Showing posts with label 9-11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9-11. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Invictus Games Update

First gold medal of Invictus Games goes to 9-11 survivor
Orlando Sentinel
Stephen Ruiz
May 9, 2016

American Sarah Rudder kisses the 2 gold medals she earned Monday at the Invictus Games at Disney World. (Alex Menendez/Getty Images for Invictus Games)
It was a big day for Sarah Rudder. She was getting promoted in front of the Pentagon.

The date was Sept. 11, 2001.

"We were pulling survivors out at first,'' said Rudder, a retired lance corporal in the U.S. Marines. "The next day, I went to pull non-survivors, and upon pulling non-survivors, I crushed my [left] ankle. I had several reconstructive surgeries, but they couldn't save the leg.''

It seemed appropriate Monday that Rudder claimed the first gold medal awarded at the first Invictus Games on American soil. She won it in women's lightweight powerlifting and later added another gold in indoor rowing.
read more here



Army Nurse Takes Pride in Representing Team USA at Invictus Games
DoD News
By Shannon Collins
Defense Media Activity
May 10, 2016
“I’m grateful for my family to be present to watch me compete, especially having my daughter in attendance for this year’s games, since she wasn’t able to attend the inaugural games,” she said. “These games are very personal for me, given my military career and background, and it’s a blessing to have my family in attendance to experience how much these games mean to me.”
Army Capt. Kelly Elmlinger performs laps in her race wheelchair at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, while training for the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games, June 11, 2015. DoD photo by EJ Hersom


ORLANDO, Fla., May 10, 2016 — Fierce competitor Army Capt. Kelly Elmlinger will participate in track and field, swimming and rowing at the 2016 Invictus Games being held this week at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World here.

During the 2014 Invictus Games, Elmlinger’s first foray into the competition, she earned gold medals in the 100-meter and 400-meter wheelchair races, the shot put, and in the cycling time trial; silver medals in discus during track and field, the cycling road race, and the 50-meter backstroke in swimming. She took fourth place in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle in swimming.
read more here


At Invictus Games, athletes forge powerful friendships in beating adversity
Stars and Stripes
Dianna Cahn
May 10, 2016

ORLANDO, Fla. — They didn’t know each other when one was blown up and the other was shot a year apart in southern Afghanistan.

By the time they met at a wounded warrior competition, retired Air Force Tech Sgt. Leonard Anderson was missing one arm below the elbow and all but one finger on his other hand. Air Force Staff Sgt. August O'Niell had endured at least a dozen surgeries.

Their lives have intertwined ever since.

They train and compete together. Anderson was there for O'Niell’s leg amputation and again when his daughter was born. O'Niell was there when Anderson, missing his hands, had no choice but to retire from the Air Force.

And when Anderson prepares for the swimming finals at the Invictus Games on Wednesday, his buddy will be there to help him to pull on his Speedo.

Their friendship is the story of these warrior games, where the fierce determination needed to get here comes with a disarming vulnerability. That’s a tough pill to swallow for these guys, but it forges deep friendships and a camaraderie among competitors like none other in the world.
read more here

Saturday, December 19, 2015

New York 9-11 Firefighters Get Justice Out of New Budget

NY Lawmakers Applaud Passage Of 9/11 Health Bill After Congress OKs Year-End Budget Deal
December 18, 2015
The 9/11 legislation is named after James Zadroga, a responder who died after working at Ground Zero. It first became law in 2010, and the health benefits expired this fall.
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a bipartisan a trillion dollar spending bill to fund the government through next September, which includes an agreement to reauthorize the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

A 65-33 Senate vote on the measure was the last act that shipped the measure, combining $1.14 trillion in new spending in 2016 and $680 billion in tax cuts over the coming decade, to Obama.

The legislation earlier swept through the House on a pair of decisive votes on Thursday and Friday, marking a peaceful end to a yearlong struggle over the budget, taxes, and Republican efforts to derail Obama’s regulatory agenda.

New York’s elected officials applauded the inclusion of the Zadroga Act, which extended federal health monitoring and treatment to Sept. 11 first responders through 2090.

