Free Republic

President Obama will gather tomorrow with victims and families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and U.S.S. Cole bombing for a face-to-face meeting as his administration struggles to decide how to handle detainees at Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, several of those invited said. The previously undisclosed meeting at the White House tomorrow afternoon will give the new president a chance to explain his decision to close the controversial prison facility where the U.S. has placed many suspected terrorists since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Obama has been assailed by conservative critics who say the decision to close the facility within a year...

My brother was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11. I have been waiting for justice ever since. Last month, I went to Guantanamo Bay to try to find it. What I witnessed was shocking. I saw a place where prisoners toy with the authorities, read the newspaper and get one hour breaks for prayer. I saw a place where detainees are treated far better than many ordinary American criminal defendants - and, as far as I'm concerned, far better than they deserve. I looked straight into the eyes of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man who masterminded the attacks...

The first problem at Guantanamo is not the food or the cages or the interrogations or any extrajudicial powers allegedly claimed by the Bush White House. The first problem at Guantanamo is that justice has been so long delayed. Had trials been held, verdicts handed down, cases closed, and punishment meted, we wouldn't need a debate over torture vs. "enhanced interrogation techniques." We wouldn't have a political feud unfolding from South Carolina to Fort Leavenworth to Washington to Brussels over where to imprison 60-80 of 245 remaining Gitmo inmates who according to the Pentagon should stand trial. We wouldn't have...

Three times during his tenure as Deputy Attorney General, Eric Holder was made fully aware that intelligence sharing with the Criminal Division was not taking place. As the officer in charge of day-to-day operations at the Department of Justice, his lack of due diligence ensured that the 'Wall' between the intelligence and criminal divisions of the FBI that Jamie Gorelick had built would remain in place for the foreseeable future. The 'Wall' stood as the Clinton administration and intelligence community saw the rising threat of al Qaeda, Ramzi Yousef was prosecuted for making the bomb used in the 1993 attack...

Three families of firefighters killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 want to meet with President Barack Obama to urge him to reverse his decision to suspend the trial of five detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who admit roles in the terror attacks. In a meeting with reporters at their attorney's office on Sunday, the families deplored what they called "delays and confusion" in the former Bush administration's effort to prosecute suspects in the 2001 attacks, which killed about 3,000 people, saying they want "a firm commitment" that the same process won't continue under Obama. "Seven and a...

This morning, the New York Daily News published my op-ed on President Barack Obama's decision to close Guantanamo and suspend the Military Commissions: With his shameful order to close Guantanamo Bay, President Obama has perfectly filled the stereotype of the classic clueless ultra-Liberal -- the one who can generate great passion for the rights of the guilty defendant and none for the innocent victim. With a single stroke of the pen, Obama has delayed justice for the victims of 9/11, and in essence granted a reprieve for Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the architect of 9/11. America does not...

Over the objections of a large majority of 9/11 family members, President Barack Obama is expected to sign an Executive Order today directing that the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base be closed: Relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks, who were at the base this week to observe pretrial hearings, told reporters they oppose any halt to the trials. "The safest place to have these trials is Guantanamo Bay. If they were to move to the homeland it would endanger all of us," said Lorraine Arias Believeau of Barnegat, New Jersey, whose brother, Adam, was killed in...

By MICHELE McPHEE and RICHARD WEIR Daily News Staff Writers fter losing her husband in the World Trade Center and nearly losing her home when Flight 587 crashed in the Rockaways, Kimberly Moran was headed for a Christmas vacation yesterday when tragedy almost struck again. Four-year-old Dylan Moran with the three firemen who saved his life Her 4-year-old son Dylan began choking on jawbreaker candy and quickly turned blue. But two fast-acting cops and a passing volunteer firefighter saved the boy — sparing the Moran family more heartbreak. "They just seemed like they were there all of a sudden," the ...

Family members of people killed on September 11, 2001, and in other terror attacks say they are outraged by President Obama's draft order calling for the suspension of war crimes trials of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay. "To me it's beyond comprehension that they would take the side of the terrorists," said Peter Gadiel, whose son, James, was killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11. "Many of these people have been released and been right back killing, right back at their terrorist work again." Obama's request on the first full day of his presidency came as a draft...

