Husband of WTC survivor Lauren, Greg Manning appeared on Fox News this morning about our rally tomorrow, Saturday December 5, at noon in Foley Square, in lower Manhattan. The rally will be in front of the same federal courthouse — a mere six blocks from al Qaeda’s greatest victory — where AG Eric Holder thinks war criminal Khalid Sheihk Mohammed should be given a stage, Constitutional rights, the right to act as his own attorney, and to see the classified evidence against him during time of war. Greg Manning calls the decision “outrageous.”
Do you believe that Greg and Lauren Manning hold the minority view among 9/11 family members, survivors, first responders, and eye witnesses of that day and those that followed? Here is a sampling (that I will add to today and tonight) from the hundreds of comments and emails from them:
On 9/11/01 I worked on the 40th floor of the Federal Building and witnessed first hand the horrific terrorist attack on the WTC. As a Federal official involved in assisting the survivors’ families, I saw the terrible list of the 343 heroic firefighters and the NYPD and NJNYPA police officers. To permit this show trial to take place here is despicable. And we all know how this will end, with more terrorist attacks on New York, whether in the subways or on buses or train lines, or a Major Hassan style shoot-out in the streets. This trial must be stopped, lives are at stake. — Paul Doersam
I was working the elections that day and at the main center on Houston Street, I saw the attack. This will stay with me forever, and I cannot believe that these people are being given a fair trial as if it was a criminal act. THIS WAS A WAR CRIME. I had three people who could not get to their homes that evening stay at my apartment in New York City Greenwich Village. We went to the Fire Station with new socks (sounds minimal), but the firemen were thrilled to have dry socks … all of New York shared in this horror. No trial in New York City! — Barbara Harkness
As a mother who lost her 23 year old son on September 11th, and recently visited GTMO and saw this animal in action [Ed. — That link is proof of her words], I am grief-stricken that Eric Holder has made a decision to move KSM to Manhattan. My son deserves justice. This terrorist does not deserve the rights he stole from the Americans he murdered. NOR does he deserve the media circus his being in NYC will feed. I only wish that the brave young men and women who found him had just killed him then and there. — Judith Reiss, mother of Joshua Scott Reiss, World Trade Center
I don’t know where to right this letter so I am putting it here. For 4 months I worked at the WTC, I was the night shift supervisor for the clean up of the North Tower and building 6. Not a night went by that I didn’t feel the grief emanating from Ground Zero. I can’t explain to you the pain or the nightmares that I have. I felt the anguish of those left behind by this mass murder. I called my 15 year old son from the site one night and through my tears I told him how much I loved him, realizing how tenuous our lives can be. On Christmas eve a girl of about 5, in a yellow dress and holding a doll, appeared to me and asked “Where’s my daddy?” One night in January I dressed to go back to “The Pit” and when I got to my door I couldn’t open it. I broke down and I knew I could never go back there. To this day I feel that I let you people down by not helping to look through the 10% of debris that still remained for your loved ones. I’m sorry but I did all I could. I want you do know that it was never just a job. It’s hard to explain but it was the hardest job I ever had to go to but in the morning it was also the hardest job to leave. — Christian Heinbockel
Additional entries will appear below, as I add them.
Lieutenant (Ret.) NYPD Emergency Service Unit. I was one of thousands who responded to the WTC on September 11, 2001, arriving as the North Tower was collapsing, and stayed, with thousands, through June 2002. The nightmare, the devastation, the too few rescues, the too few recoveries of the remains of human beings, God rest them all, killed in an act of war, will never fade, as we will Never Forget. In 2008 you, BHO, used hallowed ground as a campaign stop, an opportunity to garner votes. You continue to disgrace yourself, on so many levels, but this decision places you forever beneath contempt. Your act in politicizing the sacred memory of almost 3,000 mighty souls confirms how deeply you loath the USA, and all this great country represents. This betrayal will never be forgotten, will never be forgiven. — R.Delia Mannix
I met with NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly the morning Holder announced his decision. I wish I had known at the time; I would have personally conveyed my sentiment as a family member of one of our military officers killed in the Pentagon attack. This is simply not right. The attack upon our nation on September 11 was an act of war. Those responsible must be brought to justice by way of a military tribunal, not by the criminal justice system. To do otherwise would be a criminal injustice! — Steve O’Conor, Cousin of Patrick S. Dunn, Commander, USN, killed in the Pentagon