The legislation also would pay an additional $4.6 billion into a compensation fund for victims and extend if for five years.
read more here

Sunday, October 25, 2015

9-11 Responder Saved Lives, Lost His to PTSD

At memorial, family and friends say PTSD led to death of 9/11 first responder Kevin Kelly 
Newsday
By SARAH ARMAGHAN
Updated October 24, 2015
Resnik was with Kelly the day he rescued a police officer who had fallen during an evacuation alarm at the pile, he said. "When everyone was listening to the horn and running away, Kevin stayed behind and grabbed this officer to make sure he got out safely," Resnik said.
Members of the Bellmore-Merrick EMS and other agencies salute and stand at attention while the procession passes in memory of ex-Capt. and Life Member Kevin Kelly at Sacred Heart Church in Merrick, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. Photo Credit: Steve Pfost
Ten months after losing their father, husband, colleague or friend, more than 100 people close to Kevin Kelly, a 9/11 first responder, gathered to memorialize him Saturday afternoon in Nassau County, where several spoke of his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder after spending 14 days on the Ground Zero pile.

The line-of-duty death of Kelly, a Bellmore-Merrick EMT who took his own life Dec. 11 after battling both PTSD and respiratory illnesses, is a reminder that people who helped others by responding to the terror attacks need all the mental and physical health assistance they can get, his family and friends said.

"He had a lot of suffering. Now he's at peace," Kelly's wife, Mary Rose Kelly, 52, of Lindenhurst said after the service. "PTSD is a silent killer. They don't have enough help for those dealing with that."
After the Zadroga Act, which helped 9/11 victims and first responders with their health needs, expired this month, Resnik said it felt like "Congress turned their back on us."
read more here

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Combat Medic Florida National Guardsman Paying Price for 9-11

If you forgot about 9-11-2001, there were a lot of folks rushing to do whatever they could to help the survivors and find whatever remains they could. One of them was an Army National Guardsman from right here in Florida. Reading his story and what happened to him, it only seemed right to put into context what he did back then. This is from Tampa Tribune great report by Howard Altman.
Garrett Goodwin was a medic, working in the emergency room at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, in September 2001.

On Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, he was in bed, watching TV before an afternoon shift, when he saw what turned out to be United Flight 175 hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Goodwin, a combat medic with the Army National Guard who had experience in disaster recover efforts, says he packed his bag, hopped in his truck and drove down to MacDill Air Force Base, hoping to catch a flight north to help during the unfolding catastrophe.

But nothing was flying anywhere. So he and a friend drove north, toward the Pentagon.

“We did rescue work for three or four hours, but there was no one to save, so we went to New York,” Goodwin says.

They arrived about 6:30 a.m., Sept. 12. Goodwin says he checked in with the military authorities on scene, they told him what he could do, and he was given a “red card” allowing him access.

For the next 24 days, he worked between 18 and 20 hours in what used to be the tallest building in America. It had become a mass grave.
So how did he end up this way?

Tampa man ill just now from help he gave at Ground Zero
Tampa Tribune
By Howard Altman
Tribune Staff
Published: September 27, 2015

Garrett Goodwin is a casualty of al-Qaida’s war against the U.S.

Shortly after the jihadi organization turned aircraft into weapons, obliterating the World Trade Center in New York, hitting the Pentagon and crashing into a Pennsylvania field, Goodwin made the trip from Florida to Manhattan to help recovery efforts. He spent more than three weeks in the smouldering pile of twisted beams that was once the World Trade Center — the place where Pope Francis on Friday summoned the world to “unity over hatred.”

Now, Goodwin is paying the price.

It includes a stay, since last Tuesday, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he is desperately seeking help for the maladies he believes are a result of his time at Ground Zero.

Finally, after a health scare that started on the 14th anniversary of the attacks, Goodwin realized he needed greater medical attention.

There are many others like him — first responders who have became casualties of war by dint of their time searching the wreckage, first for survivors, then for remains.

