by Lynn M. Castrianno Galante
tomflocco.com
Monday, Mar 8, 2004
Link to Original Unavailable
March 8, 2004 Lynn M. Castrianno Galante Omaha, NE 68164
Dear Speaker Hastert,
I am writing to you as a September 11th family member. On that dreadful day I lost my younger brother, Leonard Castrianno. He worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the North Tower. Leonard was 30-years old. Since that day I have been trying to find answers of what went wrong that our country was left so totally unprepared for an attack of this magnitude.
I have spent many hours trying to access the 911 phone calls and have been stymied in my efforts; I requested OSHA to investigate the fire safety precautions in the World Trade Center and have been stymied. I went to Washington, DC and met with many Senators to ask them to create a September 11th independent commission. I met with my Senators, Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson, and asked for their support in creating this commission. I must say I am frustrated.
The Columbia space shuttle commission was created in less than 24-hours after that disaster and is better funded than the September 11th independent commission. That commission enjoyed unfettered access to all relevant data sources and actually has working hypotheses as to what happened. Yet, here we have the greatest terrorist attack occurring on our soil and we are limping along. Throughout the process there has been foot dragging and reluctance to provide the entire commission with access to relevant information. This is unacceptable.
The Bush administration has done everything in its power to appear cooperative yet at the same time not provide much information to this commission. When it has allowed reluctant access to fairly sensitive information the Bush administration has only allowed a subset of the commission to view it and has banned these commissioners from taking notes.
The limitations placed on the committee speak to Mr. Bush’s commitment to finding the truth. I urge you to speak out on behalf of the more than 3,000 families affected by this tragedy and ask the Bush administration to answer the questions put forth by the September 11th Family Steering Committee. I also urge you to ask Mr. Bush why he refuses to provide this commission with no more than one hour of his time? One hour! He spends more time than that attending fundraisers. Attached to this letter are the questions family members are asking Mr. Bush to answer.
Thank you for your consideration.
Lynn Castrianno Galante, Ph.D., M.L.S.