Rudy Giuliani - His failed leadership and disrespect

Firefighters: Giuliani Ditched 9/11 Body Recovery 24 Hours After Securing $230 Million In Buried Gold

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has regularly touted his leadership in the wake of 9/11 as one of his major selling points. A host of 9/11 responders have alleged, however, that Giuliani provided them with poor radios, misled them into working amidst toxic fumes, and most recently, hastily cleared out the rubble before bodies were all recovered.

Six weeks after 9/11, Giuliani abandoned efforts to recover remaining bodies and buckled to pressure from developers eager to “scoop” the rubble:

The fact is that the Mayor’s switch to a scoop-and-dump coincided with the removal of tens of millions of dollars of gold, silver and other assets of the Bank of Nova Scotia that were buried beneath what was once the towers. Once the money was out, Giuliani sided with the developers that opposed a lengthy recovery effort, and ordered the scoop-and-dump operation so they could proceed with redevelopment.

Yesterday, Harold Schaitberger of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) — the nation’s largest firefighters organization, consisting of 280,000 members — assailed Giuliani, detailing how the mayor ditched body-recovery efforts only 24 hours after recovering the $230 million in gold. “He found the gold on October 31, and on November 1 is when he issued the order to remove the firefighters from their recovery mode.” Watch it:

The IAFF has produced a video entitled “Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend,” extensively documenting Giuliani’s negligence after 9/11, featuring “active and retired fire fighters, fire officers and families of the fallen speaking out about the ‘Real Rudy,’ his failed leadership and his disrespect for the recovery of those we lost.”

Already, the video has been attacked by the right wing as another form of “Swift Boating.” But as the Carpetbagger noted, “The comparison is ridiculous. The Swiftboat attackers were lying; the International Association of Fire Fighters aren’t.”

Source: Article

Judge: 9/11 defendants must turn over materials from 1992 -- Newsday.com

NEW YORK - Defendants in lawsuits resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks must turn over materials from as far back as 1992, when it appears that Osama bin Laden called for a holy war against the United States, a federal judge said Friday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels affects defendants in lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages from numerous banks, charities and individuals worldwide who are alleged to have supported al-Qaida before the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Daniels said it was reasonable to require organizations such as the Muslim World League, the International Islamic Relief Organization and Wa'el Jelaidan to turn over evidence necessary to decide the merits of lawsuits brought by representatives, survivors and insurance carriers of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The groups had argued that they should not be required to turn over documents that were made prior to 1996, when Osama bin Laden issued a fatwah declaring war on Americans. They also argued that the materials were overly burdensome and outweighed any potential value to plaintiffs.

In ruling, Daniels noted that 1992 was the year when bin Laden is alleged to have joined other senior al-Qaida leaders to issue a formal fatwah calling for violence against the United States and other Western allies.

Lawyers for defendants in the lawsuits have said it was unfair to require them to turn over the earlier documents because the defendants were not adequately put on notice about al-Qaida's terrorist activities towards the United States until the 1996 fatwah.

A message left with a lawyer for defendants was not immediately returned Friday.

Firefighters group takes on Giuliani over handling of 9/11

by Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - In an effort reminiscent of the bitter "Swift Boat" campaign during the 2004 presidential race, a group of New York firefighters who lost sons in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks is organizing a political committee to take on former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

A leader of the 9 /11 Firefighters and Families group met Tuesday with union leaders and political consultants, readying plans to set up a tax-exempt committee that would fund appearances and a media drive against Giuliani's campaign for the Republican nomination.

Jim Riches, a New York Deputy Fire Chief whose firefighter son was killed in the 2001 disaster, said the group aimed to raise doubts about the central premise of Giuliani's presidential campaign - his leadership role in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. "If we have to follow him around all 2008, we'll do it," Riches said.

Lauded as "America's Mayor" for his blunt talk and compassion amid the attacks, Giuliani's political stock soared and he went on to build a multimillion-dollar consulting group emphasizing his leadership skills.

"A majority of firefighters believe that Rudy was a great leader on 9 /11," said Howard Safir, who ran New York fire and police departments under Giuliani and now heads First Responders for Rudy, a group affiliated with Giuliani's campaign.

But the former New York mayor's frequent references to Sept. 11 on the campaign trail have infuriated Riches and about 20 activists who lost firefighter sons. The New Yorkers blame Giuliani for decision-making failures that they feel contributed to the deaths.

After protesting near Giuliani fundraising events in New York to little fanfare, they now plan to raise their voices in Florida, South Carolina and other primary states seen as essential to Giuliani's path to the GOP nomination. "When he announced his plans to run for president, we felt he was doing it on the backs of our dead sons," Riches said.

The Sept. 11 group already is being compared by some political observers to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group, which damaged Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry's candidacy in 2004 by impugning his Vietnam War service in the Navy. Both groups feature a self-sustaining constituency of passionate supporters and are aided by outside political forces eager to use them as vehicles in the presidential race.

"Starting small doesn't mean you can count them out," said Stephanie Cutter, a political consultant who countered attacks as Kerry's press aide in 2004. "When the Swift Boat group started . . . they had no money and no plan. In a matter of months they had enough money to go up with an ad buy, and that triggered their relevance."

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth raised more than $25 million for media buys. Some of the money was donated in multimillion-dollar installments from reliable Republican fundraisers such as Texas businessmen T. Boone Pickens Jr. and Bob J. Perry. Last December, the group was fined nearly $300,000 by the Federal Elections Commission for exceeding spending limits and acting in concert with GOP campaign efforts.

The Swift Boat operation made use of an Internal Revenue Service exemption that allowed so-called 527 groups - a reference to IRS code - to raise funds and participate in political debate as long as they adhered to funding and election rules.

"To the extent that new 527 groups would like to do what the Swift Boat group did in 2004 may be subject down the road to much stiffer penalties than the Swift Boat people got," said Paul S. Ryan, associate legal counsel with the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group.

According to several participants in Tuesday's discussions between Riches and his supporters from the International Association of Firefighters, the Sept. 11 group is leaning toward using a 527 structure. Riches said the group already had been pledged nearly $200,000 and hoped to raise as much as $1 million for a Web site, media buys and campaign travel.

The Giuliani campaign, reeling in recent weeks from dropping poll numbers and running controversies, already has taken steps to blunt the firefighters' attacks. Heading the campaign's First Responders for Rudy, Safir has appeared on several political talk shows alongside Riches but has been careful not to engage him face to face, recognizing the delicacy of debating a Sept. 11 victim.

"We owe all families that lost loved ones on 9 /11 an unpayable debt, but finally this small group is admitting that this is a political attack with no other objective than to tarnish Mayor Giuliani's good name," Safir said Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the union produced an ad for its Web site that featured Riches and other New York firefighters criticizing Giuliani for blunders before and after Sept. 11. The New Yorkers claimed that Giuliani failed to provide first responders with proper radio equipment before the attacks and afterward sharply reduced recovery teams at the World Trade Center site even though the bodies of many firefighters had not been found.

Giuliani and his aides have long disputed the radios' role in the collapse of emergency communications on Sept. 11. In a recent interview, Safir contended that the "radios worked" but the repeaters - which can extend the range of the radios into high-rise buildings - did not.

The Sept. 11 group's effort to raise questions about Giuliani's performance before and after the attacks "takes on Rudy's strength," Republican consultant Tom Edmonds said. "I'm not sure that will go over with an American public that was impressed with what they saw."

WNYC - News - NY Lawmakers Blast Feds Over 9/11 Health Screening

WNYC - News - "NY Lawmakers Blast Feds Over 9/11 Health Screening

NEW YORK, NY December 16, 2007 —New York lawmakers say the federal government's plan to stop health monitoring for ground zero workers outside the metro area is unfair and misguided.

REPORTER: New York's congressional delegation and some ailing workers stood outside the World Trade Center site Saturday to protest this week's decision. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney says on 9/11, people came from many places to work on the toxic rubble.

MALONEY: They came from every single state in our country, and now many of them are sick.

REPORTER: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services filed paperwork this week canceling plans to pay a company to screen the affected workers. Officials were concerned the program could cost far more money than Congress has provided."

