What Remains of 9/11 Hijackers Is Unwanted

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»

(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»

Families wanted cemetery created for mass of rubble

(NEWSER) - A lawsuit to have rubble from the Sept. 11 attacks given a proper burial was dismissed in a US court today, Reuters reports. Victims' families contend that the estimated 1.5 to 1.8 million tons of debris contain human remains, and must be removed from the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island. But a judge ruled that New York City had "acted responsibly" in the "difficult and complicated" task of disposing the rubble. More»

Morass of competing parties and gridlock mirrors US system

(NEWSER) - We’re having an entertaining campaign season, Daniel Henninger allows in the Wall Street Journal, but the US' fundamental political system is in deep trouble: “It’s an open question whether we have one, or are losing the one we’ve got.” He finds a microcosm in the World Trade Center rebuilding effort, “arguably the greatest political and bureaucratic fiasco in the history of the world.” More»

Remains continue to be found and identified, even 6 years later

(NEWSER) - Many of those affected by the 9/11 attacks are still burying loved ones as remains are found and slowly identified, making closure hard to achieve, the Boston Globe reports. "How many times are you going to bury somebody?" asks the widow of a man killed in the World Trade Center. Others have the opposite problem, struggling to accept death without remains. More»