Fw: [wvns] 9-11 Hero Sues Bush
TC Rescue Hero Sues Bush and Others under RICO Statute
By Philip J. Berg, Margaret Atheling Rowe
On September 11, 2001, William Rodriguez, a maintenance worker at the
World Trade Center in Manhattan, single-handedly rescued fifteen
people. The only employee with the master key to the North Tower
staircases, he led firefighters up the stairs, unlocking doors as he
went, aiding in the evacuation of hundreds of additional people who,
but for his efforts, might have perished. Although his job
description did not include saving lives, Rodriguez re-entered the
building three times after the first plane struck, and was the last
person to exit the North Tower alive.
He survived the collapse of the North Tower by diving beneath a
fire truck to avoid the avalanche of concrete and steel. After onsite
treatment for his injuries, Rodriguez plunged right back into rescue
efforts at the site. At dawn the next morning, Rodriguez returned to
Ground Zero from his home in Jersey City, to continue to aid in
rescue efforts. Later, Rodriguez became an unofficial spokesman for
survivors, among other things helping to secure an amnesty for
undocumented aliens, many of them Latinos, and in the creation of the
World Trade Center Memorial Fund.
Although he lost his job of 19 years and his means of livelihood -
even falling into homelessness for a time - Rodriguez has continued
in the three years since 9-11 to continue his work in honor of the
heroes and the victims of that awful day, as president of the
Hispanic Victims Group, Director of the 9/11 United Services Group,
and member of the Family Advisory Council of the Lower Manhattan
Development Corporation.
Now, this native of Puerto Rico and remarkable American hero is
taking his 9-11 activism to an even higher level. He has commenced,
as Plaintiff, a federal court lawsuit against George W. Bush, Richard
B. Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld and others alleging that they and
others were complicit in the 9-11 attacks, and either planned the
attacks, or had foreknowledge of the attacks and permitted them to
succeed, in order to exploit a "New Pearl Harbor" to launch wars
against Afghanistan and Iraq. (The phrase "New Pearl Harbor" comes
from a declaration of principles by the neo-conservative "Project for
the New American Century," in which it is proposed as an event needed
to steel Ameri-can public opinion to support the overthrow of Saddam
Hussein, and U.S. military domination of the Middle East.)
Attorney Berg acknowledges that Rodriguez's action will shock and
offend many Americans. But he urges critics to read the detailed
complaint, posted on the internet at www.911forthetruth.com, before
forming conclusions. "The 'Official Story' of what actually took
place on 9-11 is a lie," Berg flatly maintains. "We do not pretend to
have put together a full and definitive account of how, and by whom,
the attacks were carried out. But information reported in mainstream
media, and viewed in the light of common sense and the laws of
physics, demonstrate that the 'Official Story,' examined closely, is
not credible.
The 'Official Story' contains an alarming number of inconsistencies
and im-plausibilities. The major media have reported many of the raw
facts, but have studiously avoided analysis, because doing so would
reveal that the government is lying to us. The 9-11 Commission, a
suspect collection of government and intelligence insiders, restated
without question or examination all essential elements of
the 'Official Story' of the actual events of 9-11. It failed almost
completely to refute, or even to mention, the great body of evidence
that suggests the 'Official Story' cannot be true, and it failed
completely to hold anyone accountable. From the foregoing facts, it
ought to be obvious that a cover-up, or a "limited hang-out"
admitting only bureaucratic mistakes for which no one is to be held
accountable, has taken place and is continuing."
Berg maintains that many prominent figures in politics, the
military and the mass media consider the 'Official Story' of 9-11 to
be untrue. But while the truth is emerging bit by bit, thanks to
anonymous whistleblowers and researchers posting on the internet, to
date no one with the stake in being a Senator, a Presidential
candidate, or a media celebrity has found the courage to risk being
ridiculed as a "tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist." Berg points
out that the only Senator who has dared to publicly question even
parts of the 'Official Story," Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota, has
received threats ominous enough to impel him to shut down his
Washington, D.C. office until after the coming election.
"Some facts cannot be denied," says Berg. "Clearly, 9-11 was carried
out by more than one person. Therefore, by definition there was a
conspiracy. What we're arguing is that the true conspirators have
abused their enormous power and the trust of the American people to
concoct and to sell to the world a false conspiracy theory, to
justify war and mass murder for economic and political gain. Since
the neo-cons, allied with the President, said in almost so many
words that they wished for a New Pearl Harbor, why dismiss out of
hand an allegation that they used their undeniably sufficient power
to actually bring it about?
Why has there been no full and transparent investigation? Indeed,
isn't it shocking that the federal government grabbed up all of the
physical evidence, and that no police authority has conducted a true
criminal investigation into 3,000 homicides? Instead of due process
of law, government officials and the mass media convicted Osama bin
Laden, and had names and photos of his 19 accomplices on the
internet, literally within hours of the attacks. The truth is that
there is no definitive evidence that there were any Arabs on those
planes, and even less proof concerning the supposed identities of the
alleged hijackers."
Berg notes too that a poll taken by the respected Zogby organization
in August 2004 disclosed that half the population of New York,
including such unlikely "conspiracy theorists" as those who identify
themselves as "very conservative" and as Evangelical Christians,
believe the federal government had foreknowledge of the attacks, and
knowingly failed to prevent them. Asked why he decided to bring this
controversial lawsuit, Rodriguez explains that, having survived the
World Trade Center disaster when so many did not, he feels he must
learn the truth of what happened on that day. "If what the government
has told us about 9-11 is a lie," he says, "somebody has to take
action to reveal the truth.
Since that plane hit the North Tower on 9-11, like it or not my
life's meaning has become to reduce the number of victims, and the
amount of suffering from those attacks. If suing President Bush is
what I have to do to accomplish that, so be it." Rodriguez notes that
the events of 9-11 are directly related to the deaths of thousands of
people in two ongoing wars, attacks on Constitutional liberties in
the United States, the abuse and torture of detainees around the
world, and the use by the United States of depleted uranium and other
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Admitting the obvious - that his client's legal fight against
powerful government figures is of the "David versus Goliath" variety -
Berg, a former deputy attorney general in Pennsylvania, invites both
financial support for his efforts, as well as assistance from
volunteer attorneys.
The action, filed in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on
10/22/04, is Rodriguez v. Bush, et al., Civil Action No. _04 CV 4952
yubanet.com
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posted by carol wolman @ 10:15 PM
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