiled information and names of civilians and firefighters, whose identities he keeps anonymous for their safety, who all claim to have either witnessed explosions in the towers or have information that a controlled demolition took place.” Isaacs is quoted as saying, “It’s just amazing how many people are afraid to talk for fear of retaliation or losing their jobs,” again regarding Woolsey’s FBI gag order placed on law enforcement and fire department officials, preventing them from openly talking about any inside knowledge of 9/11.
Researcher Vincent Sammartino, also in attendance at the WTC ‘open grave site’ on September 11, 2005, wrote the following on APFN, “I just got back from Ground Zero. People know the truth! Half of the police and firemen were coming up to us and telling us that they know 9/11 was an inside job. They were told not to talk about it. But they were supporting what we were doing! I had tears in my eyes.”
So, why would former CIA director Woolsey, as the Fire Department’s Anti-terrorism Consultant, be gagging Isaac and his colleagues about what they saw and heard, i.e. bombs exploding in the building if not to cover up the government conspiracy, the inside job behind the supposed demolition of the WTC by two jetliners, whose fuel fire supposedly melted the redundant steel frames which caved and caused a pyroplastic free-fall of each building in some ten seconds. All at once the conspiracy of the lone Muslim airliner hijackers destroying the towers goes down the drain, glub, glub! That’s why Firefighters and Police Officers were gagged.
In fact, click Rivero’s “what really happened” site above to get to get more linked interviews of Firefighters talking about explosions shortly after 9/11 occurred. Rivero is amazing at collecting data, classifying it, and incorporating it into his encyclopedic 9/11 site. Read what the heroes had to say.
For instance, “Lou Cacchioli, Firefighter in WTC 1: At that point, Cacchioli found one of the only functioning elevators, one only going as high as the 24th floor … ‘Tommy Hetzel was with me and everybody else also gets out of the elevator when it stops on the 24th floor,’ said Cacchioli. ‘There was a huge amount of smoke. Tommy and I had to go back down the elevator for tools and no sooner did the elevators close behind us, we heard this huge explosion that sounded like a bomb. It was such a loud noise, it knocked off the lights and stalled the elevator.’
Lou continues, ‘Luckily, we weren’t caught between floors and were able to pry open the doors. People were going crazy, yelling and screaming. And all the time, I am crawling low and making my way in the dark with a flashlight to the staircase and thinking Tommy is right behind me… I somehow got into the stairwell and there were more people there. When I began to try and direct down, another huge explosion like the first one hits. This one hits about two minutes later, although it’s hard to tell, but I’m thinking, ‘Oh. My God, these bastards put bombs in here like they did in 1993!’” Unfortunately, the bastards in 1993 and in 2001 had considerable help from the bastards in our government.
The Woolsey gag order created an Omerta-like mob silence that Firefighters and Police Officers have had to deal with to this day. Imagine their anger, seeing their buddies disappear in explosions, fire and smoke. Imagine having to swallow that anger, that grief and humiliation, for the grand purpose of America sinking into the grizzly War on Terror in a matter of days. Imagine having to work on the pile at Ground Zero knowing what you knew. Or having to play deaf, dumb and blind, as 340 Firefighters died, two fire paramedics and one FDNY Chaplain and as 23 New York Police officers and 36 Port Authority officers went down. Not to mention the 2800 plus civilians taken from their lives senselessly.
Is it any wonder then that Justice John Lehner recently killed the NYC CAN ballot initiative to reinvestigate 911. The Justice called the initiative “irrelevant,” and rejected the will of 80,000 New Yorkers who had signed petitions to make it to happen. Is it the specter of James Woolsey gagging the Justice, or Mayor Bloomberg? Bloomberg rejected the will of the people after they had twice voted against a third term for New York Mayors. And since Mayor Bloomberg is in the middle of a political campaign for his illegal third term, he might want to assure us that we’re not being gagged, like Justice Lehner or the Fire and Police Departments. We would like to hear the full 9/11 story presented by a truly independent and expert commission.
What Bush did, what is still being done, is in keeping with Hitler’s axiom: If you tell a lie, make sure it’s a big lie, and keep telling it till everyone believes or has to believe it for fear of seeming unpatriotic. And so it’s time to take the gag off, one way or the other. Let those Firefighters and Police officers speak without fear of retribution. Let the facts, the real facts of 911, gathered by engineers, architects, pilots, retired military men, first responders, citizens of New York and the world, speak for once loud and clear.
New Yorkers should take to the streets to protest the Justice’s gag order. Case in point: a few days ago the governor of Puerto Rico announced that he would fire 20,000 government workers to close his $4 billion deficit, once again balancing deficits on the backs of labor. This caused the people of Puerto Rico to pour into the streets in a spontaneous one-day strike! In fact, their Puerto Rican brothers and sisters in New York City joined in a March at the Puerto Rican government offices here. Their collective reaction made waves from the mainland to the island.
We don’t want to end up with an Emperor instead of a duly-elected Mayor, Governor, or President, and silence instead of justice. Why not bring the wheels of New York to a squealing halt in a similar strike? So for once we can hear the voice of truth on those scratchy fire and policeman’s walkie talkies. Then Mr. Woolsey can gag his old friends at the CIA or his new friends at the Wall Street Journal where he now writes guest columns. Or perhaps be gagged himself by Rupert “The Fox” Murdoch, yellow press media mogul of our time.
May 5th, 2003, Prison Planet, Bombs in the Building: World Trade Center 'Conspiracy Theory' is a Conspiracy Fact, By Randy Lavello,
By now the misinformation and ignored findings surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks have evaporated the official version into the land of fiction. Didn't it seem strange that we learned everything of the government version by the next day? Much has been learned about the attacks, yet the official version has never changed; it seems as though our government thinks the point moot since it used this excuse to pass unconstitutional laws and wage wars resulting in oil profits. The time has come to admit the sorry truth as a nation, so that we can move on - as a nation.
The planes did not bring those towers down; bombs did. So why use planes? It seems they were a diversionary tactic- a grand spectacle. Who would want to divert our attention from the real cause of the collapse of those towers? It must be those who benefited most from these attacks. Let's recount some facts of that dreadful day.
Any time an aircraft deviates from it's course, the air traffic controller requests a military intercept according to military response code 7610-4J. This was the first time interceptors were not sent up in the history of this policy. The intercept pilots are trained to make a visual check of the cockpit--could this be the reason these interceptors were intercepted? Planes were sent to the New York area, after unprecedented delay, from Falmouth, Massachusetts rather than nearby Ft. Dix or Laguardia. Of course, they didn't arrive in time - there was no visual scan of the cockpits.
Captain Kent Hill, retired from the Air Force, explained that the U.S. had flown unmanned aircraft, similar in size to a Boeing 737, on preprogrammed flight paths from Edwards Air Force Base, California to Australia on several occasions. He believes the airliners used in the attacks had their on board computers knocked out and were subsequently choreographed by an Airborne Warning and Control System. Along side Captain Hill, an Air Force officer with more than 100 sorties in Vietnam stated, "Those birds either had a crack fighter pilot in the left seat, or they were being maneuvered by remote control." We know that the technology exists to fly hijacked commercial airliners by remote control - it's called "Globalhawk." We also know that the military has had an unmanned drone aircraft known as the "Predator," since 1994. A saboteur would merely have to reprogram the controls to switch from manual to remote; those airliners practically fly themselves already with the autopilot. This would require electronic security codes--acquisition of electronic codes would also explain the lapse of interceptor response due to sabotage. Furthermore, it's a fact that Air Force One codes were known and punched in by a rogue source on 9/11, proving the presence of an inside, subversive element.
As usual, it's not a good conspiracy, if it doesn't involve a Bush! Introducing Marvin Bush - brother of George Jr. Marvin is a substantial shareholder and was on the Board of Directors until 2000 of a security company aptly named Securacom. This is not an ordinary security force with canvas badges and walkie-talkies; it's an electronic security company, which was "coincidentally" involved with Dulles Airport until 1998. Handling electronic security at Dulles seems like an excellent way to gain access to Air Traffic Control communication codes with NORAD, which is in charge of intercept missions. According to CEO Barry McDaniel, the company "handled some of the security at the World Trade Center up to the day the buildings fell down." How convenient, huh? Bombs were in those towers--Bush's presidency was saved by these attacks--just something to think about.
Five of the twenty "suicide hijackers" are alive and well according to the BBC and they want their names cleared. So who was flying those planes? We may never know exactly what happened with those jets; what we do know is that the official version crumbles under scrutiny. These planes were merely a diversion, as proven by the presence of bombs--that's right, PROVEN!
