From
http://www.changeforamerica.com
A day before the attacks, I had left NYC to visit my family. I was woken up by my Mother, and I flipped on the television just minutes before the second plane hit. I watched in horror as terror rained upon my adopted home. I immediately called my wife, who was still there. Both of us were so confused at what we were seeing that we didn't understand the full implications of it. She decided to head downtown to work. She didn't work close to the WTC, but heading downtown for any reason seemed horrible to me. Her subway train stopped halfway and everyone evacuated. I spent the next 16 hours trying to get her on a phone, while all the circuits were busy. I spent the next week trapped in Denver, desperate to get home and see her. We got off way easy. Every one of you out there has a story just like this, better or worse, of your own.
On the Today show this morning, Katie Couric, ever the shiny optimist, asked 9/11 survivor Kristen Breitweiser, whom is a member of the valiant and persistent "Jersey Girls", without whom none of this would have come to fruition, if she thought the Bush administration was doing a significantly better job of not stonewalling the commission [my phrasing] , to which Kristen responded,
"Sadly, I voted for President Bush, and I would've hoped he would have been my biggest ally, and I think that for whatever reason, they have not been forth coming. As recently as last week we found out they were withholding Clinton documents. We had to cut a deal to get Condeleeza Rice to testify. Namely no other White House official will appear in public before the commission, after she testifies today. That is definitely going to compromise the public's ability to stay informed with regard to our ability to defend ourselves from terrorism."
It angers me that without the 9/11 survivors, without the families pressing day in and day out for justice, that this administration would have stonewalled completely all the way through the election. I'm horrified that I am of the opinion that the only reason that Dr. Rice is testifying today is because they found no way to discredit the families of the victims, that if they had the opportunity, they would have. I shouldn't have to have thoughts like that enter my mind about our sitting president. The stakes are too high and the consequences are too grave for such inappropriate behavior on the part of this Administration. Had they spoken the truth from the beginning, had they not distracted our country with an Iraq invasion, had they truly made an effort to fix what was wrong, we would not all be sitting here watching Dr. Rice today.
Katie asked what they had learned from this horrible experience. Jersey Girl Patty Casazza said,
"Well, I think what I've learned is that we all take a responsibility for what our government leaders do, but in order to change what our leaders do, you have to participate and you have to demand accountability from them."
Agreed. It's time. Watch Condi lie. Then take action.