9/11 WTC Memorial Will Betray America

The “National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center” foundation, under the direction of Chairman Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City is currently conducting a nationwide fundraising tour. However, what Bloomberg is not telling the American people is that the memorial will remake the WTC site so that it does not acknowledge the attacks. As per the 13 member memorial jury that dictated the memorial concept none of the authentic artifacts of the World Trade Center or 9/11 can be returned to the site “in order to preserve the integrity of the memorial.”

The jury was made up of intellectuals, artists, political appointees and one well connected 9/11 family member - who would later try and co-found upon the site the notorious “International Freedom Center” which laid responsibility for the attacks upon “an immoderate world.”

It was headed by Vartan Gregorian, born in Iran and educated in Lebanon. In his response to 9/11 he wrote “Islam, A Mosaic, Not a Monolith.” A history of Islam that told us how Muslim conquerors brought intelligence, enlightenment, and general religious tolerance while the West brought murder, plunder and religious persecution. Problems of Muslim nations today are attributed to Western colonialism and the creation of Isreal. Any transgression of Islam, no matter how barbaric, is equated with or topped by some action of the West, even if they occured ten centuries ago.

He chides Americans for their ignorance and belligerence toward Islam. Americans, he wrote, believe history is “irrelevant.” “Unfortunetly,” he wrote, “it is not.”

Except at the WTC site.

Returning any of what speaks directly to the attacks, such as the towers façade remnants or the Koenig Sphere, or identifying the victims as the “flyers of the missing” did, all that America embraced as commemorating 9/11 (because they spoke directly to the attacks) would be, the jury assured us in a brilliant display of Orwellian logic, “telling us what to think.”

Somehow, eliminating all of the authentic evidence of the crime from the site and all that we embraced as commemorating 9/11, is not “telling us what to think.”

Gazing upon the ruins of the WTC or the crushed fire trucks at the WTC site, or upon those facts of the “flyers of the missing” – “Cantor Fitzgerald, WTC 1, 104th floor” – we might conclude that the Islamic fundamentalists who attacked were “guilty” and their American targets “innocent.” We and future generations might draw from a visit to the site political and moral lessons. We, and they, might confront 9/11 and our responsibilities and obligations in response.

That, we are told, would be “didactic.” The site must be remade to eliminate that.

Instead, all history of Sept. 11, 2001 and all those authentic artifacts that speak directly to it will be discarded so that the jury can impose their own meaning upon the site.

At the WTC site, where America was attacked, a handful will control what you know in order to dictate what you think and feel.

In order that they might impose their own meaning, the jury ignored the history of the site and looked to Maya Lin’s (who sat on the jury) Vietnam War memorial for their inspiration. However, a memorial in Washington DC to a war on the other side of the world is not a viable model for a 9/11 memorial at the WTC site. No battles of Vietnam were fought on the Washington Mall; none of those soldiers whose name is on that wall died there.

The World Trade Center is the site of a vast crime against humanity. At what other place of equal or similar historical value have we discarded the history in order to impose our own meaning? Would anyone, for any reason, dismantle and dispose of the death camps at Auschwitz in order to do that? And specifically, to eliminate any moral or political lesson? Because that would be “didactic?”

Why are we doing it at the WTC?

If you discard or displace the authentic artifacts that speak directly to a history, you in effect deny it. It would be so if we did it anywhere else; it is so if we do at the WTC site.

That, however, was irrelevant to the jury.

We do not have the option of not confronting 9/11 at the WTC site. Indeed, that is what all go to the site for. The site must speak to future generations as equally as it does to us. No one may alter or omit history in order to impose their own meaning and to dictate what visitors should think and feel.

Yet this is all we are getting at the WTC site.

Bloomberg understands what the memorial must do; despite the fact that his will ignore 9/11 he claims it reminds us to “Never forget” and inspires us “Never again.” It, of course, does neither and that was the intent of the jury: to help us forget and thus inspire no more response than wallowing in the wonder of ourselves.

He is just clueless as to why. In response to the arrest of several men for allegedly plotting a jihadist threat against JFK airport his police commissioner told New Yorkers “to look at their world through the prism of 9/11.” In contrast, when neighborhood residents expressed concern, Bloomberg told them to “get a life. You have a better chance of being hit by lightening than killed by a terrorist.”

In response to the terrorists’ attacks upon America there was courage, there was heroism, there was sacrifice, there was compassion and there was wisdom. First, however, and this is the virtue from whence all those others come, there was humility. From the office workers who helped each other escape, to the firefighters who responded, from those trapped in the towers above, to the airline passengers in the skies over Western Pennsylvania. Thanks to Michael Bloomberg and the memorial jury, however, humility will not be found at the WTC site. And that is the final betrayal of 9/11.

Source: Original Article here
By Guest: Michael Burke on Dec 16, 07
For more info: see http://captbillyburke.blog.com/

Michael Burke

note: On 9/11, my brother, FDNY Capt. William F. Burke, Jr., of Eng. Co. 21 gave his life. I served on the family advisory committee on the memorial to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp and the advisory committee on the memorial and museum center.

Federal Government To Scrap Center For Those With 9/11 Health Issues

Bush White House abandons 911 World Trade Center Vets again...

December 14, 2007

The federal government's decision to cancels plans for a national processing center dealing with health problems stemming from the September 11th terrorist attacks has local lawmakers demanding answers.

The Department of Health and Human Services filed paperwork Thursday scrapping plans to hire a company to set up the center, saying it just doesn't have money to cover the $165 million cost of the project.

The center was designed to improve various September 11th-related health programs and help victims living outside of the New York area find coverage.

Five lawmakers, including Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, sent a letter to the head of HHS asking him to further explain the move.

A noon protest is scheduled for Saturday near the World Trade Center site

World Trade Center Rescue Workers Health Problems Extend Beyond First Responders

World Trade Center Rescue Workers Health Problems Extend Beyond First Responders

World Trade Center first responders are not the only people suffering physical and mental health problems as a result of their work at Ground Zero following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Thousands of World Trade Center Emergency Workers who helped with recovery efforts in the days, weeks and months after the Twin Towers fell might also be coping with a wide variety of physical and emotional problems, says a study published in the November issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

In the days after 9/11, thousands of rescue workers descended on Ground Zero to help with recovery efforts. Sifting through dust and rubble, sometimes with their bare hands, many lacked the clothing and equipment that could have kept them safe from harm. Several studies earlier this year confirmed that Ground Zero first responders were suffering from ill health as a result of their exposure to toxic dust at the site. Released in May, the initial findings of a three-year study conducted by the Mt. Sinai Medical Center found that of the 9,000 WTC first responders examined, 70-percent had suffered some type of lung ailment after the attacks, and that 60-percent still faced respiratory problems. Another report released by the FDNY in early May reported that cases of the rare lung disease sarcoidosis had risen dramatically among firefighters and EMS workers who were first responders at Ground Zero. And the New York City Department of Health also found that one in eight first responders still suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Now, the New York State Department of Health has released findings of a study that investigated the health consequences suffered by 1,423 members of the New York State Police, National Guard and Department of Transportation who worked at Ground Zero following the attacks. A small number of study participants – 110 in all – where present at Ground Zero immediately after the attacks, and where caught up in the toxic dust cloud that was created when the Twin Towers collapsed. But the vast majority of the study participants worked at Ground Zero during the last two weeks of September 2001, and they would have had somewhat less exposure to toxic dust than World Trade Center first responders. Unfortunately, according to the New York State Department of Health’s study, lessened exposure did not translate into fewer health problems.

The New York State Department of Health evaluated these World Trade Center rescue workers in 2002-2003. While the 110 rescue workers who where present at Ground Zero on September 11 reported the most frequent and severe mental and physical symptoms, such problems where the norm in far too many study participants. Nearly half had respiratory symptoms, with 30 percent reporting a dry cough. A third of the Ground Zero rescue workers reported worsening psychological problems, including sleep problems, fatigue and irritability. Unfortunately, only 3% of the World Trade Center rescue workers who participated in the study reported seeking treatment for their health problems.