Before beginning this article, I met Auxiliary Lieutenant Fireman and former Auxiliary Police Officer, Paul Isaac Jr. at the World Trade Center Memorial. Paul, along with many other firemen, is very upset about the obvious cover-up and he is on a crusade for answers and justice. He was stationed at Engine 10, across the street from the World Trade Center in 1998 and 99; Engine 10 was entirely wiped out in the destruction of the towers. He explained to me that, "many other firemen know there were bombs in the buildings, but they're afraid for their jobs to admit it because the "higher-ups forbid discussion of this fact." Paul further elaborated that former CIA director Robert Woolsey, as the Fire Department's Anti-terrorism Consultant, is sending a gag order down the ranks. "There were definitely bombs in those buildings," he told me. He explained to me that, if the building had "pancaked" as it's been called, the falling floors would have met great resistance from the steel support columns, which would have sent debris flying outward into the surrounding blocks. I asked him about the trusses, and quoted the history channel's "don't trust a truss" explanation for the collapses. He responded in disbelief, and told me, "You could never build a truss building that high. A slight wind would knock it over! Those buildings were supported by reinforced steel. Building don't just implode like that; this was a demolition."
Just after the disaster, Firefighter Louie Cacchioli said, "We think there were bombs set in the building." Notice he said "we". At 9:04, just after flight 175 collided with the South Tower, a huge explosion shot 550 feet into the air from the U.S. Customs House known as WTC 6. A huge crater scars the ground where this building once stood. Something blew up WTC 6 - it wasn't a plane; it must have been a bomb of some sort.
The seismic record from Columbia University's observatory in Palisades, NY (21 miles away) provides indisputable proof that massive explosions brought down those towers. At the precise moment the South Tower began collapsing, a 2.1 earthquake registered on the seismograph. At the precise moment the North Tower began collapsing, a 2.3 earthquake registered; however, as the buildings started to crumble these waves disappeared. The two "spikes" on the seismograph, which both occurred at the exact instants the collapses began, are twenty times the amplitude, or more than 100 times the force of the other waves. If the buildings had simply collapsed, the largest jolts would have occurred when the massive debris struck the earth, not at the beginnings of the collapses. Seismologist Arthur Lerner-Lam of Columbia University stated, "Only a small fraction of the energy from the collapsing towers was converted into ground motion. The ground shaking that resulted from the collapse of the towers was extremely small." In other words, the collapsing did not cause 2.1 and 2.3 magnitude earthquakes. Furthermore, a "sharp spike of short duration" is how underground nuclear explosions register on seismographs. Underground explosions, where the steel columns meet Manhattans granite would account for both the demolition-style implosions and these "spikes" on the seismograph. Another seismologist at the Palisades observatory, Won Young Kim said the 1993 truck bomb did not even register on their seismographs because the explosion was "not coupled" to the ground. Imagine the magnitude of explosions it would take to register the two earthquakes, when the truck bomb didn't even show up.
The American Free Press reported that in the basements of the collapsed towers, where 47 central support columns (per building) connected with the bedrock, hot spots of "literally molten steel" were discovered more than a month after the attack. There is only one explanation for this: An explosion of unprecedented magnitude destroyed the bases of the columns, then the massive structures buried the impact points, trapping the intense heat below for all that time.
The tower which was struck second suffered less damage from the plane because it was a less direct hit and most of the jet fuel was seen ignited outside the structure--yet this tower collapsed first. Just before this collapse, the firefighters were up on the burning levels and were heard saying, "Battalion seven--Ladder fifteen, we've got two isolated pockets of fire. We should be able to knock it down with two lines." How could two isolated pockets of fire destroy the bases of the support columns causing the buildings to implode? Paul Isaac told me, "Based on video footage of the collapse of the South Tower, the structural collapse is not consistent with the angle the building was struck."
Why was no investigation permitted of the debris? Dr W. Gene Corley headed the FEMA sponsored engineering assessment of the World Trade Center collapse, which performed no tests on the steel for traces of explosives. When asked about this process known as "twinning," he responded, "I am not a metallurgist." Dr. Corley also "investigated" the debris at Waco and Oklahoma City--and we all know how thoroughly those "investigations" were performed.
No government agency performed forensic examinations of the rubble; no effort was made to validate their official story. The rubble was quickly loaded onto ships and delivered to China for smelting. These are the actions of criminals disposing of evidence! By these actions, FEMA proves itself to be a subversive element in our government!
Former Deputy Director of the FBI, John P. O'Neil stated, "The main obstacles to investigate Islamic terrorism were U.S. oil corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it." Can you think of anyone (Bush) linked to both wealthy Saudi Arabians and U.S. corporate oil? John O'Neil resigned from the FBI after 31 years of service after Barbara Bodine, currently part of the Iraqi transition team, barred him from following up his investigation of the attack on the U.S.S Cole. He took a job heading security at the World Trade Center--his first day of work - September 11, 2001. John O'Neil received the job from Jerome Howard, Former Director of the New York Office of Emergency Management, who happened to have the day off on 9/11. We may only speculate on the case of Mr. O'Neil, but he does seem to be a person which U.S. oil corporate interests would want out of the way--especially during these wars for oil and power in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The top FBI officials in Minneapolis called off investigations of Zacarais Moussaoui, causing bitter resentment among field agents. The man who made the decision not to investigate was promoted! Israeli intelligence agents lived next to the alleged hijackers in Hollywood, Florida. The "hijackers" were trained at U.S. government flight schools. Insider training on United Airlines leads to the conclusion that there was foreknowledge of these attacks; it also establishes that those with this foreknowledge are, at least, relatively wealthy. Another suspicious finding is that the World Trade Center was sold to Vornado Realty Trust in February, seven months prior to the attacks for 3.25 billion dollars--this doesn't prove anything, it's merely suspicious.
Who gained the most from the attacks of September 11th? Who had the motive? An Israeli expert on terrorism at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Ehud Sprinzak said, "From the perspective of Jews, it is the most important public relations act ever committed in our favor." David Stern, an expert on Israeli intelligence operations stated, "This attack required a high level of military precision and the resources of an advanced intelligence agency. In addition, the attackers would have needed to be extremely familiar with both Air Force One flight operations, civil airline flight paths, and aerial assault tactics on sensitive U.S. cities like Washington." He elaborated that the attacks "serve no Arab group or nation's interest, but their timing came in the midst of international condemnation of Israel" He goes on to claim "A U.S. military intelligence report revealed details of an international intelligence memo linking Mossad to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. The memo was in circulation three weeks before the attacks."
Furthering the suspicion of Mossad involvement, five Israelis were seen atop a van smiling and celebrating, while taking videos of the disaster from across the Hudson River. These five were arrested by the FBI and detained for two months before being deported back to Israel. Two of these men were positively identified as Israeli intelligence agents. Eighty-one nations are represented among the World Trade Center's dead - Israel is not one of these nations even though approximately 1200 of its citizens worked there. As if that wasn't enough, an instant messaging firm in Israel, named Odigo, received warnings about the towers two hours before the attacks. Everyone who points out the wrongdoings of Israel is immediately labeled "anti-Semitic"--well, the truth knows no race or religion - it's just the truth. These aren't Jews carrying out these plans; it's merely sick animals who hide behind the Jews!
WorldTradeCenter.com describes David Rockefeller as the "Visionary behind the World Trade Center." He pushed the construction of these towers through major opposition with the aid of his brother, then governor, Nelson Rockefeller. David has been quoted as saying, "We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order." Was this the "right major crisis" to advance the aims of a global government?
There is overwhelming evidence to support the findings that these alleged Arab terrorists were merely scapegoats used to advance the World Government agend. During the attacks, "President" George Jr. was reading a book with school children about goats! (Scapegoats?) Arab terrorists did not carry out these attacks which were detrimental to the Muslim world.
All evidence points to elements inside, high atop the governments of Israel and the United States. Those wishing to implement their world government through their control over finance, media and militaries are guilty of these most heinous crimes. This atrocity is proving to advance the domestic police state agendas and consolidate the Middle East's oil reserves. The people who most benefited from these attacks are the wealthiest, most privileged and powerful men on earth who feel they will finally be able to hold dominion over the nations of the world through their New World Order. For some of these globalists, these attacks were merely a means to an end - a huge step toward ruling a world socialist system. But for others, likely the planners of such a vile crime, this was a mass sacrifice to themselves. This mass ritual sacrifice of the vulnerable and the heroes who tried to save them was perpetrated by power crazed freaks who are simply - satanic.
