9/11: Press For Truth

"They lied, they all lied." --Patty Casazza (one of the "Jersey Girls")

"We don't know the whole story, not at all" -- Lorie Van Auken (one of the "Jersey Girls")

"9/11 was the biggest 'don't ask-don't tell" --Sally Regenhard, lost Firefighter son.

"Press for Truth" is an astonishing portrayal of the lengths our public servants will go to protect themselves from any accountability. --Scott Horton, Antiwar.com

Although independent investigations began within weeks of both Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assassination, the same was not true of the attacks of September 11th. Most are unaware that formation of the 9/11 Commission was strongly opposed by many in Washington, including the Bush administration. It was only due to pressure from the 9/11 families, led by a particular twelve calling themselves the Family Steering Committee, that, fourteen months after the attacks, the first hearing finally began. These twelve remained active in monitoring the Commission’s investigation, providing a list of hundreds of specific, well-researched questions to the Commissioners. In the end, the 9/11 Commission Final Report failed to answer seventy percent of them.

In 9/11 PRESS FOR TRUTH, five of the most prominent members of the Family Steering Committee, including interviews with three of the "Jersey Girls," tell their story for the first time, providing the most powerful argument yet for why 9/11 still needs investigation. Adapting Paul Thompson's definitive Complete 9/11 Timeline (published by Harper-Collins as The Terror Timeline), the filmmakers stitch together rare, overlooked news clips, buried stories, and government press conferences, revealing a pattern of official lies, deception, and spin.
The political becomes personal in 9/11: Press for Truth, which examines the World Trade Center attacks from the perspective of the families who lost loved ones. Written and directed by Ray Nowosielski, the documentary draws partly from Paul Thompson’s website-turned-book, The Terror Timeline, and much of the commentary comes from Lorie Van Auken, Patty Casazza, and Mindy Kleinberg, three of the "Jersey Girls." Along with Kristen Breitweiser, the 9/11 widows have become activists in its wake. As Casazza says, "We all had questions...and wanted answers." The primary one was: How could this happen? Interestingly, two of the women voted for Bush. Casazza adds, "Even though he should have been our biggest advocate, he turned into one of our biggest adversaries." Together with eight other spouses, parents, etc., they form the Family Steering Committee and lobby for an independent commission, which comes to pass, but fails to deliver the goods. The widows find more useful information in Thompson's timeline, which he compiled using material in the public domain (Thompson also appears in the film). The style of 9/11: Press for Truth couldn't be more conventional--talking heads, television footage, omniscient narrator, relentless score--but the personal approach makes it a valuable addition to the rapidly-growing list of 9/11 documentaries. The point is, to quote Patti Smith, "people have the power"--people like the Jersey Girls, Paul Thompson, and all the other ordinary citizens who have kept pressure on our elected officials and the news media to dig deeper and work harder. --Kathleen C. Fennessy