Advocates for Ground Zero rescue workers say that even the federal government has not done enough to ease the suffering caused by the World Trade Center toxic dust. Public health authorities are already bracing for what might be the next wave of health problems related to the 9/11 tragedy - a surge in cancer and cancer-related deaths among rescue workers. Advocates for the workers estimate that the cost of caring for them could eventually reach $393 million each year. They want the federal government to formulate a long-term plan to monitor the health of September 11 rescue workers. Such a program would allow 9/11 rescue workers to receive health screenings and treatment at government expense.

Source:1

Report: 79 Percent Of 9/11 Firefighters Have Health Problems

Click Here to Read FDNY Report

Story by wnbc.com

NEW YORK -- A new FDNY report shows that 79 percent of firefighters in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001 now have respiratory problems.

Some officials consider this the most credible proof yet of health problems, because the department has data about firefighters lungs from before 9/11.

Thursday Mayor Bloomberg also announced two new free clinics for residents and workers exposed to ground zero toxins on the lower east side and in Elmhurst, Queens.

Court To Hear Ground Zero Liability Case

Story at The New York Sun:

A federal appeals court's reading of an obscure Cold War-era law, passed amid fears of a Soviet nuclear attack, will decide whether the thousands who toiled at ground zero can hold the city liable for their exposure to toxins.

The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Manhattan, will hear oral arguments today on whether the city is immune from lawsuits brought by the thousands of firefighters, police officers, and construction workers who searched for survivors and cleaned up on the site of the World Trade Center.

Many of the workers say they now suffer from respiratory ailments linked to arsenic, asbestos, and other toxins found in the air and dust at the site. One estimate, by the lawyer who managed the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, Kenneth Feinberg, places the cost of settling the suits at more than $1.5 billion.

At issue is a U.S. District Court ruling from last year that allows as many as 10,000 of those workers to press forward with suits against the city. The city is asking a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court to overturn that decision, which was handed down by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who sits in Manhattan.

The conditions at ground zero have long been under the microscope, with workers alleging that the Environmental Protection Agency put out falsely optimistic air quality reports and that government agencies failed to ensure that workers were wearing respirators. In May, the city's medical examiner amended a woman's death certificate to state for the first time that toxic dust from the site had been a "contributory" cause of death.

But today's arguments, and ultimately whether the suits are upheld or thrown out, will not turn on any single fact about the conditions at ground zero or the city's actions in the days following the terrorist attacks. Instead, the court's decision could hinge entirely on its reading of the New York State Defense Emergency Act.

That law, enacted in 1951, grants immunity from lawsuits to the government and companies responding to an attack. While the enemy the Legislature had in mind was the Soviet Union, Judge Hellerstein's ruling found that the passage of history had not made the law irrelevant. The city, the judge wrote, was certainly entitled to immunity in the days immediately following the attack.

However, the judge said it was an open question whether that immunity extended months later, as work at ground zero continued: "As the emergency condition fades … the need for immunity diminishes and the obligations and duties otherwise imposed once again must be protected," Judge Hellerstein wrote.

A brief filed on behalf of the workers stresses that in the months after the September 11, 2001, attacks, ground zero became a work site where ordinary workplace regulations and responsibilities applied.

During the nine-month cleanup operation, the plaintiffs' brief argues, "the site had been radically transformed from a place of chaos and public emergency to an orderly construction site not unlike those the City of New York has often seen."

The city, on the other hand, contends that it is entitled to immunity for the entire duration of the recovery operation.

The city's brief stresses the law's Cold War history, noting that lawmakers in 1951 were anticipating cataclysmic attacks, from which any recovery would be slow.

"The rescue and recovery from a nuclear attack would greatly exceed — perhaps by years — the roughly nine-month period of the 9/11 rescue and recovery operation," the brief argues.

The panel hearing the case today is to consist of Judges Jon Newman, Sonia Sotomayor, and Richard Wesley.

A lawyer from the firm of Patton Boggs, James Tyrrell, will argue on behalf of the city.

The plaintiffs will be represented today by Kevin Russell of Howe & Russell, P.C., and Brian Shoot of Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo, P.C.

"

Giuliani $9.11 fundraiser - Giuliani is Asshole of the year

Fire Fighters hot over Giuliani 9/11 fundraiser

September 26th, 2007 · No Comments

Giuliani is accused of exploiting 9/11 for his presidential candidacy

BBC | Sep 26, 2007

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has been criticised over a fundraising party at which participants are being urged to donate $9.11.

The International Association of Fire Fighters accuses him of exploiting the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Mr Giuliani rose to national prominence as New York’s mayor on 9/11.

The Giuliani campaign says it did not plan the event, which is due to take place on Wednesday evening in California at the home of a supporter.

Nevertheless, the firefighters association said the stated theme of the fundraiser - “$9.11 for Rudy” was in poor taste.

“It is nothing short of disrespectful to the legacy of the thousands of civilians and 343 brave firefighters who died at Ground Zero,” said Harold Schaitberger, IAFF president.

Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd described the fundraiser’s theme as “unconscionable, shameless and sickening.”

Responsibility

A Giuliani campaign spokesman said the idea was selected without the campaign’s knowledge.

But the host of the party, Abraham Soefer, also said the theme was not his responsibility, and referred other questions to Mr Giuliani’s campaign team, the Associated Press reports.

The event is one of several Giuliani house party fundraisers across the US on Wednesday.

Mr Giuliani is seen as one of the frontrunners in the race for the Republican nomination.

But the BBC’s Justin Webb, in Washington, says that Mr Giuliani’s appeal as the man who led New York through the terrorist attacks is occasionally over-emphasised in his campaign.

This fundraiser looks like a big blunder, our correspondent adds.
. . .

Related

Official Account of 9/11 a “Joke” and a “Cover-up”
September 23, 2007 – Seven CIA veterans have severely criticized the official account of 9/11 and have called for a new investigation. “I think at simplest terms, there’s a cover-up. The 9/11 Report is a joke,” said Raymond McGovern, 27-year veteran of the CIA, who chaired National Intelligence Estimates during the seventies. “There are a whole bunch of unanswered questions. And the reason they’re unanswered is because this administration will not answer the questions,” he said. McGovern, who is also the founder of VIPS (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity), is one of many signers of a petition to reinvestigate 9/11.

Categories: 2008 Election · Crime & Corruption · Operation 9/11

Before fire, toxic WTC skyscraper loomed as painful 9/11 reminder -- Newsday

Newsday.com: Before fire, toxic WTC skyscraper loomed as painful 9/11 reminder --

"NEW YORK - For years, the black-shrouded eyesore looming above the ruined World Trade Center was as painful a reminder of the wounds of Sept. 11 as the 16-acre hole in the ground just below it. Even this year, the body parts of Sept. 11 victims, toxic dust from the trade center and aircraft pieces were still being removed from the former Deutsche Bank building, the tower that no one could agree on how to remove. On Saturday, once again the skyscraper resurrected images from Sept. 11, 2001, with potentially toxic smoke and fire, fears of a building collapse and firefighters killed on the job.

The 41-story tower has been plagued by court battles, toxic contamination, work stoppages and the ongoing search for body parts since the trade center's south tower tore a 15-story gash into it nearly six years ago.

The building was untouched for several months after the attacks, becoming infested with mold from fire sprinklers while over 1 million tons of trade center debris was being removed just across the street.

Deutsche Bank AG appealed to the government and to its insurers to pay to clean up the building, which also contained toxic levels of asbestos, lead, mercury and trade center dust. After several court battles, including a $500 million lawsuit against the city, the state agency in charge of rebuilding the trade center site bought the contaminated building in 2004.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which still owns the tower, and trade center rebuilders needed the land as part of its master plan to rebuild the trade center site. Now plans call for the spot to be home to the fifth planned tower to replace office space destroyed in the attacks.

State officials have reportedly spent far more than the building's $90 million purchase price since then in a tortuous effort to remove the building. The Environmental Protection Agency and other federal regulators have cited contractors several times for violations, including how it disposes of environmentally contaminated material.

In mid-2005, contractors clearing the roof found hundreds of small bones and parts of the jetliners that crashed into the towers. More than 700 bones were recovered, the last found on a ledge in the spring.