The World Trade Center Demolition and the So-Called War on Terrorism Prison Planet.com 9/11 Archive
September 3, 2006, CBS / 60 Minutes, Return to Ground Zero, Producers: Lincoln Howes, Julia Timms,
It may have sounded like an over-statement but it's turned out to be true. The world really did change forever that day in September 2001.
And not only in the obvious ways — the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the war on terror.
In many subtle ways, all our lives have been affected. So what must these last five years have been like for those who were actually there? Those who survived 9/11.
Transcript
JAMES DORNEY: I can still visualise what I saw that day, the explosion of the north tower which happened right in front of my face. The memories that I have are still strong. Probably not a day passes where I don't think about what happened that day. This is pretty much where I came out of the building and there was stuff falling from above, the two towers were burning. There were body parts all over the road. I mean, not nice memories but that's what we saw. That's the street that I went up and pretty much came out of the buildings here and turned around and had no idea what was going on.
LIZ HAYES: Returning to Ground Zero is very difficult for James Dorney.
JAMES DORNEY: My friends whose names are up there ... I reckon they would be glad I came back. I said if I start crying, I might never stop, so I'll just make sure I don't.
LIZ HAYES: On September 11, 2001, he was a young Australian banker working on the 92nd floor of the south tower in the World Trade Center. He was at his desk when the first plane hit the tower next door and was in a stairwell trying to get out when the second plane ploughed into his building. Two hundred of his workmates perished that day.
JAMES DORNEY: I do realise that the odds were against me and I was faced with many choices that day and I somehow … I'd have to say I made all of the right choices and that was very lucky, because I don't think I would be here talking to you if I hadn't made some of those choices.
LIZ HAYES: Nearly 3000 people died that day in an area covering just a couple of city blocks. I've been to New York and seen this huge gap in the skyline many times since, but I still struggle to comprehend the enormity of it all and what it must have been like for those who were there. The people of New York are still recovering. But it's clear they're now asking a lot of questions, not the least being whether or not this could happen again.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: I'm still bitter, I'm still bitter. I want some answers and I can't find some answers.
LIZ HAYES: Louis Cacchioli was a fireman and like many of the survivors of September 11, he's disillusioned.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: They're not doing their jobs. Somebody dropped the ball here, okay, and it's time for us to wake up. We're at war, okay. This is not a game of chess, this is war we're at, okay. And there's lives involved, okay, and it's time for us to wake up.
LIZ HAYES: Louis was a firefighter of some 20 years experience. On the day of the attack, he raced into the first tower and helped evacuate panicked workers inside. He got out only to be buried in rubble as the second tower collapsed. Louis survived, but that day, 343 of his colleagues did not. When you look at these faces, many emotions I imagine?
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: Absolutely. When I look at this, I wonder. I should have been up there.
LIZ HAYES: Five years on, Louis is retired and suffers lung and eye damage as well as post-traumatic stress. And he lives with the fear that it could happen again.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: Everywhere you go … you go into a subway, you go into a tunnel, you go on a plane, okay, everybody's got that fear in them, is something going to happen today, you know?
LIZ HAYES: We've now been waging a war on terror since September 2001, the results of which so far seem to offer little encouragement.
MICHAEL SCHEUER: From my perspective, I think the world we're living in now is really one ... that the enemy has a much surer grip on reality than we do.
LIZ HAYES: For 22 years, Michael Scheuer worked for the CIA, and was on the hunt for Osama bin Laden long before the attacks on the twin towers. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, he says, are a focused and formidable enemy.
MICHAEL SCHEUER: They have a very firm grip on what they're mad at, what they're going to do about it and why they're going to do it.
LIZ HAYES: And we don't?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: We have none. From your Prime Minister to the Prime Minister of Britain to the President of the United States to the leader of the Democratic Party, they have not a clue about what they're going to do. Every one of these men, when something happens, say we're going to arrest them one man at a time. We'll bring them to justice. Well, that sounds good, but it should be, five years after 9/11, apparently that it is an impossible task.
LIZ HAYES: There have now been 23 major terrorist attacks since September 11, among them the two Bali bombings that claimed 220 lives, Spain with 190 dead, and the London blasts which killed 50 commuters. And all of these have been influenced by one man. Bin Laden was the face of the enemy. Is he still the face of the enemy?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: I think he is still the face of the enemy. He's a remarkable man … I catch a lot of flak, but in many ways, he's a great man in the sense that he's effected history.
LIZ HAYES: You see, people would find it shocking to hear you say that he's a great man?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: He's a man that has to be understood and respected — not because he's a good guy or because we should be empathic, but the better you can understand someone, the better you can annihilate them if you need to.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: He needs to be captured.
LIZ HAYES: Why do you need to capture him if you know that capturing him is not going to change anything?
PASQUALE BUZELLI: Because he's the face that tried to kill me that day.
LIZ HAYES: Pasquale Buzelli, an engineer, was working on the 64th floor of the north tower when the first plane hit.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: He tried to kill me, basically. I'm not a soldier, I'm a civilian. I know there's a much bigger picture, a much more political picture and everything, but to me, that would be a tremendous satisfaction to know that we can go out there and get him.
LIZ HAYES: Pasquale's story is one of the most remarkable to emerge from September 11. He was in a stairwell when the entire north tower collapsed, bringing with it more than one million tonnes of concrete and steel. Somehow Pasquale survived, landing in the mountain of rubble below. Unconscious for three hours, he was finally rescued — one of only 20 people found alive in the ruins. We first met him not long after the tragedy.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: I never thought I'd make it out of there. I actually said to myself in that split second, "I can't believe that this is how I'm going to die. This is it."
LIZ HAYES: Since 9/11, Pasquale and his wife, Louise, have had two children — Hope and Mia. But their joy at being parents is tempered by fear of what the future holds.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: Now you're thinking, well you want, you know, just some explanation of why things happened, and why did it happen? Why did this person try to kill me and why is it still going on in the word and it's not stopping? There's no answers — that's the problem I have. And I've come to the realisation that there probably won't be any closure to it, you know and that's — you kind of go on and you accept that there's a different way of life now.
LIZ HAYES: One of the indelible images of September 11 was this photo of Marcy Borders emerging, covered in dust, from the carnage. It came to symbolise the twin towers tragedy. When we met Marcy six months after the attacks, she was an emotional wreck, still traumatised, having escaped from the 81st floor of the south tower. The tears have subsided but Marcy's world has barely changed.
MARCY BORDERS: I haven't done much. Still not working, still haven't been back to New York. I don't know, I just sit at home ... like, it was like slowly just killing me, just, you know, the way I was trying to regroup and get over it. But I'm trying a new path and I feel better.
LIZ HAYES: All of the survivors I've spoken to, all say the same thing — they want answers.
MARCY BORDERS: Yeah, but we're the little people — we don't get answers. I've written to the White House.
LIZ HAYES: You've written to George Bush?
MARCY BORDERS: Yeah, and his response was 'go sign up for welfare'.
LIZ HAYES: What did you say in your letter?
MARCY BORDERS: Never experienced in a terrorist situation, how does one get over this? What does one do? What is the next step, you know. He didn't give me any answers.
LIZ HAYES: Have you still got the clothes?
MARCY BORDERS: Yes.
LIZ HAYES: Why do you keep them?
MARCY BORDERS: I keep them because that outfit was the outfit of the last day and the first day of my life, you know.
LIZ HAYES: Louis Cacchioli also kept the clothes he wore that day.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: Still in my garage and I look at it almost every day.
LIZ HAYES: What does that suit represent to you?
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: It represents my whole life, what I did, my career, and also it's stained. It's got blood stain on it from ... For the numerous days that I was down there digging. I'm sorry.
LIZ HAYES: The horror of the September 11 attacks has robbed so much from all of its victims. None will ever be the same. And five years on, few would argue the world is a safer place. Another attack is likely.
MICHAEL SCHEUER: Yes, and I think the reason we haven't seen one yet is simply because they're not ready to do it.
LIZ HAYES: Oh, okay. So we haven't stopped them — they're just not ready yet?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: I don't think they're ready and I also think, from their view, they don't need to be in any hurry.
LIZ HAYES: It seems you're saying we have good reason to be frightened?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: We have a very good reason to be frightened, yes. We face a very, very talented man at the head of a movement that is increasing in strength and geographical reach and anger.
JAMES DORNEY: I love the city, but it holds some terrible memories. But I think it's something that it's probably good that I've done to come back again after five years and hopefully put one or two more demons to rest.
LIZ HAYES: Like all those at Ground Zero on September 11, James Dorney was a witness to the day the world changed. At times, coming to terms with what happened has been hard, but James refuses to surrender any more of his life — that, he says, would be giving too much to the terrorists.
