Anti Federalist
07-20-2009, 12:11 PM
Ex-FBI Agent: Why I Support a New 9/11 Investigation
By Coleen Rowley
In the absence of my being there in New York City to stand with the 9/11 families, first responders and survivors, I offer the following statement in support of your goal of a new investigation into the attacks of September 11th and the NYC CAN campaign to place it on the ballot for November.
At the time of 9-11, I had been an FBI agent for over 20 years. My main responsibilities by then were teaching criminal procedure to FBI agents and other law enforcement officers, mostly about 4th Amendment search and seizure, 5th and 6th Amendment law of interrogation, right to attorney and constitutional protection of rights to “free speech”, due process, habeas corpus, and against cruel and unusual punishment. A week before 9-11, I and the rest of the FBI’s ethics instructors were mandated (as a result of an earlier public FBI scandal) to give a one hour PowerPoint presentation, a form of remedial training on “law enforcement ethics” which I accomplished in a fairly perfunctory way, just reading the slides.
After 9-11, with the knowledge I had of the bitter internal dispute inside the FBI that was being hushed up but had kept some of our better agents from possibly uncovering more of the 9-11 plot before it happened, I couldn’t forget two of the slides in that Law Enforcement ethics curriculum: “DO NOT: Puff, Shade, Tailor, Firm up, Stretch, Massage, or Tidy up statements of fact.” And “Misplaced Loyalties: As employees of the FBI, we must be aware that our highest loyalty is to the United States Constitution. We should never sacrifice the truth in order to obtain a desired result (e.g. conviction of a defendant) or to avoid personal or institutional embarrassment.”
The official dissembling and excuse-making about the true causes and prior mistakes that gave rise to and allowed the terrorist attacks to happen, almost immediately ushered in the Bush-Cheney Administration’s egregious and lawless, post 9-11 “war on terror” agenda which bore no connection to the original causes and no connection to the goal of reducing terrorism and making the world safer. When I got a chance, about 8 ½ months after 9-11 to tell what I knew, I did so and my disclosures led to further investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General and figured in the 9-11 Commission Report.
But it was way too late for this emerging bit of truth that has continued to leak out in dribs and drabs to have any impact. The laws themselves, especially the criminal procedure ones rooted in the Constitution that I had spent my career teaching to law enforcement, have largely gone up in smoke. Having seen the cost of remaining silent, I publicly warned, a few months after my first memo, against launching the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. But false agendas had already filled the vacuum created by lack of truth. And we are still dealing with the disastrous consequences of these unjustified, pre-emptive wars.
Let me therefore simply repeat the request I made to the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2002: “Foremost, we owe it to the public, especially the victims of terrorism, to be completely honest. I can only imagine what these crime and terrorism victims continue to go through. They deserve nothing but the complete, unfettered truth.”
Therefore, I fully support the 9/11 families, first responders, survivors and over 60,000 other New Yorkers who have endorsed a new 9/11 investigation in New York City as advanced by ballot referendum this coming November election.
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/07/ex-fbi-agent-why-i-support-a-new-911-investigation/
NYC CAN has filed the needed signatures to put a public question on the 3 November 2009 ballot.
http://www.nyccan.org/nyccanfilespetition.php
On Wednesday, June 24, 2009, the New York City Coalition for Accountability Now filed a petition containing 52,000 signatures calling for a referendum on the creation of a New York City independent commission to investigate the events of September 11, 2001.
9/11 Family Members Maureen Hunt and Manny Badillo, and First Responders Charlie Giles of the FealGood Foundation and Bill Gleason of the World Trade Center Rescuers Foundation arrived at the City Clerk’s office to deliver the petition, where they also spoke on behalf of all the proud and concerned citizens who deserve an unbiased, nonpolitical investigation of the tragedy that has affected us so deeply.
“Now that we have delivered this petition to City Council, we have taken the first step towards a real investigation into the death of our family members and friends,” Badillo, who lost his uncle and mentor Thomas Joseph Sgroi, told the group of supporters gathered at the steps of the City Clerk’s office. “Every family member, survivor and first responder should be encouraged that accountability will come, and must double their efforts to support the important work happening with NYC CAN.”
City Council now has until August 24 to approve the placement of the referendum on the November 3 ballot. As hundreds more 9/11 family members, first responders and survivors join this campaign and lobby their council members to support the petition, the chances of finally seeing an impartial investigation grow.