Every day, there are more Garrett Goodwins, coming forward seeking help.
read more here

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Thank a Vet, After All, Chris Pratt Did

Chris Pratt Thanks a Veteran on 9/11 in Touching Tribute Video—Watch Now! 
EOnline
by REBECCA MACATEE
Sep. 11, 2015
"No matter where you land politically in terms of our countries involvement in foreign affairs, or the two wars we've been in post 9/11 there is no doubting the courage and valor men like Mike Day have shown," said Pratt. "He is a warrior in the true sense of the word."

Chris Pratt fights the bad guys in the movies, but he has huge admiration for the heroes who do it in real life. That's why today, fourteen years after the tragic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011, the Guardians of the Galaxy star made a point to thank a veteran, and he encouraged his fans to do the same.

Pratt, 13, posted a video to Facebook specifically thanking Mike Day, a former Navy SEAL who served in Iraq. While on a raid in Iraq, Day was shot 27 times, but miraculously he survived.
Navy SEAL's Amazing Survival: 'God Get Me Home' CBN News

Veterans Remember Brothers in Arizona Healing Field

Valley vet remembers 9/11 at Healing Field 
KPHO News
By Jason Volentine
Posted: Sep 12, 2015
"We're just taking care of our brother's boots,"
Alan Blume, an Iraq War veteran.
Alan Blume, an Iraq War veteran, and three other military men sat in the field of flags for hours on 9/11.
(Source: KPHO/KTVK)
TEMPE, AZ (KPHO/KTVK)
America paid a somber remembrance on the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In Tempe, nearly 3,000 flags planted in a Healing Field, each with a name card, pay tribute to each victim who died in the Twin Towers.

Every person who comes to see the Healing Field reflects in his or her own personal way.

"We're just taking care of our brother's boots," Alan Blume, an Iraq War veteran, said.

Blume and three other military men sat in the field of flags for hours on 9/11. They sat and shined the boots of fallen brothers who died in the terror attacks.

"I just came by this morning and noticed [the boots] were looking a little rough, so I had some extra polish in my car and decided to clean up a pair. It turned into two pair, three pairs," Blume said. He talked while spit-polishing a black combat boot to Army dress code specs in the fading sunlight at Tempe Beach Park Friday evening.
read more here

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Flag Flown in Iraq Among Items Returned to Veteran

Veteran reunited with prized flags stolen when he moved to Oakland
Contra Costa Times
By David DeBolt
POSTED 06/17/2015

SAN LEANDRO -- An Army veteran was at a loss for words this week as police returned to him military items stolen from the man's U-Haul truck when he arrived in Oakland this month from the Midwest, police said.

The Army staff sergeant needed a moment as San Leandro police presented him with a U.S. flag he received upon his retirement, and another flag flown at an Army base in Iraq for 9 minutes and 11 seconds in honor of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Lt. Robert McManus said. His shotgun was also returned.

"Please give me a minute to take all this in," the man told police, McManus said.
read more here

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Fort Campbell Green Berets in Afghanistan From the Start

Green Berets took center stage in war to rebuild Afghanistan
Fayetteville Observer
By Drew Brooks Military editor
Posted: Sunday, December 14, 2014

Staff photo by Andrew Craft
Special Forces in Afghanistan
At Fort Bragg Col. Michael Sullivan is commander 
of the 3rd Battalion 3rd Special Forces Group.
In Afghanistan, he leads those soldiers and a
small group from the 7th Special Forces Group.

CAMP VANCE, Afghanistan - Michael Sullivan was training to join the Special Forces when he and his fellow soldiers had a real-world lesson to talk about in a food court on Fort Bragg.

On Sept. 9, 2001, suicide attackers posing as journalists assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud, a leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

The Green Beret trainees were familiar with the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, Sullivan said. They knew Massoud was seen as a threat to the Taliban regime.

Two days later, on Sept. 11, Sullivan - then a captain - was signing for textbooks for his language courses when the planes crashed into the towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Almost immediately, the Special Forces trainees were speculating - correctly - that the attacks originated in Afghanistan.

For Sullivan and thousands of other Special Forces soldiers, the attacks were life-defining.