JAMES DORNEY: I think it is important to not allow ourselves to become victims of it. And it's with a certain sense of pride that I do still fly and I do still go up tall buildings and I won't let it worry me.
LIZ HAYES: Life is good now?
JAMES DORNEY: Yeah, it's, uh — I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay.
Special Edition: September 11, 60 Minutes was one of the first crews allowed into New York after the devastating attacks. In this special edition of 60 Minutes we revisit the city, a city fighting back. ...
September 8, 2002, CBS / 60 Minutes, Special Edition: September 11
http://60minutes.ninemsn.com/article/258961/special-edition-september-11
Special Edition: September 11
It is just on a year since Osama bin Laden struck at the symbols of American power and prestige: the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That day — September 11 — the mightiest nation on earth discovered how vulnerable it is.
60 Minutes was one of the first crews allowed into New York after the devastating attacks. In this special edition of 60 Minutes we revisit the city, a city fighting back.
There are truly heroic stories including a miracle escape; the man trapped in Tower One who survived the 110 floor collapse. We've uncovered remarkable footage that has never been seen before. And Prime Minister John Howard talks frankly about the next phase of the war on terror — invasion of Iraq.
Hosted by Peter Overton, with reports from Tara Brown in New York, we also look at New York's brave recovery and the most moving story of all, the babies born to fathers who died on September 11.
To read a transcript of A Survivor's Tale - click here.
Reporter: Peter Overton and Tara Brown in New York. Producer: Stephen Peters, Stephen Taylor.
March 08, 2010, Associated Press / Staten Island Live.com, Ground Zero hotel wants to attract 9/11 tourists,
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Looking down into the construction site covering the 16 acres where the World Trade Center once stood, some might see a place shadowed by death.
But Cheryl Palmer sees a rebirth -- and a business opportunity. She's vice president of Club Quarters Inc., the company opening the World Center Hotel -- and as far as she's concerned, the property's location on the edge of the site of the Sept. 11 attacks is a selling point.
"People choose to be here because they want to be close to it. They want to feel it, they want to celebrate. They want to remember," she said, standing by an open-air patio overlooking the site. "We have a very accessible view on it."
Lieutenant (E.M.S.)
Cacciola, Grace (pdf file)
10/24/01
October 20, 2009, Infowars, Ex-CIA Chief James Woolsey handed down gag-order to 9/11 Firefighters,
This tale begins during and shortly after 9/11/2001, when a writer named Randy Lavello published a story at Prison Planet, Bombs in the Building: World Trade Center ‘Conspiracy Theory’ is a Conspiracy Fact. Among the many tales in this article, a number of which were picked up in Mike Rivero’s web site, what really happened, is a conversation between Lavello and Lieutenant Fireman and former Auxiliary Police Officer, Paul Isaac Jr. It’s a head-spinner…
The Woolsey gag order created an Omerta-like mob silence that Firefighters and Police Officers have had to deal with to this day.
“[Lieutenant Fireman and former Auxiliary Police Officer, Paul Isaac Jr.] explained to me [Lavello] that, ‘many other firemen know there were bombs in the buildings, but they’re afraid for their jobs to admit it because the ‘higher-ups’ forbid discussion of this fact.” Paul further elaborated that former CIA director Robert Woolsey, as the Fire Department’s Anti-terrorism Consultant, is sending a gag order down the ranks. ‘There were definitely bombs in those buildings,’ he told me.”
Isaac also addressed the FBI gag order in an article by Greg Syzmanski, saying “It’s amazing how many people are afraid to talk for fear or retaliation or losing their jobs.” He mentions that the FBI gag order placed on law enforcement and fire department officials prevented them from openly talking about any inside knowledge of 9/11. Syzmansky praised Isaacs in a highly interesting article titled One-Man Investigative Team.
Syzmansky wrote that “When he [Isaacs] worked as an auxiliary fireman specializing in emergency and disaster communications response, Isaac said after 9/11 he began monitoring all emergency units to see if any patterns or information about the perpetrators could be learned.
“Over the last four years he’s compiled information and names of civilians and firefighters, whose identities he keeps anonymous for their safety, who all claim to have either witnessed explosions in the towers or have information that a controlled demolition took place.” Isaacs is quoted as saying, “It’s just amazing how many people are afraid to talk for fear of retaliation or losing their jobs,” again regarding Woolsey’s FBI gag order placed on law enforcement and fire department officials, preventing them from openly talking about any inside knowledge of 9/11.
Researcher Vincent Sammartino, also in attendance at the WTC ‘open grave site’ on September 11, 2005, wrote the following on APFN, “I just got back from Ground Zero. People know the truth! Half of the police and firemen were coming up to us and telling us that they know 9/11 was an inside job. They were told not to talk about it. But they were supporting what we were doing! I had tears in my eyes.”
So, why would former CIA director Woolsey, as the Fire Department’s Anti-terrorism Consultant, be gagging Isaac and his colleagues about what they saw and heard, i.e. bombs exploding in the building if not to cover up the government conspiracy, the inside job behind the supposed demolition of the WTC by two jetliners, whose fuel fire supposedly melted the redundant steel frames which caved and caused a pyroplastic free-fall of each building in some ten seconds. All at once the conspiracy of the lone Muslim airliner hijackers destroying the towers goes down the drain, glub, glub! That’s why Firefighters and Police Officers were gagged.
In fact, click Rivero’s “what really happened” site above to get to get more linked interviews of Firefighters talking about explosions shortly after 9/11 occurred. Rivero is amazing at collecting data, classifying it, and incorporating it into his encyclopedic 9/11 site. Read what the heroes had to say.
For instance, “Lou Cacchioli, Firefighter in WTC 1: At that point, Cacchioli found one of the only functioning elevators, one only going as high as the 24th floor … ‘Tommy Hetzel was with me and everybody else also gets out of the elevator when it stops on the 24th floor,’ said Cacchioli. ‘There was a huge amount of smoke. Tommy and I had to go back down the elevator for tools and no sooner did the elevators close behind us, we heard this huge explosion that sounded like a bomb. It was such a loud noise, it knocked off the lights and stalled the elevator.’
Lou continues, ‘Luckily, we weren’t caught between floors and were able to pry open the doors. People were going crazy, yelling and screaming. And all the time, I am crawling low and making my way in the dark with a flashlight to the staircase and thinking Tommy is right behind me… I somehow got into the stairwell and there were more people there. When I began to try and direct down, another huge explosion like the first one hits. This one hits about two minutes later, although it’s hard to tell, but I’m thinking, ‘Oh. My God, these bastards put bombs in here like they did in 1993!’” Unfortunately, the bastards in 1993 and in 2001 had considerable help from the bastards in our government.
The Woolsey gag order created an Omerta-like mob silence that Firefighters and Police Officers have had to deal with to this day. Imagine their anger, seeing their buddies disappear in explosions, fire and smoke. Imagine having to swallow that anger, that grief and humiliation, for the grand purpose of America sinking into the grizzly War on Terror in a matter of days. Imagine having to work on the pile at Ground Zero knowing what you knew. Or having to play deaf, dumb and blind, as 340 Firefighters died, two fire paramedics and one FDNY Chaplain and as 23 New York Police officers and 36 Port Authority officers went down. Not to mention the 2800 plus civilians taken from their lives senselessly.
Is it any wonder then that Justice John Lehner recently killed the NYC CAN ballot initiative to reinvestigate 911. The Justice called the initiative “irrelevant,” and rejected the will of 80,000 New Yorkers who had signed petitions to make it to happen. Is it the specter of James Woolsey gagging the Justice, or Mayor Bloomberg? Bloomberg rejected the will of the people after they had twice voted against a third term for New York Mayors. And since Mayor Bloomberg is in the middle of a political campaign for his illegal third term, he might want to assure us that we’re not being gagged, like Justice Lehner or the Fire and Police Departments. We would like to hear the full 9/11 story presented by a truly independent and expert commission.
What Bush did, what is still being done, is in keeping with Hitler’s axiom: If you tell a lie, make sure it’s a big lie, and keep telling it till everyone believes or has to believe it for fear of seeming unpatriotic. And so it’s time to take the gag off, one way or the other. Let those Firefighters and Police officers speak without fear of retribution. Let the facts, the real facts of 911, gathered by engineers, architects, pilots, retired military men, first responders, citizens of New York and the world, speak for once loud and clear.
New Yorkers should take to the streets to protest the Justice’s gag order. Case in point: a few days ago the governor of Puerto Rico announced that he would fire 20,000 government workers to close his $4 billion deficit, once again balancing deficits on the backs of labor. This caused the people of Puerto Rico to pour into the streets in a spontaneous one-day strike! In fact, their Puerto Rican brothers and sisters in New York City joined in a March at the Puerto Rican government offices here. Their collective reaction made waves from the mainland to the island.
