9/11's Dark Heritage
The September 11 commemorations have increasingly become a family affair. The rest of the country seems to have moved on, leaving New Yorkers to hold the ceremonies and revisit their memories.
Perhaps that's inevitable. And on one count, it's the way we ought to want it. The whole world was watching back in 2004 - that would be the year the cornerstone for the Freedom Tower was laid. It's not necessarily a bad thing that the crowd will be smaller when we gather this year to admire the Rising Beyond Sidewalk Level of the Structure That Will Be the Freedom Tower Someday Or Maybe Not.
We've made few deadlines and kept precious few promises in the years since the World Trade Center fell.
As things stand now, the memorial to the victims of the terrorist attack is scheduled to open in 2011. The much-debated museum is supposed to be ready to receive visitors in 2012, although what it will ultimately wind up displaying is anybody's guess. The Freedom Tower and the transportation hub are supposed to follow within a year or two.
A recent poll found that 60 percent of New Yorkers don't believe the tower and the memorial will be open by the current deadlines. The only surprising thing is that 28 percent of the people questioned actually thought the Port Authority and its many partners could make it in under the wire.
Control over the Ground Zero projects has always been divided. Developer Larry Silverstein owned the much-leveraged lease to the World Trade Center when the towers fell, and he is determined to be the one to rebuild the towers. But Silverstein is equally insistent that somebody else pay the bill.
The Port Authority, which is supposed to be in charge of the whole project, is a slow-moving bureaucracy with control divided between New York and New Jersey. If you want evidence of its ability to handle complicated problems quickly and efficiently, take a look at the ruined Deutsche Bank building which it now owns, and still has not managed to get demolished after all these years.
At the center of all the squabbling is the governor of New York, the one person who might be able to prod everyone into concerted action. Most people think George Pataki tried in his own way, but unfortunately his own way was lethargic. Then Eliot Spitzer came and went. Now there's David Paterson, who can't even get his own office under control.
In retrospect, maybe we demanded too much. There's no reason we have to build five huge office buildings in the middle of a collapse in the commercial real estate market. And the theory that there had to be a tower exactly 1,776 feet tall, or the terrorists won seems much less impressive now than it did six or seven years ago.
The terrorists lost. We're still here; the city endures. The wounds we suffer right now are far more the product of the irrational exuberance of investment bankers than religious fanatics.
But eight years after the tragedy, there still isn't even a memorial. That's the kind of factoid that makes you stop in your tracks.
And the buildings are only one part of September 11's unfinished business.
The people who ran down to the site to volunteer to help on 9/11/01 - the construction workers and the emergency responders - are continuing to suffer from ailments that almost surely were caused by their long exposure to toxic air at the site.
This is the dark heritage of 9/11. Whenever we gather to remember, we celebrate the responders' heroism. But we still haven't quite acknowledged that our leaders, from Rudy Giuliani on down, never adequately warned the men and women working around the smoldering site that the place where they were flinging themselves into duty was a toxic landmine.
The Victims Compensation Fund that was set up by the federal government after the disaster worked well, but it stopped accepting applications in 2003, before many of the men and women who were disabled realized that the respiratory problems they were having weren't just symptoms of an allergy or long-running flu. Eleven thousand of them are currently suing the city and the construction contractors. But this is not the kind of situation you want to see settled through lengthy, bitter court suits.
The government needs to step up to the plate, reopen the fund, and show it's willing to compensate the disabled and sometimes dying men and women of Ground Zero. This isn't the kind of action we're supposed to take grudgingly, because a judge tells us to.
It won't be all that long before that tenth anniversary of 9/11. I'm willing to hazard a guess that the memorial still won't be completed. Most of the construction plans for Lower Manhattan will still be gauzy promises. The city can wait, perhaps not patiently. But we have to deal with the human part of the equation. The people who answered the call on that terrible day need to be taken care of.
And every politician who shows up on September 11 looking sad should be able to tell us what he/she did to make that happen.
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Thank you for comments on those who have suffered due to lack of warnings about the toxicity of the site to those working at the site.
I clearly remember statements issued by EPA that there were no problems at the site and surrounding areas. How they could say that without a thorough analysis of what was they were breathing.
I guess the AIR in the bureaucrats offices were OK.
But I also agree with Tlon that some of those working their should have worn masks, since any, any dust is not going to be benign. But with the encouragement with EPA, their guard was down.
How could it be?
Because they KNEW they were lying. EVERYONE knows cement dust is toxic to the lungs, it was just a PR move and completely irresponsible. They didn't care about anyone's health.
The EPA encouraged mass poisoning. There should be an inquiry into why and the director should be held responsible. I think she should do some jail time for it, that was voluntary manslaughter and dereliction of duty. People were sickened and have died.