Family members of people killed on September 11 and in other terror attacks say they are outraged by President Obama's draft order calling for the suspension of war crimes trials of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay.

WTC victims' families are getting some serious coin, in addition to all the charitable giving that people gave, even though most of it hasn't made it to the families, apparently.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba, (AFP) – Parents of five 9/11 victims called for the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay to remain open and for the military commissions to try the five men accused of perpetrating the attacks. "We demand that this camp stay open and that the process continue," said Joe Holland, whose son was killed during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington. "Right here, right now, this is a good process, they are getting a fair trial," Holland told reporters, referring to the military...

There appears to be no question that Defendant Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was a U.S. citizen. It is also undisputed, however, that his father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a citizen of Kenya. Obama’s parents, according to divorce records, were married on or about February 2, 1961. Defendant Obama claims he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961 and it is uncertain in which hospital he claims to have been born. Obama’s grandmother on his father’s side, his half-brother and half-sister all claim Obama was born not in Hawaii but in Kenya. Reports reflect that Obama’s mother traveled...

The son of a 9/11 victim has sent a scathing letter to Bill Clinton, blasting the former president for failing to help him and other 9/11 kids get college aid from a charity that raised money in his name. "It's not about me, it's not about you, it's about the hundreds of kids who lost a Mom or Dad on 9/11 and giving them a chance," wrote Thomas Heidenberger, 21, in an angry letter shared with The Post. Heidenberger - who was 14 when his flight-attendant mother, Michele, died on the jet terrorists crashed into the Pentagon - blasted Clinton...

'INSPIRING' VISIT & MEET WITH BRAVEST Sarah Palin yesterday made an unscheduled tour of a visitors center at Ground Zero dedicated to those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terror attacks. The Republican vice-presidential nominee nodded her head several times and said, "Oh, my goodness," while a retired firefighter showed her pictures of the burning World Trade Center and exhibits that highlighted the moments the hijacked planes struck each tower. PHOTOS: Palin In NYC - Day 3 Her tour guide was Lee Ielpi, whose son Jonathan, a firefighter, died at the World Trade Center. Palin told Ielpi, "My parents...

Sibling saddened to think of family milestones his brother has missed. Cathy Faughnan-Green misses her husband, Christopher, but still counts herself lucky. Christopher Faughnan died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Last month, Cathy was remarried to a "great guy." The Faughnan family agrees. "I guess I miss everything," Cathy said of Christopher. "Him being a dad to my kids." When it became public that CU ethnic studies Professor Ward Churchill had called the 9/11 victims "Little Eichmanns," Michael wrote an open letter to the professor. In it he said Christopher was "a compassionate, respectful and generous man." "Mr....

I know you are all busy, but you need to meet this guy. He is on his way today to NYC to speak to Marines and families tomorrow, on 9-11. He, too, has given a lot. I know a lot of you are strong supporters of our military and men and women who serve our country. Below is a link to a Hollywood-style book trailer on youtube.com we prepared for "Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander's Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery," by Nick Popaditch with Mike Steere (Savas Beatie, October 1, 2008). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDpg7FC0sI YES, THAT IS...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2008 – Fifteen minutes before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack at the Pentagon, two sisters, both Defense Department employees, sat in the building’s five-sided center courtyard to talk about their family’s newest development. “We discussed her daughter’s first day in kindergarten,” said Kathy Dillaber, recalling the conversation with her “baby sister,” 41-year-old Patricia Mickley. As they spoke, the sisters watched an airplane streak above the open-air courtyard, and their discussion shifted to early reports that morning about a pair of planes crashing in New York City. About 10 minutes later they walked together toward their...

WJACTV Johnstown (PA) reports: Shanksville, PA -- Firefighters said it was one of the largest fire companies in the country meeting one of the smallest Saturday night, when 1,000 motorcycles from New York City rolled into the Alleghenies with a steel beam from the World Trade Center in tow. New York firefighters made the 311-mile trek to Shanksville by bike to give the 2-ton 14-foot long beam to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company... Read the rest or view the video by clicking here. At 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning, the Fire Family Transport Foundation launched from Floyd Bennett Field on Long...