We don’t want to end up with an Emperor instead of a duly-elected Mayor, Governor, or President, and silence instead of justice. Why not bring the wheels of New York to a squealing halt in a similar strike? So for once we can hear the voice of truth on those scratchy fire and policeman’s walkie talkies. Then Mr. Woolsey can gag his old friends at the CIA or his new friends at the Wall Street Journal where he now writes guest columns. Or perhaps be gagged himself by Rupert “The Fox” Murdoch, yellow press media mogul of our time.
May 5th, 2003, Prison Planet, Bombs in the Building: World Trade Center 'Conspiracy Theory' is a Conspiracy Fact, By Randy Lavello,
By now the misinformation and ignored findings surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks have evaporated the official version into the land of fiction. Didn't it seem strange that we learned everything of the government version by the next day? Much has been learned about the attacks, yet the official version has never changed; it seems as though our government thinks the point moot since it used this excuse to pass unconstitutional laws and wage wars resulting in oil profits. The time has come to admit the sorry truth as a nation, so that we can move on - as a nation.
The planes did not bring those towers down; bombs did. So why use planes? It seems they were a diversionary tactic- a grand spectacle. Who would want to divert our attention from the real cause of the collapse of those towers? It must be those who benefited most from these attacks. Let's recount some facts of that dreadful day.
Any time an aircraft deviates from it's course, the air traffic controller requests a military intercept according to military response code 7610-4J. This was the first time interceptors were not sent up in the history of this policy. The intercept pilots are trained to make a visual check of the cockpit--could this be the reason these interceptors were intercepted? Planes were sent to the New York area, after unprecedented delay, from Falmouth, Massachusetts rather than nearby Ft. Dix or Laguardia. Of course, they didn't arrive in time - there was no visual scan of the cockpits.
Captain Kent Hill, retired from the Air Force, explained that the U.S. had flown unmanned aircraft, similar in size to a Boeing 737, on preprogrammed flight paths from Edwards Air Force Base, California to Australia on several occasions. He believes the airliners used in the attacks had their on board computers knocked out and were subsequently choreographed by an Airborne Warning and Control System. Along side Captain Hill, an Air Force officer with more than 100 sorties in Vietnam stated, "Those birds either had a crack fighter pilot in the left seat, or they were being maneuvered by remote control." We know that the technology exists to fly hijacked commercial airliners by remote control - it's called "Globalhawk." We also know that the military has had an unmanned drone aircraft known as the "Predator," since 1994. A saboteur would merely have to reprogram the controls to switch from manual to remote; those airliners practically fly themselves already with the autopilot. This would require electronic security codes--acquisition of electronic codes would also explain the lapse of interceptor response due to sabotage. Furthermore, it's a fact that Air Force One codes were known and punched in by a rogue source on 9/11, proving the presence of an inside, subversive element.
As usual, it's not a good conspiracy, if it doesn't involve a Bush! Introducing Marvin Bush - brother of George Jr. Marvin is a substantial shareholder and was on the Board of Directors until 2000 of a security company aptly named Securacom. This is not an ordinary security force with canvas badges and walkie-talkies; it's an electronic security company, which was "coincidentally" involved with Dulles Airport until 1998. Handling electronic security at Dulles seems like an excellent way to gain access to Air Traffic Control communication codes with NORAD, which is in charge of intercept missions. According to CEO Barry McDaniel, the company "handled some of the security at the World Trade Center up to the day the buildings fell down." How convenient, huh? Bombs were in those towers--Bush's presidency was saved by these attacks--just something to think about.
Five of the twenty "suicide hijackers" are alive and well according to the BBC and they want their names cleared. So who was flying those planes? We may never know exactly what happened with those jets; what we do know is that the official version crumbles under scrutiny. These planes were merely a diversion, as proven by the presence of bombs--that's right, PROVEN!
Before beginning this article, I met Auxiliary Lieutenant Fireman and former Auxiliary Police Officer, Paul Isaac Jr. at the World Trade Center Memorial. Paul, along with many other firemen, is very upset about the obvious cover-up and he is on a crusade for answers and justice. He was stationed at Engine 10, across the street from the World Trade Center in 1998 and 99; Engine 10 was entirely wiped out in the destruction of the towers. He explained to me that, "many other firemen know there were bombs in the buildings, but they're afraid for their jobs to admit it because the "higher-ups forbid discussion of this fact." Paul further elaborated that former CIA director Robert Woolsey, as the Fire Department's Anti-terrorism Consultant, is sending a gag order down the ranks. "There were definitely bombs in those buildings," he told me. He explained to me that, if the building had "pancaked" as it's been called, the falling floors would have met great resistance from the steel support columns, which would have sent debris flying outward into the surrounding blocks. I asked him about the trusses, and quoted the history channel's "don't trust a truss" explanation for the collapses. He responded in disbelief, and told me, "You could never build a truss building that high. A slight wind would knock it over! Those buildings were supported by reinforced steel. Building don't just implode like that; this was a demolition."
Just after the disaster, Firefighter Louie Cacchioli said, "We think there were bombs set in the building." Notice he said "we". At 9:04, just after flight 175 collided with the South Tower, a huge explosion shot 550 feet into the air from the U.S. Customs House known as WTC 6. A huge crater scars the ground where this building once stood. Something blew up WTC 6 - it wasn't a plane; it must have been a bomb of some sort.
The seismic record from Columbia University's observatory in Palisades, NY (21 miles away) provides indisputable proof that massive explosions brought down those towers. At the precise moment the South Tower began collapsing, a 2.1 earthquake registered on the seismograph. At the precise moment the North Tower began collapsing, a 2.3 earthquake registered; however, as the buildings started to crumble these waves disappeared. The two "spikes" on the seismograph, which both occurred at the exact instants the collapses began, are twenty times the amplitude, or more than 100 times the force of the other waves. If the buildings had simply collapsed, the largest jolts would have occurred when the massive debris struck the earth, not at the beginnings of the collapses. Seismologist Arthur Lerner-Lam of Columbia University stated, "Only a small fraction of the energy from the collapsing towers was converted into ground motion. The ground shaking that resulted from the collapse of the towers was extremely small." In other words, the collapsing did not cause 2.1 and 2.3 magnitude earthquakes. Furthermore, a "sharp spike of short duration" is how underground nuclear explosions register on seismographs. Underground explosions, where the steel columns meet Manhattans granite would account for both the demolition-style implosions and these "spikes" on the seismograph. Another seismologist at the Palisades observatory, Won Young Kim said the 1993 truck bomb did not even register on their seismographs because the explosion was "not coupled" to the ground. Imagine the magnitude of explosions it would take to register the two earthquakes, when the truck bomb didn't even show up.
The American Free Press reported that in the basements of the collapsed towers, where 47 central support columns (per building) connected with the bedrock, hot spots of "literally molten steel" were discovered more than a month after the attack. There is only one explanation for this: An explosion of unprecedented magnitude destroyed the bases of the columns, then the massive structures buried the impact points, trapping the intense heat below for all that time.
The tower which was struck second suffered less damage from the plane because it was a less direct hit and most of the jet fuel was seen ignited outside the structure--yet this tower collapsed first. Just before this collapse, the firefighters were up on the burning levels and were heard saying, "Battalion seven--Ladder fifteen, we've got two isolated pockets of fire. We should be able to knock it down with two lines." How could two isolated pockets of fire destroy the bases of the support columns causing the buildings to implode? Paul Isaac told me, "Based on video footage of the collapse of the South Tower, the structural collapse is not consistent with the angle the building was struck."
Why was no investigation permitted of the debris? Dr W. Gene Corley headed the FEMA sponsored engineering assessment of the World Trade Center collapse, which performed no tests on the steel for traces of explosives. When asked about this process known as "twinning," he responded, "I am not a metallurgist." Dr. Corley also "investigated" the debris at Waco and Oklahoma City--and we all know how thoroughly those "investigations" were performed.
No government agency performed forensic examinations of the rubble; no effort was made to validate their official story. The rubble was quickly loaded onto ships and delivered to China for smelting. These are the actions of criminals disposing of evidence! By these actions, FEMA proves itself to be a subversive element in our government!