I found myself tearing up as I watched the event happen all over again on FOX last night. I prayed for all the victims again and slept not a wink. I remember going into the city from Long Island and picking up rubble. I was crying then too. I did not lose anyone myself, yet each and every life lost that day, deserved more then my tears. They were my countryman and innocent. Killed in the name of someone else's god. If such a god really existed I fear the planet would be empty of all life. The followers of such a god must really fear all Americans to attack the unknowing without care. They are not strong enough to stand side by side and face freedom head on. They can never win so they hide. Too cowardly to face even one of us in the open. Plotting and planning and losing. No hope of ever winning a great battle. To afraid to show their faces. Too scared of the American sprit I say. One nation under a god of love. A land filled with those so strong of heart no enemy could ever overcome in a fair fight. I pity them. I fear them not. I pray for their souls. I challenge any of them to a one on one. I may be old, but by God I am American and proud.
The true dark heritage of 9/11 is the numerous unanswered questions and blatant coverup of what really happened that day.
The love of my life is a retired fire fighter. From the stories he has told me, the government's treatment of those rescue workers is typical. He and his peers were never given a heads up when a meth lab caught on fire, even when it was known. I think it's despicable that the very people we count on when the s**t hits the fan aren't warned in advance whenever it's possible.
Didn't Silverstein get billions in insurance payouts?
Besides begging the question why the lessee rather than the owner had insurance on the buildings, is it not somewhat fraudulent to NOT use the insurance for the purpose of rebuilding in this instance? Whether Silverstein continues to hold the lease on the property or not, allowing him to just pocket billions and billions of dollars of insurance money is WRONG.
Yes and Silverstein is the guy who said ON CAMERA that he asked for Tower 7 to drop....
Anyone can see this...
Double it's worth because of terrorism.
Curious? did anyone send Silverman a bill for the clean up? He's the owner right? That's why its not rebuilt, cause its HIS. So bill him for the clean up.
By a bizarre coincidence the night before Sept. 11 2001, my husband and I were talking about what safe, secure lives we led compared to our parents who experienced the depression, World War II and the horror of the holocaust.
The very next day that sense of security was shattered. As we drove home soon after the attack (the College where we both taught was immediately closed), my husband said, “The worst thing about this is what our government is going to do in response.” Minutes after the attack he was already focused on the erosion of civil liberties he saw coming in the aftermath.
I was focused on my fears of further attacks. It took me a while to get over that sense of foreboding that another attack was in the works.
But my husband was focused on the real problem. It turned out to be just as bad as he predicted—the war in Iraq, Guantanamo, torture etc. etc.
The tragic loss of life on 9/11 became justification for a far greater loss of life in Iraq.
With the Obama administration, we are slowly (much too slowly) beginning to undo the damage we inflicted on ourselves in response to September 11.
Hey Dan, greetings from New Haven.
About the only place I read about this issue is in pieces that you have written. It is unfortunate that greater attention wasn't paid to safety at the time, but a former fire chief I work with tells me that those at the site were operating on pure emotion in those early days.
A former Register/Courier co-worker,
Janet Kipphut Ainsworth
Bush got the capital, "credibility" and public opinion to drag the country into Iraq.
Who benefitted?
Benefits all accrued to the powers that be (TPTB) -- more control, bigger gov. budgets, bigger gov. budgets to run the US into the ground faster. Mission accomplished.
Nor have we acknowleged that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney did NOT keep America safe! They were warned several times in the weeks and days just prior to 9/11 and dismissed the messengers rudely. SAFETY was never the priority of that administration. They had other fish to fry that enhanced their own self-interests. Just so America knows -- they NEVER kept us safe.
"The wounds we suffer right now are far more the product of the irrational exuberance of investment bankers than religious fanatics."
Go and get Moore's "Sicko", if you really want to get angry.
The EPA said "the air was safe to breathe" a week after the tragedy.
Over 8,000 people thus far have been diagnosed with various 9/11 fallout diseases. Several hundred already died, and thousands will die in the future.
Next time a politician invokes 9/11 to request more money for war, demand money and care for those still suffering from 9/11-related illness. We can still save lives!
Educate yourself about the 9/11 Illness and cover-up by watching a great documentary, Dust to Deceit:
http://www
http://www
You can help the afflicted First Responders here:
http://www
Read "Zero for Heroes" in New York Magazine (from October 20, 2003):
http://nym
hhmmmm,
perhaps they didn't tell anyone about the dangers of being in the area so that the crime scene could be tampered with quickly and evidence removed. Nahh! That can't be true because when the crime went to trial, somebody would have gotten called out for obstructing justice. Oh, yeah...the trial never happened. Yet.
Do you really think it would have made a difference if the rescue workers knew in advance what kinds of ailments might await them down the road. I'm guessing they would have said step back, and rushed right in.
I'm guessing just as they brought all their protective gear with them, they would have brought the required masks. These people have families too and deserved to have all the necessary protection for themselves!
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