The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
Rumsfeld, FBI official kept souvenirs from 9/11 sites
By John Solomon, Associated Press
Pioneer Press
© Saturday, March 13, 2004
The Justice Department investigation that
criticized FBI agents for taking souvenirs from the World
Trade Center site also found that Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and a high-ranking FBI official kept items from
the Sept. 11, 2001, attack scenes.
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department investigation that criticized
FBI agents for taking souvenirs from the World Trade Center site
also found that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and a high-ranking
FBI official kept items from the Sept. 11, 2001, attack scenes.
The final investigatory report said the Justice Department
inspector general confirmed Rumsfeld "has a piece of the airplane
that flew into the Pentagon."
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report Friday.
Pentagon spokesman Law-rence 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, adding the piece
will be left behind with the Pentagon. "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."
The Justice Department investigation also collected testimony that
Pasquale D'Amuro, FBI Director Robert Mueller's executive assistant
director for terrorism until last summer, asked a supervisory
agent to "obtain a half dozen items from the WTC debris so the
items could be given to dignitaries."
Six items that weren't evidence were gathered and sent to D'Amuro,
the report said.
D'Amuro, now the head of the FBI's New York office, said "he asked
for a piece of the building as a memento" and that he was aware
that agents had taken such items from other terrorist crime scenes
over the years.
He said he got a piece of the building in June 2003 but denied
asking for items for dignitaries. D'Amuro left the following month
from FBI headquarters as Mueller's top terrorism official to become
an assistant director in charge of the New York office.
Joe Valiquette, a spokesman for the New York FBI office, declined
to comment Friday.
Surviving family members were surprised by the news.
"Unbelievable," said William Doyle, whose son died in the World
Trade Center.
A New York woman suing local authorities for alleged negligence
in the Sept. 11 attacks said any souvenir-taking by officials was
part of a larger failure to keep enough items, like steel beams,
as evidence.
"Everybody has things that they probably should not have from
the World Trade Center site," said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter
son died in the towers. "I'm sure there's probably all kinds of
people that have all kinds of artifacts."
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