Just days after the terrorists struck, Green Berets from the Fort Campbell-based 5th Group were in Afghanistan. In more than 13 years since, the Special Forces presence in the country has been a constant. Thousands of soldiers have given years out of their lives to the Afghanistan mission.

Many have been wounded.

Many have died.

In the process, they say, they have built the foundation for a future in a country that has known decades of war.

Mark Schwartz was a Green Beret major when he became one of the first American soldiers to enter Afghanistan after 9/11.

"You can imagine, you've never been to combat before and you're going to get off an aircraft with yourself and about 10 of your closest friends and you're walking into an uncertain environment," he said.

Now a brigadier general helping to lead special operations forces in Afghanistan, Schwartz said he and his team flew into northern Afghanistan from Central Asia to organize and assist the anti-Taliban forces.
read more here

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Flight 93 National Memorial suffers damage after fire

Major Fire Destroys 3 Buildings At Flight 93 Memorial
Site Was Storing 9/11 Flag That Flew Over U.S. Capitol On Sept. 11
CBS Pittsburgh
Kym Gable
October 3, 2014

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA/AP) – A raging fire destroyed three buildings at the headquarters complex of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County on Friday afternoon, but it’s still unknown if any 9/11 artifacts were lost.

In a press release, National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said the area must first be declared safe before officials will be allowed on scene to check out the collection storage area.
read more here

Monday, September 22, 2014

Iraq Veteran From Stop Loss to Nashville

Iraq War veteran's inspiring journey from front lines to 'Nashville'
FOX News
By Hollie McKay
Published September 22, 2014

LOS ANGELES – Melvin Kearney may be best-known for playing Hayden Panettiere’s bodyguard Bo on the hit ABC series “Nashville,” but as a two-time Iraq combat veteran, his story away from the cameras is even more moving and drama-filled.

“I grew up as an Army brat, my dad was my hero and I saw the sense of pride that came over his face every time he put on that uniform,” Kearney told FOX411. “I knew that was what I wanted to do. I thought I would just be guarding a base near my college in North Carolina, but halfway through basic training 9/11 happened.”

Kearney deployed to Iraq in 2003, and lost a number of close friends on the battlefield. His plan was to finish college and become a U.S. Marshall after returning, but as he was walking to the stage on college graduation day, he received a call from the Army: “Kearney, its Stop Loss. You’re going back to Iraq.”

Stop Loss was a policy that extended one’s military contract, which the Pentagon ended in 2011. From 2001 to 2009, an estimated 120,000 soldiers were affected by stop loss.
read more here

Saturday, September 13, 2014

9-11 Survivor Remembers Some Who Stayed

Oregon City man remembers 9/11: 'Me and this other guy dove through this glass door'
KATU.com
By Bob Heye
Published: Sep 12, 2014

OREGON CITY, Ore. - There's a reason Mike Tremko's memories from 9/11 are fading some.

Now living in Oregon City, Tremko was at the World Trade Center for a stock broker training session in New York when the planes hit 13 years ago.

“Almost everybody in my class made it out,” says Tremko, “I think there was like, two or three people who decided to stay and make sure that everybody else was out.”

They died.
read more here

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Oh beautiful, for heroes proved

This morning I was listening to Sunny 105FM and heard the song by Ray Charles in tribute to the lives lost on 9-11 and the members of the armed forces.

It is from 1972 when young men and women were still serving in Vietnam and far too many came home, pretty much to the same things today's veterans return to, but no one knew. No one other than their families.

There were so many protestors that it seemed as if no one was supporting the troops, but as you can see, that is far from the truth. Ray Charles America The Beautiful
Oh beautiful, for heroes proved,
In liberating strife,
Who more than self, their country loved,
And mercy more than life,
America, America, may God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain devined
And you know when I was in school,
We used to sing it something like this, listen here:
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountains majesty,
Above the fruited plain,
But now wait a minute, I'm talking about
America, sweet America,
You know, God done shed his grace on thee,
He crowned thy good, yes he did, with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.
You know, I wish I had somebody to help me sing this
(America, America, God shed his grace on thee)
America, I love you America, you see,
My God he done shed his grace on thee,
And you oughta love him for it,
Cause he, he, he, he, crowned thy good,
You know he gave us brotherhood,
(From sea to shining sea).
Oh Lord, oh Lord, I thank you Lord

From THE DICK CAVETT SHOW. September 18, 1972.

We did not honor lives lost on 9-11 or because of it

We did not forget lives lost on 9-11
We did not honor lives lost on 9-11 or because of it.

Firefighters and police officers suffering because they put their lives on the line everyday.

National Guards and Reservists risk their lives when their communities face disaster and risk them overseas fighting the national battles.

Military men and women put their lives on the line when we pay attention but they keep doing it even when we don't seem to care at all.

Veterans risked their lives in combat but when they were supposed to be taken care of in return, we turned our backs.

God shed His grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea. They have brotherhood. A bond that endures no matter how many years pass but our obligation to them in return is ignored by far too many.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Army Report: Suicide at Arlington National Cemetery 9-11 Pentagon Section

Army reports apparent suicide at Arlington Cemetery near section containing Sept. 11 victims
Associated Press
Published June 20, 2014

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Army says a man found with a single gunshot wound at Arlington National Cemetery apparently committed suicide.

The Army Criminal Investigation Command in a news release did not give the cause of death, but it says it does not suspect foul play.

Spokeswoman Melissa Bohan (BOH'-an) says military and civilian police responded at about 10 a.m. Friday to reports of a single shot fired.
read more here

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Iraq war veteran combats loneliness with feline battle buddy

9/11 rescuer and Iraq war veteran combats loneliness with feline battle buddy
Pets for Patriots

When the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11, Steven left his home in Chicago to join the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero for three weeks, an experience that inspired him to enlist in the Army. But it was a four-legged, feline battle buddy that helped him combat the loneliness of his post-military life.

While in the Army, Steven served as a Blackhawk crew chief for six years, and flew more than 1,000 hours over Iraq over the course of two deployments. Despite being twice deployed, his most memorable military experience occurred stateside.

Following the 2010 mass shooting at Fort Hood, the helo chief was selected to fly the Secret Service Counter Assault Team over President Obama when the Commander in Chief visited shooting victims on base.

Before his service in the military, Steven enjoyed a career as a firefighter and paramedic. The Army veteran returned home following his tours of duty and enrolled full-time as a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he hopes to attend their medical school after graduation. In search of a four-legged battle buddy

Having enjoyed the company of his Army buddies for a decade, Steven sometimes felt lonely living in Chicago; he decided to adopt a pet to make sure he had a friend to come home to at the end of the day. “I wanted a companion that would allow for my place to feel less empty when I was the only one home.”

Steven found that companion at Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Society in June 2012, when he honorably adopted Simon, a three year-old tabby cat. As a Pets for Patriots member, the Army veteran received a 10% discount and access to discounted care for Simon from the charity’s local veterinary partners. In addition, he received a generous contribution from the Pets for Patriots Veterans’ Pet Food Bank program to help with food and other necessities for his new companion.
read more here

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

CNN Puts PTSD and 9-11 NY Cops On Trial

CNN Puts PTSD and 9-11 NY Cops On Trial
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 7,2014

Everyone remember watching in horror as firefighters and police officers walked into the debris clouds of New York City that day. We watched for days as they searched for survivors and then bodies as hope evaporated almost quickly as the dust settled on everything. We watched as they stood silently saluting when one of their brothers bodies was removed carried under a flag.

By the time the news crews like CNN moved on, people stopped watching what was happening to these men and women. Claims for illnesses caused by working in the toxic piles and claims for PTSD were being fought for but hardly anyone noticed.

Two wars were started because of that day. Veterans paid and are still paying. The police officers and firefighters along with other first responders are paying. Just when you think it doesn't get any worse, this comes along.

If the allegations are true, then the justice system needs to prove it and they need to be held accountable. It is rare but it does happen. Not just now but there has been a history of frauds in every walk of life while people needing help the most often never receive it.