Former Deputy Director of the FBI, John P. O'Neil stated, "The main obstacles to investigate Islamic terrorism were U.S. oil corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it." Can you think of anyone (Bush) linked to both wealthy Saudi Arabians and U.S. corporate oil? John O'Neil resigned from the FBI after 31 years of service after Barbara Bodine, currently part of the Iraqi transition team, barred him from following up his investigation of the attack on the U.S.S Cole. He took a job heading security at the World Trade Center--his first day of work - September 11, 2001. John O'Neil received the job from Jerome Howard, Former Director of the New York Office of Emergency Management, who happened to have the day off on 9/11. We may only speculate on the case of Mr. O'Neil, but he does seem to be a person which U.S. oil corporate interests would want out of the way--especially during these wars for oil and power in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The top FBI officials in Minneapolis called off investigations of Zacarais Moussaoui, causing bitter resentment among field agents. The man who made the decision not to investigate was promoted! Israeli intelligence agents lived next to the alleged hijackers in Hollywood, Florida. The "hijackers" were trained at U.S. government flight schools. Insider training on United Airlines leads to the conclusion that there was foreknowledge of these attacks; it also establishes that those with this foreknowledge are, at least, relatively wealthy. Another suspicious finding is that the World Trade Center was sold to Vornado Realty Trust in February, seven months prior to the attacks for 3.25 billion dollars--this doesn't prove anything, it's merely suspicious.
Who gained the most from the attacks of September 11th? Who had the motive? An Israeli expert on terrorism at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Ehud Sprinzak said, "From the perspective of Jews, it is the most important public relations act ever committed in our favor." David Stern, an expert on Israeli intelligence operations stated, "This attack required a high level of military precision and the resources of an advanced intelligence agency. In addition, the attackers would have needed to be extremely familiar with both Air Force One flight operations, civil airline flight paths, and aerial assault tactics on sensitive U.S. cities like Washington." He elaborated that the attacks "serve no Arab group or nation's interest, but their timing came in the midst of international condemnation of Israel" He goes on to claim "A U.S. military intelligence report revealed details of an international intelligence memo linking Mossad to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. The memo was in circulation three weeks before the attacks."
Furthering the suspicion of Mossad involvement, five Israelis were seen atop a van smiling and celebrating, while taking videos of the disaster from across the Hudson River. These five were arrested by the FBI and detained for two months before being deported back to Israel. Two of these men were positively identified as Israeli intelligence agents. Eighty-one nations are represented among the World Trade Center's dead - Israel is not one of these nations even though approximately 1200 of its citizens worked there. As if that wasn't enough, an instant messaging firm in Israel, named Odigo, received warnings about the towers two hours before the attacks. Everyone who points out the wrongdoings of Israel is immediately labeled "anti-Semitic"--well, the truth knows no race or religion - it's just the truth. These aren't Jews carrying out these plans; it's merely sick animals who hide behind the Jews!
WorldTradeCenter.com describes David Rockefeller as the "Visionary behind the World Trade Center." He pushed the construction of these towers through major opposition with the aid of his brother, then governor, Nelson Rockefeller. David has been quoted as saying, "We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order." Was this the "right major crisis" to advance the aims of a global government?
There is overwhelming evidence to support the findings that these alleged Arab terrorists were merely scapegoats used to advance the World Government agend. During the attacks, "President" George Jr. was reading a book with school children about goats! (Scapegoats?) Arab terrorists did not carry out these attacks which were detrimental to the Muslim world.
All evidence points to elements inside, high atop the governments of Israel and the United States. Those wishing to implement their world government through their control over finance, media and militaries are guilty of these most heinous crimes. This atrocity is proving to advance the domestic police state agendas and consolidate the Middle East's oil reserves. The people who most benefited from these attacks are the wealthiest, most privileged and powerful men on earth who feel they will finally be able to hold dominion over the nations of the world through their New World Order. For some of these globalists, these attacks were merely a means to an end - a huge step toward ruling a world socialist system. But for others, likely the planners of such a vile crime, this was a mass sacrifice to themselves. This mass ritual sacrifice of the vulnerable and the heroes who tried to save them was perpetrated by power crazed freaks who are simply - satanic.
The World Trade Center Demolition and the So-Called War on Terrorism Prison Planet.com 9/11 Archive
September 3, 2006, CBS / 60 Minutes, Return to Ground Zero, Producers: Lincoln Howes, Julia Timms,
It may have sounded like an over-statement but it's turned out to be true. The world really did change forever that day in September 2001.
And not only in the obvious ways — the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the war on terror.
In many subtle ways, all our lives have been affected. So what must these last five years have been like for those who were actually there? Those who survived 9/11.
Transcript
JAMES DORNEY: I can still visualise what I saw that day, the explosion of the north tower which happened right in front of my face. The memories that I have are still strong. Probably not a day passes where I don't think about what happened that day. This is pretty much where I came out of the building and there was stuff falling from above, the two towers were burning. There were body parts all over the road. I mean, not nice memories but that's what we saw. That's the street that I went up and pretty much came out of the buildings here and turned around and had no idea what was going on.
LIZ HAYES: Returning to Ground Zero is very difficult for James Dorney.
JAMES DORNEY: My friends whose names are up there ... I reckon they would be glad I came back. I said if I start crying, I might never stop, so I'll just make sure I don't.
LIZ HAYES: On September 11, 2001, he was a young Australian banker working on the 92nd floor of the south tower in the World Trade Center. He was at his desk when the first plane hit the tower next door and was in a stairwell trying to get out when the second plane ploughed into his building. Two hundred of his workmates perished that day.
JAMES DORNEY: I do realise that the odds were against me and I was faced with many choices that day and I somehow … I'd have to say I made all of the right choices and that was very lucky, because I don't think I would be here talking to you if I hadn't made some of those choices.
LIZ HAYES: Nearly 3000 people died that day in an area covering just a couple of city blocks. I've been to New York and seen this huge gap in the skyline many times since, but I still struggle to comprehend the enormity of it all and what it must have been like for those who were there. The people of New York are still recovering. But it's clear they're now asking a lot of questions, not the least being whether or not this could happen again.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: I'm still bitter, I'm still bitter. I want some answers and I can't find some answers.
LIZ HAYES: Louis Cacchioli was a fireman and like many of the survivors of September 11, he's disillusioned.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: They're not doing their jobs. Somebody dropped the ball here, okay, and it's time for us to wake up. We're at war, okay. This is not a game of chess, this is war we're at, okay. And there's lives involved, okay, and it's time for us to wake up.
LIZ HAYES: Louis was a firefighter of some 20 years experience. On the day of the attack, he raced into the first tower and helped evacuate panicked workers inside. He got out only to be buried in rubble as the second tower collapsed. Louis survived, but that day, 343 of his colleagues did not. When you look at these faces, many emotions I imagine?
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: Absolutely. When I look at this, I wonder. I should have been up there.
LIZ HAYES: Five years on, Louis is retired and suffers lung and eye damage as well as post-traumatic stress. And he lives with the fear that it could happen again.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: Everywhere you go … you go into a subway, you go into a tunnel, you go on a plane, okay, everybody's got that fear in them, is something going to happen today, you know?
LIZ HAYES: We've now been waging a war on terror since September 2001, the results of which so far seem to offer little encouragement.
MICHAEL SCHEUER: From my perspective, I think the world we're living in now is really one ... that the enemy has a much surer grip on reality than we do.
LIZ HAYES: For 22 years, Michael Scheuer worked for the CIA, and was on the hunt for Osama bin Laden long before the attacks on the twin towers. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, he says, are a focused and formidable enemy.
MICHAEL SCHEUER: They have a very firm grip on what they're mad at, what they're going to do about it and why they're going to do it.
LIZ HAYES: And we don't?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: We have none. From your Prime Minister to the Prime Minister of Britain to the President of the United States to the leader of the Democratic Party, they have not a clue about what they're going to do. Every one of these men, when something happens, say we're going to arrest them one man at a time. We'll bring them to justice. Well, that sounds good, but it should be, five years after 9/11, apparently that it is an impossible task.
LIZ HAYES: There have now been 23 major terrorist attacks since September 11, among them the two Bali bombings that claimed 220 lives, Spain with 190 dead, and the London blasts which killed 50 commuters. And all of these have been influenced by one man. Bin Laden was the face of the enemy. Is he still the face of the enemy?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: I think he is still the face of the enemy. He's a remarkable man … I catch a lot of flak, but in many ways, he's a great man in the sense that he's effected history.
LIZ HAYES: You see, people would find it shocking to hear you say that he's a great man?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: He's a man that has to be understood and respected — not because he's a good guy or because we should be empathic, but the better you can understand someone, the better you can annihilate them if you need to.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: He needs to be captured.
LIZ HAYES: Why do you need to capture him if you know that capturing him is not going to change anything?
PASQUALE BUZELLI: Because he's the face that tried to kill me that day.