In December, officials finally began removing the building's steel facade, beginning the painstaking, floor-by-floor deconstruction of structural steel. But a subcontractor's dispute over payment shut the site for nearly a week. In May, work stopped for another two weeks when a 15-foot-long pipe fell off the building and through the roof of the closest firehouse to ground zero, which has a wall covered by a bronze memorial to the 343 firefighters killed on Sept. 11.

Officials have been optimistic recently that the building, which had been dismantled to the 26th floor this week, was being removed with few problems. State development officials had said repeatedly that the building would be completely removed by the end of this year.

San Jose Mercury News - Fire next to Ground Zero kills 2 firemen

San Jose Mercury News - Fire next to Ground Zero kills 2 firemen:

Fire next to Ground Zero kills 2 firemen

Click photo to enlarge

* Smoke rises from the Deutsche Bank Building, center, bordering ground... (AP Photo/Verena Dobnik)

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NEW YORK—A blaze that killed two firefighters in an abandoned skyscraper being dismantled next to the World Trade Center may have been harder to combat because of plastics required by a federal agency to control asbestos, the governor said Sunday.

The blaze broke out Saturday on the 17th floor of the former Deutsche Bank office building, which has been a toxic site since it was damaged by falling wreckage when the trade center's twin towers collapsed and contaminated by toxic dust.

During demolition work, the federal Environmental Protection Agency had required that polyurethane sheets be used to prevent asbestos and other harmful debris from escaping, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said at a news conference.

The polyurethane "may in fact have made this fire harder to fight," Spitzer said.

Questions about other complications also were emerging on Sunday, including why the partially gutted building's water supply did not work, forcing firefighters to run hoses up to the 17th floor.

"The standpipe was not operating. We don't know why yet," fire department spokesman Frank Gribbon said.

Spitzer said the latest air-quality tests for asbestos and other fine particulate matter had been negative.

The once 40-story building was abandoned after the attacks because of extensive damage from wreckage falling from the towers and contamination by toxic dust containing asbestos, dioxins, lead and other materials. It had been largely gutted by demolition crews and workers have been taking its steel skeleton apart in pieces.

The cause of the fire was unknown, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it might have been fueled by plywood, boxes and other flammable supplies related to the dismantling work.

A worker in the building discovered the fire on the 17th floor, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said.

More than five dozen fire vehicles, carrying more than 270 firefighters, were sent to the site as pieces of burning debris fell to the streets. Smoke was visible from midtown Manhattan and the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.

Nearby buildings were evacuated, and residents waited for hours before they were allowed to return.

"We heard this crackling," said Elizabeth Hughes, who saw the fire from her rooftop deck across from the Deutsche Bank tower. "And then a huge fire that went up three floors fast. It was massive."

The building's structure was secure and in no danger of falling, Bloomberg said.

The firefighters who died, Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, were trapped and inhaled a great deal of smoke, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The collapse of the twin Trade Center towers across the street killed 343 firefighters. Eleven of them came from the same firehouse where Beddia and Graffagnino were based.

Stairs to Remain Intact in Ground Zero Plan - New York Times

Stairs to Remain Intact in Ground Zero Plan - New York Times: "Stairs to Remain Intact in Ground Zero Plan


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By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: August 6, 2007

The Spitzer administration says it has taken steps to finally solve the quandary of the “survivors’ stairway” at ground zero.
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The “survivors’ stairway,” which led to safety on 9/11.
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The stairs, seen in a model, would lead to a memorial museum.

By that, it means every step — all 38 of them. Together.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s chief of downtown redevelopment, Avi Schick, proposes to keep the stairway whole and intact — but just the seven-foot-wide stairway proper, not the hulking concrete structure around it."

News: World Trade Center rescue dog dies of cancer

World Trade Center rescue dog dies of cancer

NEW YORK (AP) - The Fire Rescue community is mourning the passing of

Jake, the 9/11 rescue dog, The black Lab who burrowed through smoking debris at the World Trade Center site has died of cancer.

Jake had been wracked with pain and fever and Mary Flood had the 12-year-old put to sleep after one last walk through the fields and a swim in the creek near their home in Oakley, Utah.

No one can say whether the dog would have gotten sick if he hadn't been exposed to the toxic air in Lower Manhattan. But cancer in dogs Jake's age is common.

The Labrador also searched for survivors after Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi.

wcbstv.com -

Ailing 9/11 Workers Sue WTC Insurance Fund

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK Ailing Ground Zero workers went to court Tuesday to demand that the company overseeing a $1 billion Sept. 11 insurance fund spend the money to pay for their health care.

The workers have already filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the toxic dust from the World Trade Center site gave them serious, sometimes fatal diseases. On Tuesday, they sought compensation from the WTC Captive Insurance Co., the company in charge of money appropriated by Congress to deal with Sept. 11 health-related claims.

"The WTC Captive has consistently refused to pay any of the Ground Zero workers who have become ill on the work site, including any compensation" for lost salaries, pain and suffering, medical treatment, medical monitoring or burial expenses, said the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court.

It was filed by attorneys representing thousands who became ill after working to clean up the site while breathing toxic trade center dust, including more than 100 who have died.

"She hasn't paid a penny to one of my 10,000 people," David Worby, an attorney representing the workers, said of the company's CEO, Christine LaSala. "It was their mandate."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was named in the suit along with LaSala and board members, said Tuesday that attorneys are wrong about the company's structure.

"They just don't know the facts. The truth of the matter is, Congress didn't set up a victims' compensation fund," the mayor said. "We'd like them to do that, we've asked for that, they set up a captive insurance company. And the insurance company can only pay out monies if somebody sues us in court and wins a judgment against us."

Congress directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up the fund, appropriating up to $1 billion "to establish a captive insurance company or other appropriate insurance mechanism for claims arising from debris removal, which may include claims made by city employees," according to the 2003 resolution.

The lawsuit, relying on testimony from federal officials over the years about the fund's purpose, said officials meant for the money to be used to compensate ailing workers. Federal and state governments never said "that a captive insurance company be established solely to defend the city of New York and its contractors from all rescue, recovery and debris removal related claims, at all costs," the lawsuit said.

In this case, the term "captive" refers to an entity created specifically to cover 9/11-related claims for the New York City government.

Since it began operating in 2004, the company has spent more than $73 million of the insurance money in legal fees and other expenses, the lawsuit says.

Worby and other attorneys plan to go to Washington later this week to lobby congressional leaders to urge the company to make the $1 billion available immediately for sick workers.

The largest study conducted of about 20,000 Ground Zero workers reported last year that 70 percent of patients suffer respiratory disease years after the cleanup. The city earlier this year added to its Sept. 11 death toll a woman who died in 2002 of lung disease, five months after being caught in the dust cloud of the collapsing twin towers.

Bloomberg and other city officials have estimated the cost of caring for the workers who are sick or who could become sick at $393 million a year and urged the federal government to pay for their treatment and monitoring.

9/11 'HERO' CHARGED IN 40G SCAM

July 15, 2007 -- A self-proclaimed Ground Zero hero who says he and his golden retriever rescued victims from the World Trade Center rubble has been charged with fraud for allegedly ripping off $40,000 in federal relief funds.

Scott Shields could face up to 35 years in jail after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him and his sister last month for allegedly swiping rental-assistance money from FEMA and other agencies.

Shields showed up in the days after the attack, accompanied by Bear, his cancer-stricken canine, but the dog was too sick to do any real work, and the two were on hand only for "a couple of days," according to a former NYPD officer.

"There's something wrong with the guy," said Lt. Dan Denadio, who as head of the NYPD's K-9 unit spent nine months at Ground Zero. "I don't know how he got so far."

Shields claims he and Bear "made the only live finds" at the site.

"Nonsense," Denadio said.

After his brief stint on the pile, Shields, who had resided in Greenwich, Conn., moved into an apartment across from the site - a swanky $3,182-a-month pad on Rector Place - and got one check for $16,443.50 from FEMA to pay for it, records show.

Shields collected thousands in additional rental assistance, the indictment says.

Rare Cancer Hits Some 9/11 FDNY Firefighters

GINGER ADAMS OTIS and SUSAN EDELMAN
Courtesy of New York Post

July 8, 2007 -- An alarming number of FDNY firefighters are battling a rare cancer that typically targets women, The Post has learned.

