Citizens Petition New York Attorney General to Open 9-11 Inquiry

NEW YORK, New York, October 29, 2004 (ENS) - Jenna Orkin, who chairs the World Trade Center Environmental Organization, is one of five New York City citizens who signed a complaint and petition Thursday demanding that the New York State Attorney General open a criminal inquiry and/or a grand jury investigation into unsolved crimes of September 11, 2001 over which he has jurisdiction.

In the Office of the Attorney General at 120 Broadway, Chief Investigator William Casey Thursday accepted the complaint and petition on behalf of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The sun streams through the dust cloud over the wreckage of the World Trade Center. New York, NY, September 13, 2001.(Photo by Andrea Booher courtesy FEMA)

Orkin said there is "strong evidence" suggesting that the Executive Office of the President was responsible for last minute changes to a press issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that confirmed the safety of the air in lower Manhattan, clearing the way for the re-opening of Wall Street. "Here it appears that the government was willing to sacrifice the lives of Americans for purely economics ends," she said.

To support their demand for a new investigation, the complainants cite the findings of an August 30 Zogby poll that found 49 percent of New York City residents and 41 percent of New Yorkers overall believe "there was official foreknowledge and conscious acceptance of the 9/11 attacks." Sixty-six percent of city residents and 56 percent overall want a new investigation, the pollsters found.

"These findings are stunning," the complaint states, "and provide conclusive evidence that the People of New York are not satisfied that official investigations and news media have adequately addressed the truth of the events of that fateful day."

President George W. Bush greets rescue workers at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center. New York, NY, September 14, 2001. (Photo by SFC Thomas R. Roberts NGB-PASE courtesy FEMA)

The complainants are looking to Spitzer for "a fearless independent inquiry" and, "where fault and liability is found, recovery of the billions of dollars of resulting damages that have been sustained and continue to accrue."

The lead complainants include Bob McIlvaine, who lost his son Robert in the World Trade Center collapse; Patricia Perry, who lost her son John, a New York City Police officer; and Dr. Faiz Khan, Ground Zero triage physician, and ambulance first responder.

Megan Bartlett, founder of Ground Zero for Peace, who was recently hospitalized with malignant reactions to toxic World Trade Center dust and unable to attend, is the fourth complainant.

The fifth is William Rodriguez, a World Trade Center maintenance worker who single-handedly rescued 15 people on September 11, 2001, according to his attorney, Philip Berg, a former deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania.

On October 22, Rodriguez, represented by Berg, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia against President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act for their actions in connection with September 11, 2001.

The Rodriguez lawsuit is parallel to the New York complaint in that it alleges that the defendants 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 American flag hangs over the debris of the World Trade Center. September 14, 2004. (Photo courtesy FEMA)

Berg acknowledges that these legal actions will shock and offend many Americans. He urges people to read the detailed complaint posted on the Internet at: www911forthetruth.com, before forming any conclusions.

Rodriguez said he felt that he must learn the truth of what happened on September 11 because he survived when so many others did not. "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."

With respect to the citizens complaint accepted by Casey in New York, it is signed by five complainants now, but more are expected to sign on in the future, the complainants' attorneys said.

Attorney Carolyn Betts, legal consultant for the complaint, observed that this is the first citizens' complaint filed with a state's attorney general that would become what she called a "living document," an evolving compilation of argument and evidence posted on the Internet in full public view.

The complainant group vowed to press their case regardless of upcoming election results, insisting that the search for 9/11 truth, justice and accountability is hardly a partisan concern, as shown by the Tuesday release of the 9/11 Truth Statement, available online at: http://tinyurl.com/3jg4x.

The 9/11 Truth Statement also demands deeper new investigations and is signed by 100 prominent Americans spanning every faith and party, including former Republican officials, military officers, and three presidential candidates.

The Justice for 9/11 Steering Committee includes representatives from 9/11 CitizensWatch, at http://www.911citizenwatch.org, 911truth.org at: http://www.911truth.org, and the World Trade Center Environmental Organization, http://www.wtceo.org. It was organized this month in New York City.