9/11: Justice postponed - again

As I noted a while back, the ongoing Military Tribunal related to Khalid Shaikh Mohammad et al was scheduled for two days of Hearings this past week.

Then comes this:

The hearings scheduled for 16 and 17 October 2014, have been cancelled. The next hearings in U.S. v. KSM et al (2) are scheduled for 15-19 December 2014; 9-13 February and 16-20 February 2015.

I have been unable to find any reason given for this delay, but will continue to monitor.

9/11 Justice drags on - update

The Military Commission at GITMO has released an update on the scheduled October hearings:...

Judge Pohl issued an Amended Docketing Order in U.S. v. KSM et al (2).




The hearing in October will take place on 16-17 October 2014



The United States will be represented by the Special Review Team, and the issues to be litigated are all related to AE292, Emergency Joint Defense Motion to Abate Proceedings and Inquire into Existence of Conflict of Interest Burdening Counsel's Representation of Accused.

9/11 Justice: Lawsuit against Saudis continues

The Saudi connection to 9/11, and the continuing demand for justice,  is not news.  It has been ongoing for years.  Now comes this reminder.

From Philly.com:

Law Review: City firm keeps making case against Saudis and 9/11

TERROR David Swanson PREG 09-13-2001 New York City WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING IN THIS PHOTO: Rescue workers, some of over a thousand pull a body from the massive amount of debris that was the World Trade Center. 16/many INQ SWANSON Chris Mondics, Inquirer Staff Write Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Was it all merely a coincidence?

One of the most salient and disturbing facts to emerge within hours of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was that 15 of the 19 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia.

Without once mentioning Saudi Arabia, President Obama spoke at length last Wednesday before the United Nations about the need to crack down on extremist ideologies emanating from the Middle East But 13 years after the attacks, evidence continues to point not only to the involvement of Saudi extremists and terrorism financiers in the 9/11 attacks, but also perhaps to elements of the Saudi government itself.

This point is made chillingly clear in a new filing by Center City lawyers suing the government of Saudi Arabia for the attacks on behalf of the victims, insurers, and others who suffered grievous losses that day. The lawsuit by Cozen O'Connor has been discounted repeatedly by the Saudis' American lawyers, and by U.S. officials who have sought to quash it or otherwise frustrate efforts by the plaintiffs' lawyers.

For years, the administrations of President George W. Bush and Obama have blocked release of a report by Congress that details evidence of involvement in the plot by Saudi government employees.

But the Cozen lawsuit and the latest filing two weeks ago, based on newly acquired information through discovery and Freedom of Information Act requests, are unlikely to go away.[ emphasis mine]...


GO read the rest here.. 

9/11: From Across the Pond

By Alec:

Lunar Landing 

There are seminal moments in life shared by generations that may not be as obvious at first and indeed we may make light of some events, but one thing they all have in common is they all leave a deep impression on those who remember. 

 Not necessarily in chronological order, significance or importance; the Great War leaves scars to this day despite the loss of all our WW1 Veterans in recent years, The Second world War, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Korea, Vietnam, The first Lunar landing, The Beatles, our first clumsy sexual encounter, the assassination of President Kennedy, the Falklands War and the bombing of a Remembrance Parade in Enniskillen by the Provisional Irish Republican Army… 

Now I can’t lay claim to being around during some of the events above being a mere 40 something, and as much as I like to think my first sexual encounter was something akin to when Adam met Eve, I’d be as misleading as an MP in the Houses of Parliament when questioned about their expenses. However I do remember the shock and outrage of the Enniskillen bombing, the effect it had on me and the eventual direction my life would take. 

The call to arms for some young men and women happens in much the same way I guess; a sense of moral outrage and wanting to protect all that your parents have taught you to hold dear, which I term the ‘for King and Country’ calling, as first exhibited by the men and children of the Commonwealth countries at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914.

 9/11 

 There is little I can say that more eloquent people than I haven’t said on the “cause and effect” of 9/11 indeed, some of you will have lost Sons, Brothers, Fathers, Husbands, Daughters, Sisters, Mothers and Wives amongst other family members either in the atrocious attacks directly or since, after answering the call to arms. 

There are few words that I can offer which adequately express my sympathy at your loss and sacrifice and, I can say with confidence I don't think there is one community in the UK that hasn't been touched by the loss of a loved one in the War On Terror. For me, 9/11 is one of those shock and awe moments that will live with me until my last breath as I know it will for many of you.

 My personal experience of 9/11 I shall briefly share with you, there's no heroics, because I'm no hero just an old engineer. 

To set the scene... I had worked in Northern Ireland for a joint service unit on and off for a few years and decided, or rather it had been decided for me that the unit should be scaled down and the role handed to another recently formed unit which had a more 'global' sphere of operations, that I should return to the mainland for retraining. For the most part I was happy as I'd become tired of the job, the politics and with one eye on the future I needed a trade for civvy street. Occasionally I would have to dip my toes back into the past for one reason or another, mainly to answer questions but some times when everyone else was too busy, I was asked back to make the tea's and coffee's. 

9/11 was one of those times. 

 "You should see this film." 

 I'd just returned to an aircraft Squadron after further training, getting divorced and all the usual crap that both those situations bring to the table when I met a lass who would ultimately become ex wife number two, but that's another story... 

Anyway, I had been on a 12 hour night shift for three nights and was looking forward to heading down to Devon with the 'dragon' for a weeks leave after the last night shift in the rotation of four on four off. I awoke mid day and went to the loo, on returning to my room the 'dragon' uttered those fateful words that still hang in my memory when everything else has all but gone.

 "You should see this film."

