The 9/11 Widows

OpinionJournal.com ^ | 4.14.2004 | Dorothy Rabinowitz

[NYC GOP Chick]

Americans are beginning to tire of them.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004 12:01 a.m.

"I watched my husband murdered live on TV. .

[Mo1]

,i>Well, I am sure I will be struck dead by God for saying this, but Mrs. Breitweiser's husband is dead because he was dumb enough to listen to the announcement of the Port Authority when they said it was safe to stay -- so he went BACK up the stairs to his office -- while an AIRPLANE was ON FIRE in the building 100 yards away.

I guess she never thought of that ..

[My2Cents]

These are likely the same group of victims who refused the original government settlement, and held out for more money.

[GottaLuvAkitas1]

"They should be applauding GWB for going after the terrorists & not blaming him & his administration."

Julie, I totally agree with you.
I get so angry at times that I could slap people like these women, but we will NEVER change their minds. No matter what we say or what Bush does nothing will change them. It seems they hate Bush more than the people responsible for 9/11. I just don't understand how they can be so pathetically clueless and it makes me crazy!!!

[Howlin]

Kristen actually said today after Reno testified that the Pentagon canceled ALL their flights for 9-11, implying the government knew.

This will come as BIG news to George and Barbara Bush and Barbara Olsen, won't it?

[Mo1]

Why aren't the Jersey Girls blaming the INS for allowing 19 terrorists into the country?

Why aren't they blaming the TERRORIST????

[Darlin']

I do the same thing, I change the channel. My sympathy and patience wore a long time ago for this small group of whiners.

[aculeus]

It's about time someone took on these boring phonies. Congrats to Dorothy R and thanks for posting.

[onyx]

These are likely the same group of victims who refused the original government settlement, and held out for more money.



Damn straight.
I bet they are.
In fact, do not be surprised to see
Ben Veniste involved in their representation.

[Howlin]

Ld, they lost their husband, but they were not the only people attacked that day; this whole country was!

[My2Cents]

Debra Burlingame will never be asked back on LKL, I'll bet.

[kcvl]

AMERICAN MORNING

Secrets of 9/11

Aired November 17, 2003 - 08:35 ET


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the work of the independent commission studying the events surrounding 9/11. In an unprecedented move, the White House last week said it would give the commission access to some of its most sensitive, secret documents. But some of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 say that is not nearly enough. Among them is Christian Breitweiser. Her husband, Ron Breitweiser, was killed in the attack on the World Trade Center. And Kristen is a member of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission. She joins us this morning.
It's nice to see you as always, Kristen. Thanks for coming in.

The commission struck this deal with the White House, including among the things that they got was access to the PDB, which is the president's daily briefing. Experts say that this is huge. This is, some will say, the most intimate kind of communication that the president can have with his briefing staff. It is unheard of. And you say, still not good enough, doesn't go far enough. Why?

KRISTEN BREITWEISER, HUSBAND KILLED ON 9/11: You know, I think undoubtedly the president's daily briefing has not been released. But this is not a congressional body. This is a quasi-legislative executive branch entity. And I think never before in history were over 3,000 Americans murdered on the homeland. I think that this situation calls for the release of this information. This commission needs full, unfettered access. All 10 commissioners need to see the PDB. And the reason for that is because we had a national security adviser come out days after the attacks and say we had no idea they could use planes as missiles. We have a historical record that is replete with incidences of al Qaeda and terrorists possibly using planes as missiles. We need to find out how our national security adviser didn't know that. We need to find out exactly where that intelligence information, the flow of that information, had a breakdown so that it didn't reach the national security adviser.

O'BRIEN: Is it the White House not going forward with giving the information, or do you say the commission, the 9/11 commission itself, is not pushing hard enough to get access to this information?

BREITWEISER: Frankly, I think that it's a tenuous situation. But I think none of this had to be a debate. None of this had to be negotiated, if the White House on day one handed over these documents.

This commission's mandate is to take off where the joint inquiry left off. The joint inquiry stated in its recommendations that an issue arose. What had happened was, they were investigating the intelligence failures. They found out in testimony from a witness, something that contradicted what Condoleezza Rice said. They tried to look into that and they were blocked. The joint inquiry thereafter said something needs to be done about this, this issue needs to be reconciled. This commission's mandate is to take off where they left off. It is totally within their mandate to find out why one person said something, and Condoleezza Rice said something else. We need to reconcile that.

O'BRIEN: The White House might say regardless of what the mandate is, we have to be careful of the national security of our nation, and therefore we can't go ahead and give you access to all this, only to protect the country.

BREITWEISER: Undoubtedly. But you know what, it is our position that this is about national security. We need to find out why that information did not get into Condoleezza Rice's hands. The only way you do that is accessing the final document, the PDB, and backtracking, and finding out where along the way it got dropped out. We need to find out why it was, you know, toned down, or dropped down, and didn't make it into her hands. This is about the safety of the nation. That's what national security is. We all want the same goal, we all need to work toward that goal.

O'BRIEN: The commission could have sued, could have subpoenaed the records, but it would have been, most people will say, tied up in court for years. Do you have any feelings that, well at least we got something now?

BREITWEISER: Look, I don't have any feeling, because unfortunately, ironically enough, this is a historical agreement about access, and yet the American public cannot access the agreement. I mean, it's very ironic. So it's our position that they should release this agreement. Let it become part of the public debate, let the public see the deal that has been struck.

And my understanding of it is that it has many restrictions. There are many hurdles that need to be jumped over. This is not access. This is access with a footnote, which, to me, is upsetting. We wanted a definitive report, and now we have a report with a footnote.

O'BRIEN: And you'll never really know because there's no exact sense of what was agreed to in the first place.

Kristen Breitweiser, as always, nice to have you. Thanks for talking with us this morning. Appreciate it.

[My2Cents]

I'm furious by the shameful shilling of these women, but my head tells me most Americans are disgusted by their behavior.

[Howlin]

The repeat will be on in about 15 minutes! I'm watching it again.

And there is a family of a Marine who died on there at the same time; and THEY support Bush, too.

King kept asking them, "Who do you blame?"

[Petronski]

Dorothy Rabinowitz, all I can say is, a brilliant mind is SO sexy.


This article is gold.

[My2Cents]

So, Breitweiser is an aluminum foil wearer?

[GottaLuvAkitas1]

Ld, they lost their husband, but they were not the only people attacked that day; this whole country was!


Yes! And they don't speak for me in any way shape or form.

[Petronski]

My best buddy in the world taught me his trick for avoiding profanity.


In a moment of shock, he says:


"All I can say is . . . wow."


It sounds goofy, but it works really well for me.

[Howlin]

Over here!

[kcvl]

KRISTIN BREITWEISER, 9/11 WIDOW: My problem with the ads is that they're, you know, golden toned music in the background. They're pastoral. They're fuzzy and warm.

That's not my reality of 9/11. My reality of 9/11 was that my husband and 3,000 others were murdered while this nation did nothing to defend itself.

And I would respectfully suggest that people like Mayor Giuliani or certain other individuals who find that Ground Zero is the perfect backdrop for political ads.

[LdSentinal]

Ld, they lost their husband, but they were not the only people attacked that day; this whole country was!

Yeah, and what's sickening is that they're attacking Bush and co.; the people who are doing their best to protect all of us -- including the Jersey Widows and their children.

:-(