At least eight firefighters have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer over the past five years. Another five have undergone partial or full thyroidectomies after their doctors discovered abnormal cell growth that could lead to cancer around the glands.

The cluster has sprung up among those who responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11 or helped in recovery and cleanup afterward, firefighters said.

The relatively rare illness is known to affect women at three times the rate it hits males. The FDNY cases involve only men.

The National Cancer Institute put the incidence rate at 4.3 per 100,000 men - much lower than the eight cases among approximately 11,000 firefighters on the FDNY force on 9/11.

Attorney David Worby, who represents nearly 10,000 WTC responders in a class-action suit, said he has tracked "a large cluster" of thyroid cancers among his clients, which include thousands of firefighters and cops.

Overall, at least 125 active and retired firefighters - all Ground Zero responders - have contracted some type of cancer since 2001, according to figures gathered by the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

FDNY officials declined to comment .

Loose Change - Young filmmaker arrested - Military issued a warrant for his arrest

LOOSE CHANGE THE MOVIE

One of the young filmmakers behind a controversial 9/11 conspiracy documentary was arrested this week on charges that he deserted the Army, even though he claims he received an honorable discharge.

Korey Rowe, 24, who served with the 101st Airborne in Afghanistan and Iraq, told FOXNews.com that he was honorably discharged from the military 18 months ago — which he said he explained to sheriffs when they pounded on his door late Monday night.

“When they came to my house, I showed them my paperwork,” Rowe said. “The cops said, 'You’re still in the system.'”

Rowe is one of the producers of "Loose Change," a cult hit on the Internet espousing the theory that the U.S. government and specifically the Bush administration orchestrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The movie is set to be released in about 40 British theaters in late August, according to Rowe and fellow filmmakers Jason Bermas and Dylan Avery.

Police arrested Rowe at his house in Oneonta, N.Y., about 10:45 p.m. on Monday and took him to the Otsego County jail, where he spent a day-and-a-half before he was released, he said.

Rowe was turned over to officials at Fort Drum — the closest military base — who then booked him on a flight to Fort Campbell, Ky., where his unit is based, to try to straighten out why the military issued a warrant for his arrest.

“A warrant for my arrest came down and showed up on the sheriff’s desk,” Rowe said. “Where it came from and why it showed up all of a sudden is a mystery to me.”

A spokeswoman for the 101st Airborne said Rowe is in the system as an Army deserter.

“He was listed as a deserter in 2005,” said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, public affairs officer for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). “What we show is that he was absent without leave in June of 2005 and was dropped from the rolls in July 2005. … He has been apprehended for being a deserter.”

Rowe said he believes it’s an administrative error on the part of the military. Nielson-Green conceded that could be the case, but said it was all speculation at this point.

“Anything is possible,” she said. “If this is an administrative error, then that will come out in due process. … It may be as simple as that, or it may be more complicated than that. Errors sometimes happen.”

Rowe said he was sitting in his living room watching the show “Cops” and drinking a beer Monday night when police banged on the door.

“I thought it was the TV,” he said. “There was f-----g mad cops out there. I thought, here we go.”

There were at least five sheriffs on hand for his arrest, Rowe said. They told him he had an active-duty warrant from the military.

“They pulled a whole operation. They cut my phone lines. They came from the woods. It was crazy — it was ridiculous,” he said.

Otsego County Sheriff Richard Devlin said his understanding was that the arrest was much less dramatic and more routine than Rowe described, though he hadn't confirmed the details with the officers involved.

"Two deputies went to the house and arrested him," Devlin said. "There was no cutting of phone lines or anything like that. ... There’s nothing to indicate there were any issues. It was a standard arrest."

Rowe speculated that he might still be in the system because he didn’t update his address, and characterized the military’s record-keeping databases as ineffective and disorganized. He doesn’t, however, believe his work on “Loose Change” was a factor in his arrest.

“I don’t think there’s any nefarious purpose or political stunt, or that anybody’s trying to shut me up,” Rowe said. “At the same time, I can’t be sure about that.”

Asked whether Rowe’s arrest has anything to do with his involvement in “Loose Change,” Nielson-Green said “absolutely not.”

“We’ve never even heard of this guy,” she said, adding that she wasn’t aware of the movie until Rowe was arrested and reporters and bloggers picked up on the story.

“Loose Change” initially had a prominent American distributor behind it — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban of 2929 Productions — but he has since backed out, apparently because of nervousness surrounding the film's inflammatory claims.

Actor Charlie Sheen had signed on to narrate the theatrical version of the film, but he recently said he's taking a wait-and-see approach to whether he’ll remain a part of the project.

"Loose Change" makes the shocking claim that the World Trade Center's Twin Towers were brought down on Sept. 11, 2001, by the U.S. government in a controlled demolition. It also contends that the military flew a missile into the Pentagon.

Port Authority Expands Search For Human Remains - News Story - WNBC | New York

Port Authority Expands Search For Human Remains - News Story

Six years later and Port Authority Expands Search For Human Remains

NEW YORK -- World Trade Center rebuilding and an ongoing search for human remains have continued to unearth debris from the fallen twin towers under nearby roads and possibly under ground where families gather each year to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary, a city official said Tuesday.

Hundreds of human bones, ranging from fragments to full arm and leg bones, have been found since October and continue to be recovered daily in a massive city-led search for the remains of Sept. 11 victims missed in the cleanup right after the 2001 terrorist attacks. City officials have searched manholes, rooftops, sewer lines, a service road at ground zero and under a state highway, sometimes finding steel and debris from the destroyed towers mixed in with the remains.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the lower Manhattan site's owner, recently found material that 'could be trade center debris' under a road in front of the World Financial Center, the skyscrapers west of ground zero, deputy mayor Ed Skyler said Tuesday in a memo to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The agency was digging in the area to build an underground tunnel as part of a transit hub.

State and city officials have dug up hundreds of cubic yards of material in front of the buildings to search for human remains, Skyler wrote.

Thousand"

United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Report: Ground Zero dust claims misleading

United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Report: Ground Zero dust claims misleading:

"Report: Ground Zero dust claims misleading

NEW YORK, June 21 (UPI) -- A preliminary report says federal officials misled New York residents about contamination from the collapse of the World Trade Center.

The Government Accountability Office report says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to disclose that 80 percent of air samples taken to test the safety of 4,000 lower Manhattan apartments were taken after the residences had been professionally decontaminated, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The report said the EPA's claim that only a 'very small' number of air samples revealed unsafe levels of asbestos led residents to underestimate the risk of contamination in their homes. The report said only 295 residents and apartment building owners opted to take advantage of a cleanup program that ended registration in March -- far less than the 20,000 apartments eligible for the program.

'Residents are understandably reluctant to participate in what they consider to be a waste of time,' said Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who led the Senate subcommittee hearing where the report's findings were revealed. She said the report offered 'a very different picture from what the White House would like us to believe.'"

Ground Zero therapy dog has died

Ground Zero therapy dog has died - Newsday.com:

Roy Gross and Cody

For two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, forlorn rescue workers could find an unswerving friend near the smoldering ruins of Ground Zero.

Cody asked no questions. Instead, he wagged his tail and gave his paw to people seeking some warmth.
"What Cody did at Ground Zero was remarkable," said Roy Gross, his owner and chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "Workers couldn't speak from the anguish. They would drop to their knees, start petting him and cry. Cody knew he had a job to do."

The golden retriever died two weeks ago, Gross said. On Thursday, a foundation he established in the dog's name will contribute $1,000 toward buying medical equipment for neutering feral cats in the organization's spay/neuter van.

Gross got Cody from a breeder in 1996 after the puppy's original owner returned him for reportedly being too aggressive. Gross put Cody to work visiting schoolchildren and the elderly.

After Sept. 11, the county SPCA dispatched its mobile animal hospital to tend to the search and rescue dogs that labored over the pile of debris.But Cody had a different mission: comforting afflicted police officers, firefighters and onlookers in the turbulent days that followed.

Daniel Donadio, commanding officer of the New York Police Department's canine unit at the time of the attacks, said the hospital helped sustain his unit's 34 dogs and the officers who partnered with them as they searched the rubble for human remains. "I couldn't have done it without them," he said. "Those animals had a soothing effect on people -- just to interact with the dogs and be comforted by them."

