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FORD
10-25-2004, 06:33 PM
WTC Rescue Hero Sues Bush and Others under RICO Statute

By: Philip J. Berg, Margaret Atheling Rowe
Published: Oct 23, 2004


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 American 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 implausibilities. 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_

link (http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_14643.shtml)

Ally_Kat
10-25-2004, 07:04 PM
I thought Presidents couldn't be sued while in office?

FORD
10-25-2004, 07:09 PM
Maybe Unelected ones can? :confused:

Either way, that won't be a problem after January 20 :)

ODShowtime
10-25-2004, 07:38 PM
I hate knowing that there are some things I'll never fully understand.

ELVIS
10-25-2004, 07:45 PM
Originally posted by FORD
Maybe Unelected ones can? :confused:



George Bush was ELECTED!

algore tried to steal the election...

George Bush won by a GREATER margin with EVERY algore recount!

Thousands of republican voters were turned away from the florida polls in 2000...

If algore would or could have won his own state, he would be the President today...

It's all in God's hands...

Big Train
10-25-2004, 07:48 PM
Bottom line is , like Ford's theory, there is absolutely ZERO evidence of a BCE, a plan, a motive, or a profit from 9/11 to the Bush administration. Absolutely none.

FORD
10-25-2004, 08:08 PM
Originally posted by Big Train
Bottom line is , like Ford's theory, there is absolutely ZERO evidence of a BCE, a plan, a motive, or a profit from 9/11 to the Bush administration. Absolutely none.

Obviously some people DID profit from it. Remember the "put options" on the airline stocks. Talk about insider trading? And they send Martha Stewart to prison?

As the article says, the crime was a conspiracy by definition, since you had 19 people aboard the planes (according to the official story) and someone giving orders.

If you believe it is a coincidence that the military was told there would be a simulation of a terrorist attack that very morning, then you need to pull your head out of your ass.

The biggest hole in determining what happenned that day has always been the question of why the military stood down and allowed the plane to be anywhere the Pentagon (if indeed a plane did hit it).

The military stood down because they thought it was fake. They expected a drill that morning and were proceeding according to that plan, until somebody bothered to tell them it wasn't a drill.

Bottom line is that at the VERY LEAST, the BCE was willfully negligent and for that alone they deserve to be sued, if not imprisoned. I certainly wouldn't cry for the Bushes if they lost a fortune made from murdering Jews, smuggling drugs, and arming terrorists.

Big Train
10-25-2004, 08:14 PM
Man we have been over and over this, yet I have my head up my ass.

Nobody "Stood down".

A terrorist attack does not in itself indicate a conspirarcy with the government of the country it is attacking.

The simulation was a coincidence until someone can show me a shred of proof to indicate otherwise.

Willfully negligent, how so?

DLR'sCock
10-25-2004, 08:38 PM
THe 911 Family lawsuit against the Bush Empire
The lawsuits against Saudi Arabia by Cantor-Fitzgerald and The Port Of Authority of NY/NJ

and now this????

hmmmmmmm

ODShowtime
10-25-2004, 08:42 PM
you gotta sue somebody

DLR'sCock
10-25-2004, 08:42 PM
How about a real criminal investigation???

ODShowtime
10-25-2004, 08:46 PM
that would require the cooperation of the authorities

Big Train
10-25-2004, 09:06 PM
and an actual shred of evidence...

lucky wilbury
10-25-2004, 09:18 PM
http://www.theolympian.com/home/specialsections/War/20030508/763.shtml

Judge rules Osama, Saddam must pay

Originally published Thursday, May 8, 2003



THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Olympian Online

NEW YORK -- A federal judge Wednesday ordered Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and others to pay nearly $104 million to the families of two Sept. 11 victims, saying there is evidence -- though meager -- that Iraq had a hand in the terrorist attacks.

The closely watched case was the first lawsuit against the terrorists believed responsible for the World Trade Center attack to reach the damages phase.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer ordered that the damages be paid by bin Laden, al-Qaida, the Taliban, Saddam and the former Iraqi government. The judge ruled against them by default in January after they failed to respond to the lawsuits brought on behalf of two of the trade center dead.

James E. Beasley, a Philadelphia lawyer who brought the case, hopes to collect the money from frozen Iraqi, bin Laden and al-Qaida assets.

Beasley called Baer's finding "a significant victory" because it represented the first time a judge linked al-Qaida and Iraq in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In his ruling, Baer concluded that lawyers for the two victims "have shown, albeit barely ... that Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaida" and collaborated in or supported al-Qaida's Sept. 11 attacks.

Baer said lawyers relied heavily on "classically hearsay" evidence, including reports that a Sept. 11 hijacker met an Iraqi consul to Prague, Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks to the United Nations about connections between Iraq and terrorism, and defectors' descriptions of the use of an Iraq camp to train terrorists.

James Kreindler, a lawyer representing the families of 500 people killed and 1,000 injured in the attacks, said a case his firm was preparing for trial will offer proof of ties between Iraq and al-Qaida.

"We have uncovered the financial connection between Iraq and al-Qaida," he said.

Kreindler's case, which is still pending in federal court in New York, seeks damages from more than 200 defendants, including Iraq, Iran, Sudan, al-Qaida, the Taliban, Saudi Arabia government officials and banks that laundered money.

ODShowtime
10-25-2004, 09:51 PM
Judge Harry Baer:

"Baer said lawyers relied heavily on "classically hearsay" evidence, including reports that a Sept. 11 hijacker met an Iraqi consul to Prague, Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks to the United Nations about connections between Iraq and terrorism, and defectors' descriptions of the use of an Iraq camp to train terrorists. "

hasn't this all been proven wrong? Where's the justice?:)

Seshmeister
10-25-2004, 10:03 PM
Wow for once a genuinely heroic act.

Usually the media phrase hero seems to apply to anyone that was even within 500 miles as the 9-11 attacks...

BigBadBrian
10-25-2004, 10:05 PM
Originally posted by FORD
[B]

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.



There you go, FORD. Sounds like a worthwhile cause for you to spend all your money on. :gulp: