Upstream | August 16, 2011 | 56 comments

9/11 First Responders Not Invited to 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony

source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/16/new.york.911.memorial/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

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EthicalVegan
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First responders decry exclusion from 9/11 ceremony
By Jeff Stein, CNN
August 16, 2011 1:37 p.m. EDT


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

First responders are not invited to the 10th anniversary memorial ceremony for 9/11
The city says there is only room for 9/11 victims' families
Former workers, many still battling diseases from 9/11, are outraged by the decision




New York (CNN) -- When debris rained from the sky in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, the first responders to the terrorist attack did not turn away. They rushed to the World Trade Center buildings while the world around them crumbled.

Yet now, after all the wreckage has been cleared and the rebuilding has begun, their path is again blocked -- not by flying chunks of smoldering rubble, but by space constraints.

The first responders are not invited to this year's September 11 memorial ceremony at ground zero, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office confirmed Monday.

It's a painful insult for many of the approximately 3,000 men and women who risked their lives, limbs and lungs on that monumental day, puncturing another hole in a still searing wound.

In a statement, Bloomberg spokesman Andrew Brent said the commemoration ceremony is for the victims' families.

"While we are again focused on accommodating victims' family members, given the space constraints, we're working to find ways to recognize and honor first responders, and other groups, at different places and times," Brent said.

But first responder John Feal, founder of an advocacy group for the police officers, firefighters, civilian volunteers and others who worked at ground zero, assailed Brent's response, saying Bloomberg "lives in his own world."

"The best of the best that this country offered 10 years ago are being neglected and denied their rightful place," Feal said.

Denise Villamia, a first responder who worked at ground zero for several months, cried over the phone as she recalled her "totally heartbroken" reaction to the news that she could not attend the memorial service.

"I'm crying because it's really a big betrayal on the part of the city, to rob me from my way to pay homage and to find that comfort and healing," she said. "I feel that I have been robbed of my way to pay tribute."

In addition to the victims' families, several politicians, including two presidents, are expected to be in attendance. Bloomberg's office would not provide specifics on the ceremony's arrangements, but did note that the first responders have not been invited to the preceding nine memorial services, either.

Yet first responder Morris Faitelewicz, vice president of the Auxiliary Police Supervisors Benevolent Association, called that explanation "nonsense." Faitelewicz said that, while there are not usually formal invitations, first responders have been able to attend all of the previous ceremonies simply by showing up.

Not allowing them to attend this year -- the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks -- is an especially galling affront, he said.

Additionally, many of the first responders see the decision, first reported by the New York Daily News, as evidence of the city's attempt to push to the background their untreated ailments in the official narrative of recovery and renewal.

If the responders attend the memorial service, "the promise 'we'll never forget' becomes a blatantly obvious lie -- a public display that the government didn't do right by us," says Bonnie Giebfried, a first responder.

"It'll bring up the issue that we're basically walking dead, and that we're not being treated."

Despite the passage in December of the $4.2 billion Zagroda Act, which provides medical treatment and compensation to responders, many first responders told CNN that the government has failed to address their health needs.

Giebfried has suffered from a failing liver and kidneys, a crushed arm, elbow and wrist; post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue, encroaching lupus and other diseases. All were caused by the dust, debris and other substances to which she was exposed on 9/11, she said.

On that day, Giebfried, an emergency medical technician at the time, was twice entombed in sheared building fragments, and twice escaped.

She and her partner, Jennifer Beckham, transported people to safety and set up makeshift triage stations. She watched bodies hit the ground and explode "like a bouncing ball," and suffered three asthma attacks through a harrowing day of devastation.

Giebfried said her ongoing medical travails have disabused her of the belief that the United States honors and looks after its service members. Being excluded from the memorial proceedings was yet another confirmation of this, she said.

"If the Founding Fathers ever saw what had happened to us responders, they would roll over in their graves," she said. "Leaving first responders and survivors out of the 10th anniversary is absolutely ludicrous."

Her frustrations were echoed by others.