What boils my blood pressure is how CNN reported this. Pay close attention to the bold parts.

Prosecutor: More than 100 NYC police and firefighters indicted in PTSD scam
CNN
By Ray Sanchez. Susan Candiotti and Lorenzo Ferrigno
January 7, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Photos show the "disabled" first responders playing basketball, doing martial arts
More than 100 cops and firefighters have been indicted in a disability scam
The scam spanned more than two decades
Some claimed to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after the 9/11 attacks

New York (CNN) -- Though the former New York City police officers and firefighters were supposed to be fully disabled -- some suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- photos in court documents released Tuesday painted a starkly different picture.

One man smiled behind shades and flipped the bird aboard a Sea-Doo personal watercraft. Another sat at the controls of a helicopter. A mixed martial arts instructor posed with arms crossed. They're seen riding motorcycles, hauling in massive sailfish, slugging softballs for the "NYPD Blues," taking jump shots, running half marathons and golfing, and even giving television news interviews while selling cannoli at Manhattan's famed San Genaro festival.

They are among the more than 100 retired New York City police and firefighters indicted in a massive Social Security disability scam involving hundreds of millions of dollars, authorities said. More than half the recipients received funds for fraudulent claims for PTSD in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center.

"We will chase down every penny that these dishonorable thieves fraudulently pilfered so that the truly heroic firefighters, police officers, medics, and civilians who actually risked their lives on September 11, 2001, and are now suffering because of it, can get the care that they critically need," said James T. Hayes, Jr., special agent-in-charge of Homeland Security Investigations New York.
The alleged scam spanned more than two decades, with law enforcement officers and firefighters coached on how to behave during doctor visits in order to qualify for full disability benefits, officials said.
read more here

The claim is for PTSD. Right? So what does it matter what they do physically especially when most of the things they were doing charities have been raising huge sums of money to supply them with?

Martial Arts and PTSD? Yes, many use that. Everything in the list above are things that people with PTSD not only can enjoy but are encouraged to do but CNN makes it seem as if they are not supposed to do any of this.

Riding motorcycles? Ever see a veteran or a cop on a motorcycle? Marathons, golfing, fishing and playing softball? Everything on this list are things they are told they should do to be active in recovery and what almost every charity across the country is raising boatloads of cash to provide.

As for helping these cops get through the system, that isn't anything new either.  For veterans there are veterans service officers helping veterans get thru the rigmarole of the claims process.

CNN just managed to not only put these cops on public trial, they did it to the veterans with PTSD as well. If you read Wounded Times you know exactly what experts recommend for the veterans to do as part of healing.  All of what is in the list is

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Veteran Who Funded 9-11 Monument Says Vandalism Disgraceful

Veteran Who Funded 9-11 Monument Says Vandalism Disgraceful
KATC News
by Erin Steuber
Posted: Sep 11, 2013

As Americans around the country, and the world, paused to remember September 11th, a startling find in Lafayette. 35-year-old Salvador Perez is facing charges of criminal damage to a historic building, or landmark, and criminal trespassing. If convicted, he faces a fine up to one-thousand dollars, and two years in jail.

This is what he's accused of doing to the monument:

Police were called there early this morning to find two cardboard planes on the beams from the Twin Towers. There was also a cardboard cutout of former President George W. Bush, holding money and what appeared to be a remote. And on a nearby building, a drawing of a sniper, aiming at the monument.

It's a story that's receiving some national attention, not just because of when it happened, but where.

It was one year after the attacks, that the monument was put up in Lafayette. The beams, from the Twin Towers in New York; The dirt, from that field in Pennsylvania and the limestone is from the Pentagon. It is in every way a true representation of a national tragedy and that's why some say what happened is so disrespectful.
read more here

Friday, January 4, 2013

CIA veteran on what ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ gets wrong

A CIA veteran on what ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ gets wrong about the bin Laden manhunt
By Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.
Washington Post
Published: January 3

Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.is a 31-year veteran of the CIA. He is the author of “Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives,” written with former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, who also contributed to this essay.