LIZ HAYES: Pasquale Buzelli, an engineer, was working on the 64th floor of the north tower when the first plane hit.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: He tried to kill me, basically. I'm not a soldier, I'm a civilian. I know there's a much bigger picture, a much more political picture and everything, but to me, that would be a tremendous satisfaction to know that we can go out there and get him.
LIZ HAYES: Pasquale's story is one of the most remarkable to emerge from September 11. He was in a stairwell when the entire north tower collapsed, bringing with it more than one million tonnes of concrete and steel. Somehow Pasquale survived, landing in the mountain of rubble below. Unconscious for three hours, he was finally rescued — one of only 20 people found alive in the ruins. We first met him not long after the tragedy.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: I never thought I'd make it out of there. I actually said to myself in that split second, "I can't believe that this is how I'm going to die. This is it."
LIZ HAYES: Since 9/11, Pasquale and his wife, Louise, have had two children — Hope and Mia. But their joy at being parents is tempered by fear of what the future holds.
PASQUALE BUZELLI: Now you're thinking, well you want, you know, just some explanation of why things happened, and why did it happen? Why did this person try to kill me and why is it still going on in the word and it's not stopping? There's no answers — that's the problem I have. And I've come to the realisation that there probably won't be any closure to it, you know and that's — you kind of go on and you accept that there's a different way of life now.
LIZ HAYES: One of the indelible images of September 11 was this photo of Marcy Borders emerging, covered in dust, from the carnage. It came to symbolise the twin towers tragedy. When we met Marcy six months after the attacks, she was an emotional wreck, still traumatised, having escaped from the 81st floor of the south tower. The tears have subsided but Marcy's world has barely changed.
MARCY BORDERS: I haven't done much. Still not working, still haven't been back to New York. I don't know, I just sit at home ... like, it was like slowly just killing me, just, you know, the way I was trying to regroup and get over it. But I'm trying a new path and I feel better.
LIZ HAYES: All of the survivors I've spoken to, all say the same thing — they want answers.
MARCY BORDERS: Yeah, but we're the little people — we don't get answers. I've written to the White House.
LIZ HAYES: You've written to George Bush?
MARCY BORDERS: Yeah, and his response was 'go sign up for welfare'.
LIZ HAYES: What did you say in your letter?
MARCY BORDERS: Never experienced in a terrorist situation, how does one get over this? What does one do? What is the next step, you know. He didn't give me any answers.
LIZ HAYES: Have you still got the clothes?
MARCY BORDERS: Yes.
LIZ HAYES: Why do you keep them?
MARCY BORDERS: I keep them because that outfit was the outfit of the last day and the first day of my life, you know.
LIZ HAYES: Louis Cacchioli also kept the clothes he wore that day.
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: Still in my garage and I look at it almost every day.
LIZ HAYES: What does that suit represent to you?
LOUIS CACCHIOLI: It represents my whole life, what I did, my career, and also it's stained. It's got blood stain on it from ... For the numerous days that I was down there digging. I'm sorry.
LIZ HAYES: The horror of the September 11 attacks has robbed so much from all of its victims. None will ever be the same. And five years on, few would argue the world is a safer place. Another attack is likely.
MICHAEL SCHEUER: Yes, and I think the reason we haven't seen one yet is simply because they're not ready to do it.
LIZ HAYES: Oh, okay. So we haven't stopped them — they're just not ready yet?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: I don't think they're ready and I also think, from their view, they don't need to be in any hurry.
LIZ HAYES: It seems you're saying we have good reason to be frightened?
MICHAEL SCHEUER: We have a very good reason to be frightened, yes. We face a very, very talented man at the head of a movement that is increasing in strength and geographical reach and anger.
JAMES DORNEY: I love the city, but it holds some terrible memories. But I think it's something that it's probably good that I've done to come back again after five years and hopefully put one or two more demons to rest.
LIZ HAYES: Like all those at Ground Zero on September 11, James Dorney was a witness to the day the world changed. At times, coming to terms with what happened has been hard, but James refuses to surrender any more of his life — that, he says, would be giving too much to the terrorists.
JAMES DORNEY: I think it is important to not allow ourselves to become victims of it. And it's with a certain sense of pride that I do still fly and I do still go up tall buildings and I won't let it worry me.
LIZ HAYES: Life is good now?
JAMES DORNEY: Yeah, it's, uh — I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay.
Special Edition: September 11, 60 Minutes was one of the first crews allowed into New York after the devastating attacks. In this special edition of 60 Minutes we revisit the city, a city fighting back. ...
September 8, 2002, CBS / 60 Minutes, Special Edition: September 11
http://60minutes.ninemsn.com/article/258961/special-edition-september-11
Special Edition: September 11
It is just on a year since Osama bin Laden struck at the symbols of American power and prestige: the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That day — September 11 — the mightiest nation on earth discovered how vulnerable it is.
60 Minutes was one of the first crews allowed into New York after the devastating attacks. In this special edition of 60 Minutes we revisit the city, a city fighting back.
There are truly heroic stories including a miracle escape; the man trapped in Tower One who survived the 110 floor collapse. We've uncovered remarkable footage that has never been seen before. And Prime Minister John Howard talks frankly about the next phase of the war on terror — invasion of Iraq.
Hosted by Peter Overton, with reports from Tara Brown in New York, we also look at New York's brave recovery and the most moving story of all, the babies born to fathers who died on September 11.
To read a transcript of A Survivor's Tale - click here.
Reporter: Peter Overton and Tara Brown in New York. Producer: Stephen Peters, Stephen Taylor.
March 08, 2010, Associated Press / Staten Island Live.com, Ground Zero hotel wants to attract 9/11 tourists,
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Looking down into the construction site covering the 16 acres where the World Trade Center once stood, some might see a place shadowed by death.
But Cheryl Palmer sees a rebirth -- and a business opportunity. She's vice president of Club Quarters Inc., the company opening the World Center Hotel -- and as far as she's concerned, the property's location on the edge of the site of the Sept. 11 attacks is a selling point.
"People choose to be here because they want to be close to it. They want to feel it, they want to celebrate. They want to remember," she said, standing by an open-air patio overlooking the site. "We have a very accessible view on it."
Associated Press
Cheryl Palmer, vice president of Club Quarters Inc., the company opening the World Center Hotel looks out a window at the World Trade Center construction site. (Associated Press)
The hotel, which began taking reservations last month, offers some rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows that open directly onto the construction. Guests and members will have access to the restaurant patio with views of giant cranes, jackhammers and metal scaffolding.
It seems to be the first area hotel to use its proximity to the site as a marketing strategy. The carefully chosen name telegraphs the hotel's location to prospective guests. And visitors to the hotel Web site are greeted by construction photographs and memorial images.
MILLENIUM HOTEL
The Millenium Hilton nearby offers similar views from most of its rooms -- which were devastated in the collapse of the twin towers and then rebuilt in the following years. With 85 percent of the hotel's current employees carrying with them memories of working there at the time of the attacks, it still feels too soon to incorporate Ground Zero into its marketing plan, said Jan Larsen, general manager of the hotel.
"People are sensitive to maybe being perceived as taking advantage of a tragedy by utilizing that in any kind of promotional information," Larsen said. "We still get customers here who didn't realize we were across the street from Ground Zero, and they get emotional about it."
Some, Larsen said, say that had they realized the location of the hotel, they would not have chosen to stay there.
But Club Quarters is making a bet that, for many, the site of the attacks is already becoming more what it will be -- and less a shadow of what it was. The scar of metal and concrete gated off from the rest of the city will soon be brightened by trees to be planted before the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Palmer is quick to note. And the public memorial is set to open in 2011.
MIXED EMOTIONS
"They will have all those mixed emotions. But I think at the end of the day what people leave here with is the rebuilding," Palmer said.
Driving up to the hotel, Greg McKinless was excited to see how close to the construction he would be, he said as he checked in one day last week.
"I thought, 'Gee, wouldn't it be neat to be up on the sixth or seventh floor and really see the work in progress?'" the Baltimore salesman said. "You could say it's depressing, but you could also say it's been nine years, the Freedom Tower is going up and there's going to be a memorial. We're looking toward the future."
For guests with the right view, the construction can be a 24-hour spectacle. The yellow bulldozers and workers in hardhats continue their work all day and night. The hotel has installed special soundproof windows that keep out much (though not all) of the noise. And dark curtains block the light from the work.
For now, the restaurant and patio are still a construction site. Most floors in the hotel have yet to be completed. The lower part of the building's shell is all that remains of the office building that was destroyed in the terrorist attack.
With 169 planned rooms (introductory rates as low as $99 on weekends and $179 weekdays) and corporate apartments, the hotel's planners would need to attract only a fraction of the nearly 4,000 people who visit the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site each day. Once the official memorial is open, officials estimate 7.1 million people will visit it in the first year.
Meanwhile, the view the new hotel affords of the site is an unusual one. With the fencing around much of the site blocking sightlines of the construction, camera-wielding tourists can be seen throughout the neighborhood craning their necks and trying to get a better look. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum directs frustrated visitors indoors, where they've set up a live-camera view of the site for those who want to see the rebuilding.
After climbing some steps in a fruitless effort to see inside the pit, Josh Rowlands said he would be glad to have a view over the site from his hotel room.
"You want to be able to see what's going on after you've traveled all this way," said the 23-year-old from Adelaide, Australia.
But not all are convinced they would want their vacation vista to include this particular construction site.
"I wouldn't stay there," Michael Meindorfer said on his visit to ground zero from Frankfurt, Germany. "To go everyday and come home and see something like this. ... It's sad."
On the Net: World Center Hotel:
www.worldcenterhotel.com/
The hotel, which began taking reservations last month, offers some rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows that open directly onto the construction. Guests and members will have access to the restaurant patio with views of giant cranes, jackhammers and metal scaffolding.
It seems to be the first area hotel to use its proximity to the site as a marketing strategy. The carefully chosen name telegraphs the hotel's location to prospective guests. And visitors to the hotel Web site are greeted by construction photographs and memorial images.
MILLENIUM HOTEL
The Millenium Hilton nearby offers similar views from most of its rooms -- which were devastated in the collapse of the twin towers and then rebuilt in the following years. With 85 percent of the hotel's current employees carrying with them memories of working there at the time of the attacks, it still feels too soon to incorporate Ground Zero into its marketing plan, said Jan Larsen, general manager of the hotel.
"People are sensitive to maybe being perceived as taking advantage of a tragedy by utilizing that in any kind of promotional information," Larsen said. "We still get customers here who didn't realize we were across the street from Ground Zero, and they get emotional about it."
Some, Larsen said, say that had they realized the location of the hotel, they would not have chosen to stay there.
But Club Quarters is making a bet that, for many, the site of the attacks is already becoming more what it will be -- and less a shadow of what it was. The scar of metal and concrete gated off from the rest of the city will soon be brightened by trees to be planted before the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Palmer is quick to note. And the public memorial is set to open in 2011.
MIXED EMOTIONS
"They will have all those mixed emotions. But I think at the end of the day what people leave here with is the rebuilding," Palmer said.
Driving up to the hotel, Greg McKinless was excited to see how close to the construction he would be, he said as he checked in one day last week.
"I thought, 'Gee, wouldn't it be neat to be up on the sixth or seventh floor and really see the work in progress?'" the Baltimore salesman said. "You could say it's depressing, but you could also say it's been nine years, the Freedom Tower is going up and there's going to be a memorial. We're looking toward the future."
For guests with the right view, the construction can be a 24-hour spectacle. The yellow bulldozers and workers in hardhats continue their work all day and night. The hotel has installed special soundproof windows that keep out much (though not all) of the noise. And dark curtains block the light from the work.
For now, the restaurant and patio are still a construction site. Most floors in the hotel have yet to be completed. The lower part of the building's shell is all that remains of the office building that was destroyed in the terrorist attack.
With 169 planned rooms (introductory rates as low as $99 on weekends and $179 weekdays) and corporate apartments, the hotel's planners would need to attract only a fraction of the nearly 4,000 people who visit the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site each day. Once the official memorial is open, officials estimate 7.1 million people will visit it in the first year.
Meanwhile, the view the new hotel affords of the site is an unusual one. With the fencing around much of the site blocking sightlines of the construction, camera-wielding tourists can be seen throughout the neighborhood craning their necks and trying to get a better look. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum directs frustrated visitors indoors, where they've set up a live-camera view of the site for those who want to see the rebuilding.
After climbing some steps in a fruitless effort to see inside the pit, Josh Rowlands said he would be glad to have a view over the site from his hotel room.
"You want to be able to see what's going on after you've traveled all this way," said the 23-year-old from Adelaide, Australia.
But not all are convinced they would want their vacation vista to include this particular construction site.
"I wouldn't stay there," Michael Meindorfer said on his visit to ground zero from Frankfurt, Germany. "To go everyday and come home and see something like this. ... It's sad."
On the Net: World Center Hotel:
www.worldcenterhotel.com/
September 9, 2010, Associated Press / The Hindu, WTC steel column installed at ground zero,
Officials hoisted a 70-foot (21 meter) piece of World Trade Center steel at ground zero on Tuesday and vowed to open the September 11 memorial by next year, although they acknowledged that the ongoing construction at the site would limit where and how the public could visit.
The memorial, with waterfall-filled pools set above the footprints of the fallen towers, its wall of victims' names, its trees and green spaces, is expected to open by the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.
Officials said it would be open to the public after that. But they will be able to enter the memorial only from the western edge of ground zero, while fenced boundaries that surround the site on three other sides of the eight-acre plaza will still be there, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.
Millions to visit
Once the official memorial is open, officials estimate, 7.1 million people will visit it in the first year. Bloomberg said a northeast section of the plaza would be closed at some point while a transit hub is being built underneath it, and other parts of the plaza could close as needs warrant.
Thirty-six storeys of World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, are rising from the northwest corner of the site. It is scheduled to open in 2013, along with a second office tower. The column put in place on Tuesday was part of that.
The 70-foot structure, with its three-pronged trident top, was salvaged from the rubble.
AP
One of the memorial pools still under construction is seen at ground zero in New York on Tuesday.
September 7, 2010, The Seattle Times, WTC steel column installed at ground zero, by Deepti Hajela, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK —Officials hoisted a 70-foot piece of World Trade Center steel at ground zero Tuesday and vowed to open the Sept. 11 memorial by next year, although they acknowledged that the ongoing construction at the site would limit where and how the public could visit.
The memorial, with reflecting, waterfall-filled pools set above the footprints of the fallen towers, its wall of victims' names, its trees and green spaces, is expected to open by the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks. Officials have said it would be open to the general public after that.
But the public will only be able to enter the memorial from the western edge of ground zero, while fenced boundaries that surround the site on three other sides of the 8-acre plaza will still be there, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday.
"Every once in a while they're going to have to move a beam or something and they'll close off a part of it," the mayor said, but said visitors would be able to still walk through the cobblestoned plaza and pause by the memorial pools, which have been built up to street level.
"You'll be able to come, walk the plaza, sit, contemplate, the fountains will be working, look at the names, you can reflect," he said.
Thousands of visitors come to peer inside the fenced construction site or visit two adjoining museum sites a day. Once the official memorial is open, officials estimate 7.1 million people will visit it in the first year.
Bloomberg said a northeast section of the plaza would be closed at some point while a transit hub is being built underneath it, and said other parts of the plaza could close as needs warrant. Several of the 400 trees that are planned at the plaza - including 16 that were planted this summer - will still need to be installed after the 10th anniversary passes.
Bloomberg and other officials described progress at the memorial and at half a dozen other projects underway at the 16-acre site, including the signature, 1,776-foot skyscraper meant to replace the fallen trade center towers. It was followed by the hoisting of a salvaged 50-ton steel column that was once part of the north tower's facade to mark what will be the entrance of the memorial museum.
"I think there had been doubts, there had been concerns but we are here today to truly acknowledge what has happened recently," said Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.
Thirty-six stories of 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, are rising from the northwest corner of the site. It is scheduled to open in 2013, along with a second office tower.
The column put in place Tuesday was part of that. The 70-foot structure, with its three-pronged trident top, was salvaged from the rubble after the Sept. 11 attacks. A second column is expected to be raised Wednesday. The columns will be at the entrance of the museum, which will occupy space underneath the site and is scheduled to open in 2012.
Officials cited an agreement reached with developer Larry Silverstein in recent months that they said would speed up the financing and construction timetables of up to three towers the private developer hopes to build. The Port Authority agreed to put up to $1.6 billion in public financing towards two of Silverstein's towers, including one where it plans to rent office space.
The Port Authority is also building a transit hub expected to be close to the size of Grand Central Terminal for commuter rail lines to New Jersey and connections to a dozen subway lines. The hub is expected to be finished in 2014.
Plans for two other towers are uncertain and dependent on market conditions. A performing arts center is also planned for the site, but its design, financing and construction schedule are not complete.
But once the towers, memorial and hub open, Silverstein said, the area known as ground zero would transform into something else.
"It will be an extraordinary dimension to this neighborhood in terms of what it will have created," he said.
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