Father Stephen Petrovich, who drove to ground zero from Huron, Ohio, hours after the terrorists struck, spent weeks at the site removing and blessing the remains of shattered bodies. While there, he says, he inhaled carcinogens that damaged his lungs, and is now in hospice care.

"I don't think they want us there because of all the problems we've had," Petrovich said. "It's like we've been dropped off the face of the earth."

In July, the World Trade Center Health Program, which administers funds from the Zagroda Act, ruled that first responders would not receive compensation for cancer treatment because there is no established causal link between the incidence of cancer and exposure to the site on September 11, citing a dearth of "published scientific and medical findings."

A first responder who also spent months at ground zero, the Rev. Terry Lee called not being invited back for the ceremony "a rip in the heart."

Lee said the country should honor those who responded at its most dire hour of need to encourage others to respond to crises.

"I believe attending will help the healing process ... if we go; we can tell our fellow man to get involved, because, 'hey, America takes care of its own.'"

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56 comments // 9/11 First Responders Not Invited to 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony

  • ReneeFromTheBay
  • Michael_Swannick
    • 0
      Michael_Swannick  

    • I’m Not Invited To Ground Zero On 9/11

      I strapped a gun on my hip and a badge on my chest
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I lost my right kidney to cancer
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      My left kidney is at stage III renal failure
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I lost my thyroid to cancer
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I suffer from Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS)
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I have a lesion on the right side of my brain
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I suffer from lung scarring, inflamation, atelectasis
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I suffer from chronic bronchitis, small airway disease, growing lung nodules
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I suffer from a chronic cough
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I suffer from sinusitis and rinitis
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      I suffer at the hands of our self-serving politicians
      and I’m not invited to ground zero on 9/11

      There was one other time I was not invited to ground zero
      09/11/2001
      Guess it was a good thing myself and thousands of others showed up

      Sgt. Michael Swannick

    • 9 months ago
  • ReneeFromTheBay
  • Michael_Swannick
  • ReneeFromTheBay
  • Dejan_Croatia
    • 0
      Dejan_Croatia  

    • not really surprised...this is like a military sort of result. What i mean by this is that they use the soldiers and once the soliders become injured or not psychologyly capable of fighting they send them back with no treatment of PTSD or nothing.

      They used these people...well would not seem they used them until you see the results of their denial to this ceremony. Could this be to many of them not getting healthcare for their help in the fallen buildings thats what i feel this is really about and why they have been denied.

    • 10 months ago
  • kvb1
    • 0
      kvb1  

    • Seems to me that we need an alternate 9/11 memorial, and we will not invite politicians, corporations or their representatives. A place of honor should be held for the first responders, those living and dead, as well as the family of victims of 9/11. FLeggplant is exactly correct in quoting Grayson, but you can add most any politician to that. They only care about you if being in your presence will help their image.

    • 10 months ago
  • Omle_Du_Fromage
  • FLeggplant
    • +2
      FLeggplant  

    • This is a big part of what is wrong here in America these days.
      When you are sick or injured or unemployed etc. our Politicians DO NOT want to be associated with you. The heroes now suffering from their heroism are ordinary people not worth the time or effort in the big Political picture.
      Brings me back to what Alan Grayson said about the Republican Healthcare plan...if you are sick, hurry up and die.
      Most of the wealthy, the teabaggers and it seems, most of our elected officials in this Country have sold their souls to the dark-side.
      The first responders should host their own ceremony at ground zero, No Politicians Allowed!

    • 10 months ago
  • joynoel
  • mii
  • lazloman
  • DavidYates
    • +1
      DavidYates  

    • It's rather like when you put your mother in a home and you're too embarrassed to go visit or your friend is ill in the hospital and since you don't know how to deal with it, you stay away. When you owe people a lot and you haven't paid, you tend to avoid them. Understandable but despicable.

    • 10 months ago
  • EmperorThan
    • +2
      EmperorThan  

    • "What more do these people want? They already have the debris from the World Trade Center in their lungs that's like a free souvenir from Ground Zero they get to keep forever!" -The rich

    • 10 months ago
  • sudee63
    • +2
      sudee63  

    • I just wonder if something was to happen during this 10th anniversary, if maybe perhaps the first responders were to stay away -- after all there is not enough room for them, right? They don't need them, right? We had a politician with a pissy attitude like that about our fire fighters and I told them they should paint a big red x on his house and just forget about going their when he calls on them, since he thinks they are over paid and not needed. Just plain appalling is what this is, typical and not unexpected but appalling. These are the victims for god's sake.

    • 10 months ago
  • jamjaminyourmouth
  • notsure
    • +1
      notsure  

    • Politicians will stand in front of an emotional symbol on nine one one and Placate the citizens with fiery rhetoric spun So They can be "The One" on election night failing to mentioning the injustice done.

    • 10 months ago
  • notsure
    • +2
      notsure  

    • Neglected Sick and Mangled People do not make the appropriate backdrop for Billionaire's Political Event. Tough to explain The lack of Health Care for these Heroes. How much money was donated? ~2.8 Billion?

    • 10 months ago
  • budsnews
    • +1
      budsnews  

    • A firefighter that I play golf with just got over throat cancer,his entire company was sick with this same disease.Saddens me that powers that be continually slap these brave people.

    • 10 months ago
  • demsbeans527
    • +3
      demsbeans527  

    • Wait aren't the first responders victims as well? If I recall, many of them lost colleagues when those towers came down, on the very same anniversary date.

    • 10 months ago
  • Gillian_Marktoo
  • Plue
    • +3
      Plue  

    • Oh that's bullshit. These people suffered, lost loved ones and comrades, and died just like the people in the tower. hey were the heros who gave their lives and health to save the lives of others. This is an outrage and a continuation of the treatment these brave Americans have already faced at the hand of certian members of our government. To exclude them would be a great stain of dishonor on our country. Good post EV. :-[ +^d

    • 10 months ago
  • americaDuff
  • americaDuff
  • nikonwilly
    • +2
      nikonwilly  

    • The whole event is based on a sham...once you understand the fact that it was a false flag operation and the only reason it happened was for war profit and stripping our rights away with the patriot act.
      How this freaking Government can simply ignore the unanswered questions and still assume credibility is beyond me....I bet Dickless Cheney would talk with a little waterboarding.

    • 10 months ago
  • Slfriend79
  • KB723
  • CalgarC
  • David_Cervantes
    • +1
      David_Cervantes  

    • hmmm... i wonder why? (sarcasm).... they clearly don't want the first responders and families to form some sort of alliance to help investigate the true act of terrorism done by our own government ..

    • 10 months ago
  • Lairderg
    • +2
      Lairderg  

    • Invite them; let everyone see what some people are willing to do for their fellow human beings. We have a distorted idea of heroes sometimes, especially when people idolize the rich for doing nothing but having a lot of gold junk, and having these brave people there would cause us to pause and rework our ideas about who's really important. Clue: those who help, not those who step on everybody to get to the top.

    • 10 months ago
  • wynnmeg61
    • +2
      wynnmeg61  

    • I believe the true reason they don't want the first responders there are that a huge number of them are seriously seriously ill. The pols don't want the general public to be able to actually see what these people have suffered in the name of our nation. It is like when the Bush administration didn't want us to be able to see the coffins of our fallen soldiers returning home.

    • 10 months ago
  • squarethecircle
  • Leen61
    • +5
      Leen61  

    • What a horrible slap in the face to these 9/11 first responders! First these people can't get the healthcare they deserve, now they are snubbed by not being invited to the 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony?! But they were good enough to risk their lives and health to help others? If I were one of these first responders, I would say "Kiss My Ass and Go to Hell!!!!

