WTC Rebuilding an Emblem of Can't-Do Politics

New audio published for the first time

(NEWSER) - The horror and confusion of Sept. 11, 2001, comes to gut-wrenching life in newly published audio offering a real-time picture of the civil and military aviation responses during the first two hours after the hijackings. The 114 recordings, published by Rutgers Law Review and available in part on the New York Times website, were originally prepared by 9/11 Commission investigators, but were not completed before the commission shut down. One of those investigators, Miles Kara, tracked down the files this year in order to review, transcribe, and publish them. More»

New York trial represents proper US tradition, AG says

(NEWSER) - Confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four co-defendants will face the death penalty, Eric Holder confirmed today, and the AG leapt to defend the decision to try them in a civilian court in New York. They will “answer for their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks away from where the Twin Towers once stood,” Holder said. “I fully expect to direct prosecutors to seek the death penalty against each of the alleged 9/11 conspirators.” More»

Work continues to ID fragments, but what to do with them?

(NEWSER) - More than seven years after the September 11 attacks, meticulous work continues to identify the charred remains of those killed that day—including the hijackers. Less than 24 pounds of flesh and bone fragments linked to the terrorists are stored in undisclosed locations in New York and Virginia, Newsweek reports. But with no family members or foreign governments claiming what’s left of the terrorists, it’s unclear what the US government intends to do with the remains. More»

(AP) - More than 6 years before Sarah Palin visited ground zero as the Republican VP nominee, her parents were there as part of the response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks—trapping rats. Chuck and Sally Heath have been part-time Department of Agriculture wildlife specialists for 15 years, trapping or killing animals in Alaska. In January 2002, they went to New York for 2 weeks to make sure birds and rats did not disturb the World Trade Center debris in a Staten Island landfill. More»

Terror group compares US cybersecurity to pre-9/11 aviation

(NEWSER) - Al-Qaeda compares flaws in America's cybersecurity to gaps in aviation security before the 9/11 attacks in a chilling video released by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. In the video, which was obtained by the FBI last year, an al-Qaeda operative calls for "electronic jihad" against the US with attacks on government and infrastructure networks, ABC reports. More»