your thoughts on rumsfeld's 9-11 'souvenir'

[mopaul]

it's being reported that rumsfeld, and other top administration officials, have physical momentos of the world trade center disaster.
rummy has on his desk a chunk of one of the jetliners, for who knows, a paperweight? is this grisly or innocent? it's certainly a strange souvenir to have on one's desk, a grim reminder not only of the 3000 who perished here, but the uncountable thousands of people in afghanistan and iraq who had nothing to do with 9-11 who also perished. is it somehow blasphemous, to want a 'piece of history', or is it a harmless token of that awful day?

[brainshrub]

1. This could be an urban myth.

[liberal72]

3. I saw CNN report this yesterday

so I doubt if it is an urban myth.

[Beetwasher]

Nope

It's part of an investigative report that was just released...

[efhmc]

5. Nope do the search but it was reported by the FBI in a Yahoo

article yesterday and was also on lbn on DU. I think this is the lowest of the low and we are talking about some already pretty low people here.

[NJCher]

2. It was the lead story on our news last night

Given Rumsfeld's proclivity for killing, I hardly think it's a harmless token.


Cher

[Vickers]

4. Turn it around: Hillary has a piece of the WTC on her desk

Now how do you think folks would be looking at this?

I mean c'mon, she's the Senator from NY, so she has an interest in this, to remind her, etc.

He is one grisly freak.

[efhmc]

7. The really, really BIG difference here is that she didn't and she doesn't.

An interest in this? What kind of sick "interest" would that be exactly?

[nostamj]

8. "to remind her" ???

gee, the SKYLINE does that for me EVERY day... :shrug:

[efhmc]

11. Why would anyone who is a thinking, feeling person ever need a reminder

of this horrible event? (Meant to reply to #4. Sorry.)

[displacedtexan]

6. A piece of rubble (from a building) is a souvenir...

A piece of one of the planes is 'evidence' from a crime scene. Isn't that illegal?

I have a piece of cement from the Berlin Wall (1969), but I would probably be rotting in jail if I bragged about having a piece of one of the 9/11 planes on my desk.

[chelsea0011]

15. Of course it's illegal, but we are talking about one crooked group here

Remember when pieces of the WTC appeared the day after on EBay to bid on? There was disgust and repulsion and EBay dropped them immediately.

When the Columbia came down authorities said that any piece found should be turned over or face prosecution.

But this is the most Crooked of administrations that get away with anything. And the thought that this just sits on his desk is repulsive.

[mopaul]

9. .....here's a portion, from AP

WASHINGTON(AP) The removal of souvenir debris from the scenes of the Sept. 11 attacks reached the highest levels of government, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and FBI Director Robert Mueller's chief of anti-terrorism, a Justice Department investigation has found.

The practice was so widespread inside the FBI that it even forced prosecutors in Minnesota to drop plans to prosecute a company that had taken a fire truck door from the World Trade Center, according to a still-confidential report obtained by The Associated Press.

The report said the Justice Department inspector general confirmed that Rumsfeld "has a piece of the airplane that flew into the Pentagon" inside his Defense Department office.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Friday night that Rumsfeld has a shard of metal from the jetliner that struck the Pentagon on a table in his office and shows it to people as a reminder of the tragedy Pentagon workers shared on Sept. 11, 2001.

"He doesn't consider it his own," Di Rita said. "We are mindful of the fact that if somebody has an evidentiary requirement to have this shard of metal, we will provide it to them."

[VolcanoJen]

18. That is positively repulsive.

I can only visualize Rummy, leading lackeys and foreign military types through his palatial office, smugly pointing to his own 9/11 souvenir, a twisted remnant of AA Flight 77, which served as the final resting place of 64 souls.

Furthermore, this Flight 77, a chunk of which apparently sits proudly on the desk of the United States Secretary of Defense, served as a missile which killed 124 Pentagon workers. 76 more were injured, and there is no telling how many more will never be the people they were before the chunk of metal now sitting on Donald Rumsfeld's desk roared its horrific way into their lives.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he views it as nothing more than a trinket.

on edit: emotional typo

[efhmc]

10. Here is the link.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040313/ap_on_go_ca_st_is.

[louis-t]

12. Thank you for asking....

First of all, for anyone to insinuate that any American who was alive will ever forget 9/11 is an insult (Rummy uses this as an excuse for having this 'souvenir', says he needs it to shove in people's faces in case they forget.)He should be treated like anyone else who steals or is in possession of stolen property. A local Rebublican nitwit actually wrote to the Detroit News saying Rummy somehow 'earned' this 'souvenir'. Earned it how? Once again, this admin thinks rules don't apply to Repubs.

[neebob]

13. Is it a piece of the one that hit the Pentagon?

Considering he was there that day, it doesn't seem unusual. But if it's a piece of one of the other planes, then I have to ask some questions.

[chelsea0011]

16. Yes

[Bok_Tukalo]

14. Playing Devil's advocate (literally)

I could see keeping a real and tangible reminder of arguably the worst attack on the US since Pearl if you were the Secretary of Defense. Such a powerful and immediate artifact would go a long way to focus your attention on the job you are entrusted with; the defense of America. Have other civilian leadership kept similair objects in the past?

[Not Me]

19. The problem is...

just recently, rank-and-file FBI agents were reprimanded when it came to light that they had taken 'souvenirs'. I can just imagine one of these pissed off agents saying, "WTF, I get my ass slapped, and Rumsy goes unnoticed." I would bet the tip off came from a disgruntled agent.

(Btw, the FBI instructed a group of agents there to collect the pieces for the higher-ups.)

Once again, two Americas.

[efhmc]

20. Still not buying it ,since I think Rummy does not care a whit about

the victims or why or how 9/11 happened. It is part of his little boy ego collection and reminds him daily of how to use fear to keep Americans in repuke hands through fear and intimidation.

[Cat Atomic]

17. Honestly? It doesn't bother me.

What I DO find offensive are the patches that FBI workers cut from the sleeves of WTC security victims. They saved the fucking things.

I don't see how that could be anything but a cruel joke.

[Beetwasher]

21. I Probably Could Have Taken the Flaming Chunk That Almost Went

Through my head, but it was probably too hot at the time and honestly, it didn't even occur to me...

Sick fuck...