    • 10 months ago
  • Vic_Romano
  • ThirdSection
  • EthicalVegan
  • JanforGore
    • +7
      JanforGore  

    • Why, because they stood up to the government for the compensation they deserve? And I read that George W Bush IS invited. The man who sat and read a book looking like a deer in the headlights while this country was attacked and people were jumping out of windows is invited, but the people who saved lives aren't? I think I'll boycott it then.

      http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=14195235

      "The ceremony at the World Trade Center site marking the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks will be a solemn but stately event that will include former President George W. Bush and a chance for victims' families to view the names of loved ones etched into the memorial, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

      President Barack Obama and Bloomberg will be joined by the leaders in charge during the 2001 attacks, including Bush, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former New York Gov. George Pataki. Current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will also be there, he said.

      Speaking on his weekly radio show Friday on WOR-AM, Bloomberg said the lawmakers will read short poems or quotes."

    • 10 months ago
  • Stever_B
  • EthicalVegan
  • JanforGore
    • +5
      JanforGore  
    • Stever_B:

      Thanks, I will.

      I just sent them this message: Thanks again for this information.

      I find it totally insensitive that the first responders of 9.11 have not been invited to the 10th anniversary ceremony. Were it not for them many would not be alive today. They sacrificed their health and in many instances their lives to save others and yet, you invite George W. Bush who did nothing that day but run away from it and use it to start a war that only killed more innocent Americans and Iraqis who had nothing to do with it. I am boycotting this event and I stand in solidarity with those who gave all they had that day without any other motivation but the selfless pursuit of saving lives. Shame on you Mayor Bloomberg.

    • 10 months ago
  • JustZ
  • JustZ
  • JustZ
  • Dusty_King
  • JustZ
    • +3
      JustZ  

    • I suspect this has nothing to do with 'available room'...and instead has more to do with the fact that many first responders have been abandoned when it comes to fair compensation for their injuries resulting from working at ground zero.

      In short, there's simply no profit in helping these hero's any longer. Soon....9/11 will be relegated to B grade disaster movies.

    • 10 months ago
  • chew_chew
    • +5
      chew_chew  

    • That's a crock of poop. There was plenty of room for all of those brave souls on 9-11-01. They are as much a part of that day as are the victims' families. If they want to be there, New York should find, or *MAKE* room for them.

      Sometimes you just gotta do what's right, no matter the cost. That was the first responders' attitudes then, it should be New York's attitude now.

    • 10 months ago
  • cool0ne
  • nashkildare
  • attilatheblond
    • +3
      attilatheblond  
    • nashkildare:

      You are wise not to buy that argument. They don't want them there because with them in attendance, TPTB can't continue to use 9-11 as the facade for all manner of harm done to this society/nation in the name of security, false patriotism, myths, and lies, all resulting in more centralized power and wealth in ever fewer hands.

      REAL heroes being present would make it about what happened, not what TPTB want to use it for. Real people with real memories and real need would trump pols and others from further exploitation of the emotion the tragedy brought to Americans. They want us hyped and misty eyed, not looking and LISTENING to the reality of what happened. Most definitely not asking embarrassing questions.

      Symbols and rhetoric. That is what they want because that is what they can use. If the real heroes were there for all to see, the people might insist on action that TPTB don't want to spend resources on. No body gets rich if we are rolling up our collective sleeves to address real need. Ignorance is bliss for TPTB and they will say/do any manner of injustice to keep the masses from addressing reality.

      Symbols and rhetoric seems to be all that is left of America. Lip service instead of public service by our 'leaders' and media. Keep your eyes on the lovely, scantily clad assistant, America. Pay no attention to the black hat magicians who have made everything we need vanish.

    • 10 months ago
  • wynnmeg61
  • attilatheblond
  • wynnmeg61
  • attilatheblond
    • +1
      attilatheblond  
    • wynnmeg61:

      Can't tell you how many times I take a bundle of letters to google to see what they might possibly mean! LOL Since I don't text, I don't speak fluent acronym like the younger folks. But I do find some of the terms helpful as my hands refuse to obey my brain's commands sometimes.

      My favorite is YOMANK, learned eons ago from the snopes site forum. For when it is more than LOL, there is You Owe Me A New Keyboard!. ;^)

    • 10 months ago
  • wynnmeg61
  • timelord999
  • nashkildare
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