In the unlikely event City Council does not approve the placement of the referendum on the ballot, we are prepared to deliver an additional 30,000 signatures on August 24, which should be enough to eclipse the 15,000 valid signatures needed by law to override City Council and guarantee it gets on the ballot. We have already collected 8,000 of the additional 30,000 signatures and we are moving ahead at a rate of 4,000 per week.
Now more than ever is the moment to raise our voices in unison and demand an investigation untainted by partisan politics, an investigation interested only in facts and accountability. "We now need the support of every 9/11 family group to make this happen,” said Donna Marsh O’Connor, NYC CAN Executive Council Member and mother of Vanessa Lang Langer, Regus Business Center, WTC South Tower, in response to news the petition had been filed.
In front of the City Clerk’s office Charlie Giles echoed the call for unity. “Whether you lost a loved one or you are suffering today from the toxins you inhaled eight years ago, there is one thing we have all been denied: answers. Why do we still go untreated? Why do the families still call out for justice?”
Every family member, first responder, and survivor can sign a Statement of Support on NYCCAN.ORG to voice their support. In the past week we have accumulated over 60 signatories. Please help us reach 1,000 to amplify the call for a new investigation.
“We have never had a real investigation. It is past time,” said O’Connor.
The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now
NYC CAN
The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now has come together to lead a disciplined and patriotic search for answers about September 11th toward one tangible goal: the creation of an independent and impartial subpoena powered investigation into the September 11th attacks on our great nation.
The 9/11 Commission?
“Set Up To Fail”, in the words of its Chairmen, Governor Thomas Kean and Representative Lee Hamilton. That's why 66% of New Yorkers want a new investigation. On November 3, 2009, we will go to the polls to vote for answers to the unanswered questions and for solutions to the illnesses afflicting thousands of first responders and NYC residents.
America Deserves Better
Honor our country and all she stands for by raising your voice in support of an investigation that answers to nothing and to no one but evidence and fact wherever they may lead. Join the families, first responders and survivors of September 11th and millions of proud citizens in support of the principles and the freedom for which our forefathers fought and died.
One Real Chance.
One Real Investigation.
By Coleen Rowley
In the absence of my being there in New York City to stand with the 9/11 families, first responders and survivors, I offer the following statement in support of your goal of a new investigation into the attacks of September 11th and the NYC CAN campaign to place it on the ballot for November.
At the time of 9-11, I had been an FBI agent for over 20 years. My main responsibilities by then were teaching criminal procedure to FBI agents and other law enforcement officers, mostly about 4th Amendment search and seizure, 5th and 6th Amendment law of interrogation, right to attorney and constitutional protection of rights to “free speech”, due process, habeas corpus, and against cruel and unusual punishment. A week before 9-11, I and the rest of the FBI’s ethics instructors were mandated (as a result of an earlier public FBI scandal) to give a one hour PowerPoint presentation, a form of remedial training on “law enforcement ethics” which I accomplished in a fairly perfunctory way, just reading the slides.
After 9-11, with the knowledge I had of the bitter internal dispute inside the FBI that was being hushed up but had kept some of our better agents from possibly uncovering more of the 9-11 plot before it happened, I couldn’t forget two of the slides in that Law Enforcement ethics curriculum: “DO NOT: Puff, Shade, Tailor, Firm up, Stretch, Massage, or Tidy up statements of fact.” And “Misplaced Loyalties: As employees of the FBI, we must be aware that our highest loyalty is to the United States Constitution. We should never sacrifice the truth in order to obtain a desired result (e.g. conviction of a defendant) or to avoid personal or institutional embarrassment.”
The official dissembling and excuse-making about the true causes and prior mistakes that gave rise to and allowed the terrorist attacks to happen, almost immediately ushered in the Bush-Cheney Administration’s egregious and lawless, post 9-11 “war on terror” agenda which bore no connection to the original causes and no connection to the goal of reducing terrorism and making the world safer. When I got a chance, about 8 ½ months after 9-11 to tell what I knew, I did so and my disclosures led to further investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General and figured in the 9-11 Commission Report.
