FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kyle F. Hence, 401-935-7715
9/11 Families and Survivors Group File Expanded Complaint Urging New Spitzer-led Investigations into 9/11 – Will Announce Press Conference and Further Steps Next Week
New York, NY (October 28, 2004) – Today a group of 9/11 victim family representatives, survivors and first responders files an updated 35-page Complaint and Petition with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Chief Investigator William Casey accepted the original Complaint/Petition from the Complainants on October 28th. In a call for truth and accountability, the Complaint demands that the AG open a criminal inquiry and/or grand jury investigation into the many still unsolved crimes of September 11, 2001 over which his office has jurisdiction. Co-complainant Bob McIlvaine, who lost his son in the attacks, said this is now absolutely necessary so that “justice is finally done.”
The group which operates under a “Justice for 9/11” banner is posting the Complaint online at www.Justicefor911.org where those who wish to express their support can sign an electronic petition. “In essence the Complaint calls for criminal and civil probes into previously suppressed or ignored areas of inquiry identified by victim family members and others who have formally posed many questions to Congress, the 9/11 Commission, the FBI and other government agencies. Most of these questions have still not been addressed, let alone answered. There’s been zero accountability and full story behind 9/11 has yet to be told,” said Kyle F. Hence, spokesperson for the Steering Committee which will be announcing a Press Conference and further steps later next week.
The lead complainants who are seeking a meeting with lawyers at the AG’s office currently include Bob McIlvaine, who lost his son Robert in the World Trade Center collapse; Patricia Perry, who lost her son John, a New York City Police officer; Donna Marsh O’Connor who lost her daughter Vanessa Langer; William Rodriguez, a WTC maintenance worker and rescue effort hero; Jenna Orkin, Chairwoman of the World Trade Center Environmental Organization ; Dr. Faiz Khan, Ground Zero triage physician; and EMT first responder, Megan Bartlett, founder of Ground Zero for Peace (who was recently hospitalized with malignant reactions to toxic WTC dust).
statements by WTC rescue workers that 3 “black box” flight recorders were found at Ground Zero (in direct contradiction to the 9/11Commission Report); the November 16th firing of whistleblower Kevin Ryan* from Underwriters Laboratories for publicly challenging the preliminary conclusions of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigation of the World Trade Center collapses; and this week’s family member protests of NIST’s decision to hold most of its November 22nd Gaithersberg, Maryland hearings in secrecy .
The Complaint and its detailed evidentiary appendices are based upon years of independent research and investigation. Its legal form was triggered by three recent events: 1) the failure of the Kean Commission Report to provide a credible explanation of the 9/11 tragedies, to hold anyone accountable, or answer most of the questions posed by the 9/11 Family Steering Committee ; 2) the August 30th Zogby 9/11 poll which showed that nearly half of NYC citizens believe government officials were “consciously” complicit in the attacks, and that two-thirds want a new investigation; and 3) the testimony and evidence put forth at the September 9, 2004 9/11 Citizens’ Commission hearings in Manhattan, organized by the watchdog and activist groups 9/11 CitizensWatch and 911truth.org.
The Complaint is also bolstered by the October 26th “9/11 Truth Statement” released by 911truth.org which calls for new and deeper investigations and was signed by over 100 American opinion leaders including former presidential candidates Nader, Badnarik and Cobb, scholars & celebrities, a former ambassador to Iraq and Deputy Director of the US Counterterrorism Task Force, as well as 50 supportive 9/11 families.
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