Sep. 15, 2004. 01:00 AM
Widows back Kerry after Bush rebuffs 9/11 probe
President stalled inquiry, they say `Jersey Girls'
condemn Iraq war
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON—Five women whose husbands died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Centre threw their support behind John Kerry yesterday, saying the Democratic presidential challenger would keep America safer by refocusing U.S. efforts to defeat Al Qaeda.
The quintet, who were joined by a survivor of the attack on the Pentagon, said they had been rebuffed by President George W. Bush in every attempt to have a proper investigation into their husbands' deaths and said it sullied the memory of their loved ones to have the war in Iraq linked to the attacks.
"After watching the Republican convention in New York, I'm scared," said Kristen Breitweiser of Middletown, N.J., whose husband Ron perished more than three years ago.
"I'm scared that my daughter, who is five years old, is being handed a tomorrow that will be a war for a lifetime.
"My husband was killed on 9/11. I do not want to lose my daughter 18 years from now when she is living or working in a big city and it is payback for our actions in Iraq.
"I'm scared about what could happen over the next four years."
Security and remembrances of Sept. 11 were central to the Republican convention, held a mere six kilometres from New York's Ground Zero, and homeland security has become the cornerstone of Bush's re-election bid.
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New York Governor George Pataki and a litany of other speakers told Republican delegates that Americans could remain safe under a second Bush term while Kerry would offer a "mushy" response to terrorists that would make the country more vulnerable.
But the women who came forward yesterday said they had to fight to convince the Bush administration to agree to the 9/11 Commission, then fought to convince him to properly finance it, then fought him to give it enough time to do his work.
They say the war in Iraq has become a recruitment tool for terrorists bent on striking the U.S. again and has allowed Osama bin Laden and his followers to regroup.
"We spent 14 months begging for a commission to be established and we found it was President Bush who thwarted our efforts at every turn," said Patty Casazza of Colts Neck, N.J.
Lorie Van Auken of East Brunswick, N.J., said the Bush administration "took its eye off the ball" by invading Iraq before its work was done in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda training camps were still operating.
"He (Bush) did not have the moral high ground to go into Iraq," she said.
Four of the women, Breitweiser, Casazza, Van Auken and Mindy Kleinberg of East Brunswick, N.J., have become known as the "Jersey Girls," widows whose fight for justice in memory of their husbands has politicized them.
They were joined by April Gallop of Woodbridge, Va., who survived the Pentagon attack and Monica Gabrielle of West Haven, Conn., who also lost her husband in the attack.
The Kerry endorsement, and pledge to work on the Democrat's campaign, was the most overt step onto the political stage for the Jersey Girls.
At least two of the six revealed yesterday they had voted for Bush in 2000 but they say this is not a partisan issue.
"If Bush was a Democrat, I would vote for the other party," Gabrielle said.
Kerry welcomed the endorsement and saluted them for their fight to establish the 9/11 Commission.
"Their endorsement sends a clear signal that much more needs to be done to make America safe and to fight a more effective war on terror," Kerry said in a statement. "As president, I will honour their support by making America safer, stronger and more secure."
The Bush campaign did not immediately return a call seeking comment. But one of three other women who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, and who appeared at the Republican convention, told Associated Press she would be willing to campaign for Bush. "Even here in New York, the majority of the families feel that Bush is much stronger on national security," Debra Burlingame, whose brother piloted the flight that crashed into the Pentagon, told Associated Press.
At the convention, Burlingame, Tara Stackpole and Deena Burnett — who both lost husbands — spoke to delegates on a darkstage illuminated by the date of the attack.
Additional articles by Tim Harper
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