The 12-year-old canine garnered praise and plenty of media attention for his nurturing ways.

The day before his death, Cody rode in the hutch on Gross' Harley-Davidson to the beach, played ball and took a swim.

Those wishing to make donations to the Cody Foundation should contact the Suffolk County SPCA at 631-382-7722.

Michael Moore's Cuba expedition

Chicago Tribune | Julie's Health Club:

Michael Moore's Cuba expedition

Near the end of the new documentary “Sicko,” filmmaker Michael Moore brings ten ailing Sept. 11 Ground Zero rescue workers to Cuba for medical treatment after learning that Al Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo Bay receive what he calls, “free, universal health care.”

“The (rescue workers) just want medical attention!” Moore shouts into a loudspeaker, in a futile attempt to win over the security guards. “The same kind Al Qaeda is getting!”

It’s one of the funnier scenes in the movie, which opens June 29 and lambasts the sick state of our mostly private healthcare system. But what Moore really wants to know is:

“How can we treat our heroes like this?”

Contaminated dust from the destruction of The World Trade Center left a legacy that touched volunteer responders who came from nearly every state, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Now, nearly six years after the disaster, many are still suffering persistent respiratory effects. And concerns have risen about the longer-term health risks, including cancer.

Chicago’s Ashley Muenstermann recounted how her brother-in-law, David, a non-smoking union member who was called to help with the cleanup, came down with a bad cough in 2004.

“He was hospitalized and within a short time was diagnosed with long cancer,” she wrote to People magazine in March. “People need to realize that there is a devastating illness killing Ground Zero workers and volunteers.”

At least one of the sick rescue workers Moore took to Cuba didn't get health care coverage because he slipped through the cracks in the U.S. programs, said Katherine Kirkland, director of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC).

“He didn't know about our program and should have been treated in the U.S., which drives me crazy,” she said.

But Kirkland’s group is working to alleviate the problem. In 2005, the America Red Cross provided the AOEC with grants to help provide medical and psychological care for volunteers involved with rescue recovery and restoration of essential services.

The member clinic at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which provides treatment and also conducts medical monitoring and surveillance, has seen 31 people in the past two years.

So far, 369 people in all but four states have sought help for dozens of conditions, including upper respiratory disorders, the World Trade Center Cough, Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD), asthma, post traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorder.

If you or someone you know was a first responder—this does not include tourists or people who lived in Lower Manhattan during the time of the attacks--the first step is to call the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring program at 888-702-0630.

You’ll be asked some questions, including the location and days you worked. If you're eligible, program personnel will help you register and set up an appointment for an exam with an occupational specialist. Clinics are located throughout the country but if there’s not one nearby the American Red Cross grant provides funds for travel.

One caveat: The AOEC program covers diagnosis, prescriptions, physical therapy, and counseling. But prescription drugs are not the only way to treat some physical and mental health conditions. It would be nice to see the funds alos cover holistic treatments such as yoga, tai chi or massage.

First responders exposed to the cocktail of toxins

www.kansascity.com | 06/01/2007 | World Trade Center crews face new round of afflictions: "

World Trade Center crews face new round of afflictions

Some 9/11 rescue workers are developing a cancer usually seen in older people.

Newsday

NEW YORK | Some of the first responders exposed to the cocktail of toxins produced at the World Trade Center collapse are developing a form of cancer often seen in much older people.

One doctor calls it the “third wave” of disorders to emerge from the World Trade Center disaster.

Robin Herbert, co-director of the WTC Medical Monitoring Program at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said a range of medical conditions had been detected since the program began in 2001, after the attacks on Sept. 11 of that year.

She and her colleagues are overseeing the health of 20,000 men and women who worked at the site in the weeks after the attack. Among them are firefighters, police officers, rescuers and construction workers.

Speaking Thursday in an interview aired online by The New England Journal of Medicine, Herbert said the medical conditions had been typified by specific disorders.

“The first wave is the acute respiratory problems that now in many have persisted,” she said. “The second wave is what seemed to be the interstitial lung diseases such as sarcoid granulomas.”

Sarcoid granulomas are small nodules on the lungs characterized by inflammatory cells.

“We are worried about the third wave, which is the possibility of cancer down the road,” she added, saying that some of the malignancies had already begun to appear.

“The group of cancers we’re most concerned about and that we’re focusing on right now are cancers of the hematologic system and lymphatic system, such as leukemias and lymphomas,” Herbert said.

“The kind of thing that worries us is that we know that we have a handful of cases of multiple myeloma in very young individuals, and multiple myeloma is a condition that almost always presents much later in life. So that’s the kind of odd, unusual, troubling finding that we’re seeing already.”

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cell in the blood and is an incurable disease, but symptoms can be treated.

"

wcbstv.com - New Study Links Blood Cancer To Ground Zero Toxins

wcbstv.com - New Study Links Blood Cancer To Ground Zero Toxins: "

New Study Links Blood Cancer To Ground Zero Toxins

Mt. Sinai: 'Third Wave' Of 9/11 Illnesses Appear

Marcia Kramer
Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK A new study has emerged that raises serious concerns about 9/11-related illnesses. For years, scientists reported that it was too soon to link cancers to the toxins that workers were exposed to at Ground Zero after 9/11. But new research is finding a link between Ground Zero toxins and certain types of cancers.

They've already suffered from the World Trade Center cough and from chronic lung diseases. Now doctors say 9/11 responders could face debilitating blood cancers from breathing the toxic air.

The scary reality hit retired firefighter Lee Ielpi hard when he was told he had a rare blood cancer. "I didn't have any words, I was speechless," said Ielpi, who spent nine painstaking months at Ground Zero as he searched for the remains of his son Jonathan, also a firefighter. "My mind -- it ran the gamut of fear, anxiety, my family."

Digg This Story!

The first wave of illnesses was considered to be that stubborn, dry "World Trade Center cough," which was first noticed in the months following the attacks. The cough was likely caused by workers inhaling pulverized cement in the air while working downtown.

The second wave largely involves chronic respiratory diseases that cause lung inflammation and scarring.

The cancers are being called the �third wave� of sickness.

Ironically, the latest findings could be welcome news for some Ground Zero workers. These newly released findings could help the case for a lawyer representing more than 100 workers, who claim they got cancer by working at Ground Zero.

�It shows the peeling away of denial -- first the air was safe, then it wasn't. They lied about it,� said attorney David Worby, who represents 105 people who responded to the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero, and got cancer.

Worby is not surprised by the latest medical findings that establish a link between breathing the mix of toxic chemicals at Ground Zero and getting blood cancers.

He just wonders what took doctors so long.

�The final layer to be peeled away is the fact that hundreds of people who spent thousand of hours at Ground Zero have cancer -- and many more will get it,� he said.

More than 100 of Worby's clients in a class action suit against the city have developed blood cancers.

One of them is only 30 years old. Most range in age from 35 to 40.

The new research linking blood cancers to Ground Zero was published in Thursday�s New England Journal of Medicine, based on studies done by the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program at Mount Sinai, which has been studying 20,000 responders.

The concern is that those who worked at Ground Zero will be diagnosed with blood and lymphatic cancers because of their exposure to the air at "The Pit," which exposed them to asbestos, dioxine, benezine, and other carcinogens.

Dr. Robin Herbert, the co-director of Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program, described the latest findings in an online audio interview.

"We know we have a handful of cases of multiple myeloma in very young individuals. And multiple myelomas usually present later in life. And that's the odd, unusual and troubling finding we're seeing already," Herbert said.

More than 20,000 responders to the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks have been examined by doctors at Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program

Although some people already have cancer, what Herbert is worried about is the possibility of others developing cancer down the road. "

Truth and Rememberance: No history or evidence of 9/11 anywhere on the WTC site

Truth and Rememberance at the WTC « Capt. Billy Burke: "

Capt. Billy Burke

Monday | May 28, 2007

Truth and Rememberance at the WTC

"The zeal, bravery and god behavior of the officers and men of Sept. 11 was commendable to the extreme. A heavy task was before them, they were equal to it and we will remember with pride that at the New York City they did their country much service."