 I watched a second aircraft disappear into a building in a mass of flame and black smoke, my heart stopping as the realisation struck me that this was real, this was actually happening and right now. My head swam with questions as I watched helplessly people dying, on screen, right before my eyes; and not for the first time nor indeed the last, did bile rise from my stomach as the stench reached my nostrils. 

Nothing but death comes from explosions, so that blows the "big bang" theory to shreds too, in my opinion. I quickly showered and headed to work early, as did many others with a 'few' years under their belts because, we knew, that once the initial shock subsided, it would be busy. Very f*cking busy.

 Anyone with half a brain cell and an ounce of common sense knew that, whilst the attack had gone down on U.S. soil, it was going to have a snowball effect, consuming all in the roll down hill. 

The next day, maybe the day after, I'm unsure due to the head injury, passage of time or time zones, I found myself stranded in Halifax,  Nova Scotia. Unable to proceed to Washington, along with thousands of passengers either travelling from Europe to the U.S. or just trying to transit U.S. airspace. 

The unsung hero's that are our Canadian cousins, who never fail to produce when disaster rears it's ugly head, came out thick and fast as the doors to the shopping mall, hotels, community centres and even private homes,  were willingly opened to all. The rows of aircraft that swamped Halifax airfield was in stark contrast to Washington; it was all but deserted except for the airfield staff whose pain, fear and shock were etched deep in their faces. 

 9/11 was certainly my 'Nixon' or 'Lunar landing' moment. 

Alec.

NY Firefighter on 9/11: 'I was NOT there'

In the years since 9/11, we have all seen unscrupulous jerks try to make money off the misuse and abuse of images and names of those who sacrificed.

Today's episode:

Mon Mar 28, 12:04 pm ET

New York law firm, advertising agency under fire over 9/11 ad

By Brett Michael Dykes

One of New York's Bravest is objecting to the use of his likeness in a poster marketing the services of a New York law firm that specializes in 9/11-related illnesses.

The ad in question features a firefighter holding a photo of the devastated World Trade Center site, accompanied by the words, "I was there. And now, Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern is there for me." And therein lies the issue: the man in the ad, Robert Keiley, didn't become a firefighter until 2004.

According to the New York Post's Reuven Fenton and Jennifer Fermino, Keiley is particularly upset that the photo in the poster was manipulated from a generic promotional photo for the department--of Keiley holding his fire helmet. The law firm's ad agency, Barker/DZP, swapped a picture of the World Trade Center in place of the helmet. They then debuted the poster at a fundraiser, the World Police Fire Games Event Gala; a move Keiley thinks makes him look like a "scumbag."

"It's an insult to the Fire Department. It's an insult to all the families who lost people that day," Keiley, an ex-cop who also works part-time as a model and actor, told the Post. "It makes me look like I'm cashing in on 9/11, saying I was there even though I was never there, and that I'm sick and possibly suing, trying to get a chunk of money."...

Yes, there is more and you can find that here.

9/11 Families Respond to BHO support for Ground Zero Mosque

BHO last night came out strongly in support of a mosque at Ground Zero, and made a statement from the White House, the people's house. This despite Robert Gibbs previously sticking to the line that the administration does not get involved in 'local issues.'

I am speechless at the gall, but the 9/11 families are not. Their press release this morning:

August 14, 2010

Debra Burlingame: 9/11 Families Stunned by President’s Support of Mosque at Ground Zero

by Tim Sumner @ 8:29 am. Filed under 9/11, Barack Obama, Debra Burlingame, Ground Zero, Shariah, mosque

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America
Statement of Debra Burlingame, Co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America, in Response to President Obama’s Remarks about the Ground Zero Mosque

911 Families Stunned Presidents Support of Mosque at Ground Zero

New York, NY, Aug. 14 — Barack Obama has abandoned America at the place where America’s heart was broken nine years ago, and where her true values were on display for all to see. Since that dark day, Americans have been asked to bear the burden of defending those values, again and again and again. Now this president declares that the victims of 9/11 and their families must bear another burden. We must stand silent at the last place in America where 9/11 is still remembered with reverence or risk being called religious bigots.

Muslims have worshipped in New York without incident both before and after the attacks of 9/11. This controversy is not about religious freedom. 9/11 was more than a “deeply traumatic event,” it was an act of war. Building a 15-story mosque at Ground Zero is a deliberately provocative act that will precipitate more bloodshed in the name of Allah. Those who continue to target and kill American civilians and U.S. troops will see it as a symbol of their historic progress at the site of their most bloody victory. Demolishing a building that was damaged by wreckage from one of the hijacked planes in order to build a mosque and Islamic Center will further energize those who regard it as a ratification of their violent and divinely ordered mission: the spread of shariah law and its subjugation of all free people, including secular Muslims who come to this country fleeing that medieval ideology, which destroys lives and crushes the human spirit.

We are stunned by the president’s willingness to disregard what Americans should be proud of: our enduring generosity to others on 9/11–a day when human decency triumphed over human depravity. On that day, when 3,000 of our fellow human beings were killed in barbaric act of raw religious intolerance unlike this country had ever seen, Americans did not turn outward with hatred or violence, we turned to each other, armed with nothing more than American flags and countless acts of kindness. In a breathtakingly inappropriate setting, the president has chosen to declare our memories of 9/11 obsolete and the sanctity of Ground Zero finished. No one who has lived this history and felt the sting of our country’s loss that day can truly believe that putting our families through more wrenching heartache can be an act of peace.

We will honor the memory of our loved ones. We will protect our children, whose lives will never be the same. We will not stand silent.

There is really nothing I can add to this which you can find here.

Like many, I am stunned by this latest pronouncement of BHO, and yes, I WILL have more to say on this - later. I also will not stand silent.