But it was way too late for this emerging bit of truth that has continued to leak out in dribs and drabs to have any impact. The laws themselves, especially the criminal procedure ones rooted in the Constitution that I had spent my career teaching to law enforcement, have largely gone up in smoke. Having seen the cost of remaining silent, I publicly warned, a few months after my first memo, against launching the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. But false agendas had already filled the vacuum created by lack of truth. And we are still dealing with the disastrous consequences of these unjustified, pre-emptive wars.
Let me therefore simply repeat the request I made to the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2002: “Foremost, we owe it to the public, especially the victims of terrorism, to be completely honest. I can only imagine what these crime and terrorism victims continue to go through. They deserve nothing but the complete, unfettered truth.”
Therefore, I fully support the 9/11 families, first responders, survivors and over 60,000 other New Yorkers who have endorsed a new 9/11 investigation in New York City as advanced by ballot referendum this coming November election.
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/07/ex-fbi-agent-why-i-support-a-new-911-investigation/
NYC CAN has filed the needed signatures to put a public question on the 3 November 2009 ballot.
http://www.nyccan.org/nyccanfilespetition.php
On Wednesday, June 24, 2009, the New York City Coalition for Accountability Now filed a petition containing 52,000 signatures calling for a referendum on the creation of a New York City independent commission to investigate the events of September 11, 2001.
9/11 Family Members Maureen Hunt and Manny Badillo, and First Responders Charlie Giles of the FealGood Foundation and Bill Gleason of the World Trade Center Rescuers Foundation arrived at the City Clerk’s office to deliver the petition, where they also spoke on behalf of all the proud and concerned citizens who deserve an unbiased, nonpolitical investigation of the tragedy that has affected us so deeply.
“Now that we have delivered this petition to City Council, we have taken the first step towards a real investigation into the death of our family members and friends,” Badillo, who lost his uncle and mentor Thomas Joseph Sgroi, told the group of supporters gathered at the steps of the City Clerk’s office. “Every family member, survivor and first responder should be encouraged that accountability will come, and must double their efforts to support the important work happening with NYC CAN.”
City Council now has until August 24 to approve the placement of the referendum on the November 3 ballot. As hundreds more 9/11 family members, first responders and survivors join this campaign and lobby their council members to support the petition, the chances of finally seeing an impartial investigation grow.
In the unlikely event City Council does not approve the placement of the referendum on the ballot, we are prepared to deliver an additional 30,000 signatures on August 24, which should be enough to eclipse the 15,000 valid signatures needed by law to override City Council and guarantee it gets on the ballot. We have already collected 8,000 of the additional 30,000 signatures and we are moving ahead at a rate of 4,000 per week.
Now more than ever is the moment to raise our voices in unison and demand an investigation untainted by partisan politics, an investigation interested only in facts and accountability. "We now need the support of every 9/11 family group to make this happen,” said Donna Marsh O’Connor, NYC CAN Executive Council Member and mother of Vanessa Lang Langer, Regus Business Center, WTC South Tower, in response to news the petition had been filed.
In front of the City Clerk’s office Charlie Giles echoed the call for unity. “Whether you lost a loved one or you are suffering today from the toxins you inhaled eight years ago, there is one thing we have all been denied: answers. Why do we still go untreated? Why do the families still call out for justice?”
Every family member, first responder, and survivor can sign a Statement of Support on NYCCAN.ORG to voice their support. In the past week we have accumulated over 60 signatories. Please help us reach 1,000 to amplify the call for a new investigation.
“We have never had a real investigation. It is past time,” said O’Connor.
The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now
NYC CAN
The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now has come together to lead a disciplined and patriotic search for answers about September 11th toward one tangible goal: the creation of an independent and impartial subpoena powered investigation into the September 11th attacks on our great nation.
The 9/11 Commission?
“Set Up To Fail”, in the words of its Chairmen, Governor Thomas Kean and Representative Lee Hamilton. That's why 66% of New Yorkers want a new investigation. On November 3, 2009, we will go to the polls to vote for answers to the unanswered questions and for solutions to the illnesses afflicting thousands of first responders and NYC residents.
America Deserves Better
Honor our country and all she stands for by raising your voice in support of an investigation that answers to nothing and to no one but evidence and fact wherever they may lead. Join the families, first responders and survivors of September 11th and millions of proud citizens in support of the principles and the freedom for which our forefathers fought and died.
One Real Chance.
One Real Investigation.