But not at the $500 million dollar, federally funded, six acre memorial at the World Trade Center site. There, Mayor Bloomberg, as chairman of the WTC Memorial Foundation has ruled it inappropriate that any of the 343 men of the FDNY who gave their lives be identified by their department (FDNY), company (i.e., Eng. Co. 21, Ladder Co. 3, Rescue Co. 1, etc.) or their rank.

In fact, the Foundation, which is currently asking all Americans to contribute toward the building of the memorial has ruled there can be no history or evidence of 9/11 anywhere on the WTC site "in order to preserve the integrity of the memorial."

Recently, Mayor Bloomberg told several thousand 9/11 families that the victims of 9/11 cannot, at the memorial, be identified wth any reference to 9/11 because, "The memorial is not just for the families but for America."

So, America's memorial cannot and will not include any reference to the terrorist attacksupon America, Sept. 11, 2001. No remnant or artifact of the WTC; no segmant of the facade, no Koenig Sphere, no crushed fire trucks, no American flag. None of that can be restored to where they stood, Sept. 11, because that "would tell us what to think."

The least we can do, the very least, is not compromise on how we honor those who gave all.

Phillips:60 Architects Support WTC7 Controlled Demolition Theory

Phillips:60 Architects Support WTC7 Controlled Demolition Theory:

"Phillips:60 Architects Support WTC7 Controlled Demolition Theory

Documentation at: www.ae911truth.org...

External Source


On Behalf of the People of the United States of America, the undersigned Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth and affiliates hereby petition for, and demand, a truly independent investigation with subpoena power in order to uncover the full truth surrounding the events of 9/11/01 - specifically the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers and Building 7. We believe that there is sufficient doubt about the official story and therefore that the 9/11 investigation must be re-opened and must include a full inquiry into the possible use of explosives that may have been the actual cause behind the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers and WTC Building 7.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Architects (Degreed & Licensed) Architectural Professionals (Degreed)
Richard Gage, AIA, Architect
Walnut Creek, CA Scott Page, M. Arch / Designer
Berkeley, CA
Don Gibbons, Architect
Pleasant Hill, CA Jeffrey Tam, Architectural Professional
Oakland, CA
Jeff Arnold, Architect
Orinda, CA Oscar Cisnero, Architectural Professional
Antioch, CA
John Cole, Architect
Walnut Creek, CA Elwin Wong, Architectural Professional
Oakland, CA
David Crawford, Architect
Walnut Creek, CA Henri Tso, Architectural Professional
Walnut Creek, CA
Haluk Akol, Architect & Structural Engineer
Lafayette, CA Arthur Stopes, Planner
Berkeley, CA
John Eisenhart, Architect
San Diego, CA Ken Huthcinson, Architectural Professional
Eugene, OR
Joe Bellows, Architect
Martinez, CA Jan Leits, Architectural Professional
Berkeley, CA
John Howland, Architect
Walnut Creek, CA Michael Reuter, Architectural Professional
Berkeley, CA
Eric Douglas, Architect
Howard Beach, NY Chris Jung, Architectural Professional
Berkeley, CA
Peter Hendrickson, Architect
Santa Rosa, CA Tim Clark, Architectural Professional
Albany, CA
Osvaldo Valdes, Architect
New York, NY Jason Wilkinson, Architectural Professional
Berkeley, CA
Lily Livingston, Architect
Oakland, CA Wendy Sitler, Designer
Berkeley, CA
Chris Swigert, Architect
Oakland, CA Dominique Roddier, phD, Naval Architect
Berkeley, CA
Jim Bedinghaus, Architect
St. Petersburg, Florida Karlene Gullone, Architectural Professional
San Francisco, CA
C. Bryan Phelps - AIA, Architect
Boulder, CO Dave Heller, Architectural Professional
Berkeley, CA
Christian Mungenast AIA, Architect
Arlington, MA Kurt Worthington, Urban Planner
San Francisco, CA
Engineers (Degreed & Licensed) Engineering Professionals (Degreed)
Ken Kious, Electrical Engineer
Walnut Creek, CA Gregg Brazel, BSCNE, Constr. Engr'g
Evanston, IL
J. Marx Ayres, PE, Mechanical Engineer
Santa Monica, CA Ted Muga, BSCE, Civil Engineer
San Diego, CA
Robert Nielson, PLS, Land Surveyor
Walnut Creek, CA Kevin Ryan, BS Chem., Certified Quality Engineer
Bloomington, IN
John F. Shanahan, PE, Electrical Engineer
Rancho Cucamonga, CA Ken Jenkins, BS Carnegie Melon, Electrical Engineer
San Rafael, CA
Joseph Testa, P.E., Civil Engineer
Thousand Oaks, CA John Shinn, phD., Chemical Engineer
Pleasant Hill, CA
John L Bursill, Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Avionics
Sydney, NSW John Rexroat, Mfr. Engineer
Walnut Creek, CA
Nazareth "Blue" Lansing, Engineer
Houston, TX Tony Szamboti, BS, Mechanical Engineering Professional
,
Dr. Michael Voschine, PhD., Structural Engineer
Miami, Florida Doug Plumb, EE, Elecrical Engineering Professional
Toronto, ON
Rob Tamaki, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., Civil Engineer
Vancouver, BC Christopher Backus, BS, Mechanical Engineering
Redmond, WA
Jasper Tomlinson MA(Oxon) CEnv MCIWEM, Environmental and Water Resources Engineer
London Uk, London Jason Griffin, BS, Civil Engineer
Washington Dc,

Jay Easwaran, Ph.D. (Metallurgy & Materials Sci.), Metallurgical Engineer
Indianapolis, Indiana

John Sotelo, BSME, MD, Mechanical Engineer
Eureka, CA

S. Drake, Electrical Engineer
Bear, DE

Ron Wilson, Engineering Staff
Fort Worth, Texas

Crystal, Mechanical Engineer
Seattle, WA

David Gregg Ph.D., Chemical Engineer
Moraga, California

James Brooks, B. Civil Eng, University of Texas, Engineering Consultant
Austin, TX
Others and Students
Angelo Petraglia, B. Arch., Student
Jackson, NJ Ellis Goldberg BSEET, MBA, Marketing Engineering Consultant
Danville, CA
Mr. Roman Dulgarov, Student
Goose Creek, South Carolina Abhinav Dhaka, Student
New Delhi, Delhi
Sterling Weeks, Student
Irvine, CA Lloyd Hart, Construction Contractor
Oak Bluffs, MA
Peter Hinners, Realtor
Joliet, IL Dr P S Gill MD, Medical Doctor
Southampton, Hampshire
Matthew Naus, Teacher
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Jason Northrup, Computer Tech/IT Consultant
San Rafael, CA
Brooke Stiltner, IT Consultant/Student
San Francisco, CA max, jr
Bozeman, MT
Johan L Golibal, Engineer
Spain, The Future Robert S. Lynch, Structural Steel Detailer
Falls City, TX
Sam Christmas, Technical Support Analyst
Brighton, Uk, East Sussex Randy Caruso, Web Designer
Beacon, NY
Rita Hill, Software Engineer
Trinidad, CO John Mustanich, Mr.
Millbrae, CA
Justin Keogh, Physics Student
Tucson, AZ Brian Kausler, Student
La Grande, Oregon
Harrison Heitman, Student
Conyers, GA See Yang, Student
Maplewood, MN
Bill Donnelly, Computer Consultant
Chico, CA Gabriella Sankovich
Richmond, CA
Thomas Spellman, Urban Activist
Lake Geneva, WI Bruce A. Scherzer, Retired Power lineman
Bay City, Michigan

and by Active Participation

We cordially invite all Architects, Engineers, Interns and affiliates to JOIN US in this worthy patriotic cause. We welcome everyone who has an interest in contributing to the success of ongoing investigations into the WTC building collapses on 9/11. We want to hear about your interests, background, and what type of contribution you may be well-suited to make. Please let us know the kinds of activities that would appeal to you the most, such as forming/participating in a committee, local speaking arrangements, authoring statements, presenting lectures, appearing on radio, etc. in Section IV on the join form.

With our deepest appreciation,

Richard Gage, Architect

"

Ground zero deaths could add to 9/11 toll - Los Angeles Times

Ground zero deaths could add to 9/11 toll - Los Angeles Times:

Ground zero deaths could add to 9/11 toll

The addition of a lawyer who died later fuels families' claims.

