The call for accountability

In yesterday’s post, I spoke about Kristen Breitweiser and her open letter to (shudder) Ann Coulter (shudder). For those who are not familiar with Kristen, here’s a snippet of her bio from Huffington Post:

Kristen Breitweiser, 9/11 widow and activist, is known for pressuring official Washington to provide a public accounting to the American people of what went wrong on the morning of September 11 and in the months leading up to the disaster that claimed the life of her husband and more than 3000 others.

While I really don’t like to discuss Coulter because I prefer my blood pressure to remain stable, I will print her comments below to give you the context in which to place Kristen Breitweiser’s email.

In “Godless,” Coulter writes that a group of widows who’ve become known as the Jersey girls do not have the right to criticize the government’s failures that may have led to the attacks.

“These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV … reveling in their status as celebrities,” she writes. “These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation and acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them.”

(BROADS?? WTF?)

I urge you to read the full text of Kristen’s letter to (shudder) AC (shudder), but here is the paragraph that speaks to the comments above:

“You branded the Jersey Girls media whores, a bunch of celebrity-seeking widows who enjoyed their husbands’ deaths. Had your friends–including many elected officials in the Republican Party and conservatives in Washington–not put up a fight, and a very nasty fight, we wouldn’t have needed to raise public awareness through the media. So if you want to blame anyone for our appearances on television, you should blame your own coterie, not us. We simply wanted to inform the nation about what needed to be done. And we still intend to do that.”

I do not believe asking our elected officials questions regarding their decisions made in the name of our country is in any way unpatriotic or unnecessary. They SHOULD be held accountable for those decisions. An open, honest investigation into how the tragedy of 9/11 occured and how we can prevent something like that in the future is so very necessary. Yet, according to Kristen, it was being blocked in every possible way.

She goes on to say:

“The Democrats were nearly the only people in Washington willing to help us. That is not my opinion; it is a fact, notwithstanding a few honorable exceptions, such as Chris Smith and John McCain. We worked with anyone of either party who supported an independent investigation.

For some unknown reason–and as a seasoned right-wing operative maybe you can enlighten us–most Republicans we encountered were completely opposed to learning any lessons from 9/11. It’s a shame, too. After all, the Republican Party has been in total control of Washington for the past three years. Had they made true national security a higher priority, perhaps our cities would be better protected against terrorist attacks and disasters. Again, the sorry conditions in our cities and across our nation are a matter of fact, not opinion. Please don’t blame me for that failure. Assign the responsibility where it belongs.”

Lest you think that I support her only because she says good things about Dems (and I know you don’t but FTR), according to the bio presented on Huffington Post, Kristen was “… a stay-at-home mother in suburban New Jersey and a George Bush supporter.” (Italics mine)

I find it interesting how much opposition she faced from republicans in congress. Why would they, the party that purports to be “strong on national security” not want an open discussion of these events? Of course, I have my opinions, but then I tend to wear the proverbial “tin-foil hat” upon occasion. (See end of post for definition of TFH) I would expect this behavior from whomever is in office, regardless of political affiliation. To the extent that it does not jeopardize national security, I am all for transparency in our government. We elect these individuals to speak for us (it’s presumed) and they are paid with our tax dollars. Therefore, we should require them to be open and accountable for their decisions. So, I have to ask this question: what are the reasons investigations into 9/11 were blocked? What is being hidden and why? I have no answers, only my personal speculation. But I think it is important that we continue to speak out about this, as Kristen and other 9/11 widows have done.

I will end this with Kristen’s words to AC:

“So don’t try to silence the voices of victims or anyone else, merely because you disagree with them or feel threatened by their political choices. In my opinion, your method of using intimidation and insults to “win” a debate is truly unpatriotic.

Actually, I expect that you will continue to scream and shout and smear as nastily as you want, so long as you think that that kind of behavior sells books. But we have tackled bigger bullies than you and lived through far worse circumstances than your book tour. We’re not intimidated by you. We’re not running away.

And under no circumstances will we be silenced by your “godless” rantings and ravings.”

From wikipedia:

Tinfoil Hat

Often, a poster will refer to his or her “tinfoil hat”, referring to someone who is overly concerned with privacy issues, or is a conspiracy theorist. For instance, in response to an article about putting GPS transponders in cell phones, a poster might say “Excuse me while I put on my tinfoil hat, but I don’t want the government to track my every move!” The actual act of wearing a tinfoil hat historically refers to the paranoid belief that it will prevent one’s mind from being read by governmental surveillance technology.