It is an odd experience to enter a darkened room and, for more than 21 / 2 hours, watch someone tell a story that you experienced intimately in your own life. But that is what happened recently as I sat in a movie theater near Times Square and watched “Zero Dark Thirty,” the new Hollywood blockbuster about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

When I was head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center from 2002 to 2004 and then director of the National Clandestine Service until late 2007, the campaign against al-Qaeda was my life and obsession.

I must say, I agree with both the film critics who love “Zero Dark Thirty” as entertainment and the administration officials and prominent senators who hate the movie for the message it sends — although my reasons are entirely opposite theirs.

Indeed, as I watched the story unfold on the screen, I found myself alternating between repulsion and delight.
read more here

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Afghanistan veteran serving at Ground Zero because of it

Afghanistan vet finds a new way to serve
By Jeremy Bradley
CNN
January 1, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Ricardo Benejam was born and raised in New York City and saw the twin towers fall
Benejam enlisted in the Army and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 and 2009
He now works at the 9/11 Memorial as a visitor services host
Benejam: It's like you're continuing to serve because you're telling the story

(CNN) -- Ricardo Benejam is a born-and-bred New Yorker. He grew up with a view of the World Trade Center from the window of his childhood apartment in lower Manhattan.

On September 11, 2001, he was a freshman in high school when the twin towers fell.

"I had actually blurted out, 'We'll be going to war,'" he recalls. "You knew it wasn't an accident. That was my first thought at 14 [years old]."

He witnessed the devastation firsthand as he walked home that day.

"I saw cars that were littered with dust," he said. "I saw people in business suits that were littered in dust."

Benejam visits ground zero several times a week now, not just to pay respect to his fellow veterans or to reflect on the events that inspired him to serve his country. He works at the 9/11 Memorial.

"Working down there, it's like you're continuing to serve because you're telling the story of what happened and what was there before," he said.

Part of what makes his job so special is the bond he shares with other veterans visiting the site.

"You meet a veteran, and it's almost like seeing a brother or sister," Benejam said. "A lot of us have deployed (as a result of) what happened on 9/11."
read more here

Sunday, December 23, 2012

“Zero Dark Thirty” is indefensible on torture

“Zero Dark Thirty” is indefensible
As a director, I respect "Zero Dark Thirty's" artistry. But its underlying message is wrong -- and dangerously so
BY ALEX GIBNEY
ALTERNET

It’s difficult for one filmmaker to criticize another. That’s a job best left to critics. However, in the case of Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, an issue that is central to the film — torture — is so important that I feel I must say something. Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow have been irresponsible and inaccurate in the way they have treated this issue in their film. I am not alone in that view.

Senators Carl Levin, Dianne Feinstein and John McCain wrote a letter to Michael Lynton, the Chairman of Sony Pictures, accusing the studio of misrepresenting the facts and “perpetuating the myth that torture is effective,” and asking for the studio to correct the false impression created by the film. The film conveys the unmistakable conclusion that torture led to the death of bin Laden. That’s wrong and dangerously so, precisely because the film is so well made.

Let me say, as many others have, that the film is a stylistic masterwork, an inspiration in terms of technique from the lighting, camera, acting and viscerally realistic production and costume design. Also, as a screen story, it is admirable for its refusal to funnel the hunt for bin Laden into a series of movie clichés — love interests, David versus Goliath struggles, etc. More than that, the film does an admirable job of showing how complex was the detective work that led to the death of bin Laden: a combination of tips from foreign intelligence, sleuthing through old files, monitoring signals from emails and cell phones (SIGINT) and mining human intelligence on the ground (HUMINT). It’s all the more infuriating therefore, because the film is so attentive to the accuracy of details — including the mechanism of brutal interrogations — that it is so sloppy when it comes to portraying the efficacy of torture. That may seem like a small thing, but it is not. Because when we go to war, our politicians will be guided by our popular will. And if we believe that torture “got” bin Laden, then we will be more prone to accept the view that a good “end” can justify brutal “means.”
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