From the Associated Press

May 25, 2007

NEW YORK — Ground zero workers who died after breathing in toxic dust from the collapsed World Trade Center ought to be officially recognized as victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the workers' family members say.

The official list of victims grew by one this week after the city agreed to include a New York attorney who died of lung disease months after the attack, confusing Sept. 11 family members about what distinguished this death from the scores of others attributed to the aftermath.

The city medical examiner's office said Thursday that Felicia Dunn-Jones' death was the only Sept. 11-related fatality it had been asked to review and definitively link to the twin towers' collapse.

Spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said the medical examiner will review future cases if a family makes such a request.

"We certainly never turn anybody down," she said.

That raises the prospect of an ever-increasing death toll nearly six years after the attacks. The count now stands at 2,750 after the inclusion of Dunn-Jones. It's up to Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch to decide whether to reclassify any deaths.

"It's his definition that we will follow in this city," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said.

A police union leader said rescue workers at ground zero who later became ill and died should be added to the city's official victim list.

"First responders who expired as a result of their 9/11related injuries should in fact be given that same honor," said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Assn.

Those responders would include 34-year-old James Zadroga, a police detective who became sick and died of respiratory disease after he worked hundreds of hours in the ground zero cleanup. A New Jersey medical examiner has ruled his 2006 death was "directly related" to his work at ground zero and exposure to toxic dust.

Zadroga's father said he wanted the city to review his son's case.

"I'm going to go through the process, definitely," Zadroga said. "All these guys were heroes there. They're all dying."

David Reeve, whose wife, Deborah, died last year of an asbestos-related cancer after working for months around ground zero and at the morgue, said he would like her to be recognized as an attack victim.

Attorneys wondered whether the official listing of Dunn-Jones, a 42-year-old civil rights attorney who fled the collapsing towers from her office a block away, would make a difference in lawsuits accusing the city of negligence for failing to protect workers and residents from toxic air at the site.

"I have clients who are starting to call saying, 'Should we dig up the bodies and have autopsies and have tissue samples?' " said David Worby, who represents 10,000 plaintiffs in a negligence lawsuit against the city. He said at least five of his clients recently died of sarcoidosis, the disease that killed Dunn-Jones.

Bloomberg said Dunn-Jones' case was different from those of workers who toiled for months at the site.

"This one case … the woman was killed as a result of being there at the time of the attack," he said. "Think of it as though somebody had gotten — had a beam fall on them and it just took a little while for them to succumb to their injury. Not somebody who was injured the next day if a beam fell on them during the cleanup. That's a very different situation."

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Firefighter worked around clock at Ground Zero Murdered

Firefighter worked around clock at Ground Zero:

Firefighter worked around clock at Ground Zero

Associated Press

May. 26, 2007 11:59 AM

NEW YORK - Firefighter Salvatore Princiotta worked around the clock at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11 attacks: Family members say he helped put out fires, led injured people out of the area, and spent a week digging through the smoking rubble for his uncle, a deputy fire chief.

He eventually got sick with lung problems, retired from the fire department and recently moved to Arizona, hoping the abundance of sun and fresh air would be just what his ailing body needed.

But on May 14 - five years to the day after the remains of his uncle, Chief Raymond Downey, were found at ground zero - Princiotta was found dead in his Arizona apartment. Police said there were bullet wounds in his decomposing body.

On Friday, the suspect in the slaying committed suicide after police cornered him in California, authorities said.

Police are saying little about the suspect and nothing about why he killed Princiotta, only adding to the mystery surrounding the former firefighter's final days.

But one thing is for sure - Princiotta is one of hundreds of first responders who got sick after Sept. 11 and now blame their health woes on the toxic fumes and dust at ground zero.

In January, Princiotta moved from his Manhattan apartment to Arizona because he was having trouble breathing. After several hospitalizations, he retired from the FDNY four years ago.

"He was brokenhearted," said his brother, Joseph Princiotta of Deer Park, a Long Island community where family members have lived in six houses along Oak Street for decades.

"You could say Sal was a victim of 9/11," the brother said. "He would never have moved to Arizona if 9/11 hadn't happened."

Hundreds of miles from the haunting memories, in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 43-year-old retired firefighter hoped for a new life in a near-perfect, sunny climate. He was getting disability pay - three-quarters of his firefighter salary - supplemented by income from day-trading stocks.

Photography was his pastime and passion and he planned to use his new home as a base to keep traveling the world. His photos - posted on his Web site - are from Turkey, the Czech Republic, Italy, Mexico, Greece. In the clear Arizona air, he could ride his new bike.

Three months after the terror attacks, the image of Princiotta atop a road bike was seen across the country when he and five other firefighters cycled 3,000 miles from New York to California - to say thank you to fellow Americans, especially firefighters and police in other states, for coming to New York's rescue in its hour of need.

Princiotta and his group of FDNY firefighters raised $29,000 for the Uniformed Firefighters Association Widows' & Children's Fund. His firehouse - Ladder Co. 9, Engine Co. 33 in lower Manhattan - had lost 10 of its men on Sept. 11.

Princiotta, a muscled, tattoed man friends called "Sally Boy," would donate gifts to orphaned children each Christmas, but didn't want anyone to know, said his best friend in New York, Gus Thomas.

During his almost 15 years with the FDNY, Princiotta received two citations for bravery; in one instance, he walked into a burning house to pull out a trapped firefighter.

An online guestbook with comments from friends, relatives and strangers includes an entry from the firefighter Princiotta saved, Hank Porcaro, now retired in Las Vegas.

"Sal saved my life at the very moment I was dying. Out of air, lost, and tied up in fallen cables, I knew I was breathing out my last breath," he writes, adding that the flames were blowing over his head and he was losing consciousness.

"Then I heard my miracle. A big strong voice telling me I got you, brother' sounded to me like an angel. I felt his strong arms pull my tied up body and I knew I would be OK."

Just outside Princiotta's old firehouse, a makeshift memorial still sits on a windowsill by the sidewalk - a wooden box with a glass lid that holds photos of him both in uniform and in casual attire, always in the company of his firefighter buddies.

In New York, he remains a hero, a friend, a beloved son, brother, uncle and decorated former firefighter. He was also "a consummate bachelor, outgoing and gregarious," his brother said with a chuckle.

In Arizona, the New York hero has become a victim in a murder mystery.

The suspect killed himself Friday night at a motel in San Bernardino, Calif., said Sgt. Mark Clark, a Scottsdale police spokesman.

When approached by police, the suspect fled on foot. After a short chase, he pulled out a gun and committed suicide, Clark said. The name of the 56-year-old man was being withheld until relatives could be notified, Clark said.

The question now is: What was the motive for Princiotta's slaying?

His nephew, also named Salvatore Princiotta, discovered his uncle's body on May 14, Joseph Princiotta said. Family members had been trying to reach Princiotta for about a week, after not hearing from him for a while. A niece got no reply to cell phone text messages and e-mails.

Finally, the nephew, a student at a nearby college, went to check on his uncle, using his own key to enter the condominium in his gated, low-crime community.

It appeared Princiotta had been dead for days, police said. There was no evidence of a break-in.

Thomas visited Princiotta about a month ago. He remembers answering several calls from a man named "Jeff" who would abruptly hang up when told Princiotta was still asleep. Princiotta said the man lived in California and had sold Princiotta a safe to store his coin collection after the two met in Las Vegas.

"I told him, you don't buy a safe from a stranger!" Thomas said.

The Manhattan restaurant owner said he was pleased that police found a suspect, but still sad about the loss.

"I haven't slept in weeks since he died," he said.

At first, his family in New York believed Princiotta might have died of the post-Sept. 11 lung complications. On Tuesday, a day after he was buried on Long Island, police in Arizona announced they were conducting a homicide investigation.

Princiotta was flown home to New York from Phoenix, where his coffin rode atop a fire engine to the airport. When the plane landed at New York's LaGuardia Airport, 60 firefighters saluted as the flag-draped casket emerged from the aircraft.

He was buried Monday at the St. Charles Cemetery in Pine Lawn, Long Island, near his childhood home.