It is a travesty that a US civilian trial of these self-confessed murderers and enemies of the United States is even considered by the by the Obama administration. Recall that President Obama took an oath “to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” When becoming a citizen of the US one takes the oath “to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign or domestic.” What we have here are domestic and foreign enemies of our Constitution. It is shameful. I witnessed the Moussaoui trial where this individual used our US justice system to denigrate our country and to promote jihad. Let us not make this mistake again. Domestic enemies of the Constitution are more dangerous than the foreign enemies of our country. — Margaret M. Pothier, sister-in-law of Garnet “Ace” Bailey, UAL 175
We’ve seen too much of Holder and Obama playing Russian Roulette with terrorists (Holder being the architect of the 1999 FALN terror clemencies for Bill Clinton) putting us, those they’ve sworn to protect, and our society in jeopardy. I saw with my own eyes from my Wall St. office that day the horror these savages inflicted. I lost my cousin Steve Schlag only blocks from where my father Frank Connor was killed by the FALN in 1975 at Fraunces Tavern. Now Holder would not only release those that killed my father, but those who killed Steve, his God son. What has become of us? What will become of us if our own government is not stopped? Frank Connor would not recognize his beloved country. — Joe Connor, cousin of Steve Schlag, World Trade Center
I am a retired Sergeant from NYPD who lost many friends and co-workers on that fateful day. I also spent over 650 hours working down at ground zero and the related sites, ie. Staten Island landfill, and Bellevue Morgue. I still have pain in my lungs from breathing in all that contaminated air and I would gladly do it again if necessary, but let’s hope not. I do not understand AG Holder’s decision to try these WAR CRIMINALS in federal court. It is an outrage to all who perished. — Larry Fiebert
As a NYC Fireman who knew 14 of the 343 firemen who were murdered that day. I say this is (anti-America Obama) politics at its lowest form… These murder’s should of been tried and convicted in Cuba… Brought to NYC and hung by the neck until dead… And at the very bottom of the “Pit” which today is what was the WTC towers! — S. J. Shanahan
I support you 100% and hope I was not too late in signing the letter. I cannot believe that the administration would even consider bringing these terrorists to New York to parade their profanities against America in our faces. — Kathy Smith, Mother, Lt. Cmdr. David L. Williams, USN, Pentagon
As a former firefighter and 9/11 survivor who has been involved with the GTMO case from the beginning, President Obama’s decision to bestow the rights of an American citizen onto those whom have sworn to destroy us, came as no surprise. This politically expectant move was pre-ordained from the day he took office; the pleas of the victims’ families fell on his {big} deaf ears. That became self-evident when Erick Holder patronized and was disingenuous to the families and victims of overseas terrorism at the meeting I attended in D.C. last June. — Robert Reeg (read his full comments here)
With all due respect, how dare you [Obama] spit on the graves of these greatest AMERICANS. They paid the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE for yes, you and your family. Every American I know will support this letter. Please reconsider for the surviving family members of these victims, and every family in this great country. I do not understand your motivation to help out our enemies. sincerely, — Butch Foley, FDNY Rescue Co. 4, (retired), WTC rescue and recovery
I was a first responder that day and worked at Ground Zero for several months thereafter. The very idea of this change of venues makes me embarrassed to be an American … I feel an apology is due to all of those innocent lives that were lost that day and continue to be lost even now. — Tim McGinn
Ret navy vet deployed in support of OEF,OIF11. Was at GITMO and had to be around these men every day for months. I’ve seen how they act and how they have no respect. I think it is the worst decision ever to Bring them to the U.S for a public trial. Military tribunal is the only way to go. — Kris Menter
As the mother of a Son who served 4 deployments with the 82nd Airborne, Bronze Star Recipient, bringing these butchers to our shores is a slap in his face, all our military and all our Gold Star Families and Blue Star Families! It is unconscionable to do this to all the families who lost their loved ones on 9/11! Our tax dollars built a 400 million dollar facility to house these animals and they need to stay where they are. They are not welcome in this country and the nerve of Obama and Holder to bring them here! Americans will fight this and rightfully so! — Beverly Perlson, The Band of Mothers
As a survivor in the WTC garage in the 1993 bombing, I testified at the trials of the convicted terrorists.I lost my sister Rosanne Lang, my nephew Brendan Lang,and many friends in the 9/11 attacks. I support military tribunals,believing that terrorists do not have the same rights as those of us they attempt to murder and I support your efforts. — Timothy Lang
I was one of some many volunteers that responded on 9/11 and the following week. It would mockery of the United State justice system if this were to happen. Please remember all of our fellow AMERICANS fighting in Iraq and abroad for our freedom. Some of them have paid with their life also. — Sgt. Arthur Schikschneit, Lakeland Emergency Squad
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