"Jersey girls" want quick action on report

By Wayne Parry
The Associated Press

JOHN MUNSON / AP Kristen Breitweiser, left, and Lorie Van Auken read the 9/11 report Thursday. Both their husbands died in the trade-center attacks.

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Known collectively as "The Jersey Girls," four widows of men killed in the Sept. 11 attacks were instrumental in pressing for public investigations and hearings into the attacks.

The women now say that many recommendations of the final report released Thursday need to be implemented as soon as possible.

"The clock is ticking," said Kristen Breitweiser of Middletown. "It would be such a travesty if we have another attack and we can't say on that day, 'At least we put this in place and it saved lives.' "

Breitweiser, whose husband, Ronald, died in the World Trade Center attacks, was a key figure in pushing for creation of the Sept. 11 commission in 2002 despite initial resistance from the Bush administration.

She and three other widows — Lorie Van Auken and Mindy Kleinberg, both of East Brunswick, and Patty Casazza of Colts Neck — were among the most determined and vocal relatives of the nearly 700 New Jersey residents who died in the terror attacks.

They gave interviews to reporters from around the world, went on television to push for a full, public accounting of what happened that day, and in the months and years leading up to it — demanding answers when few were forthcoming.

While feeling some sense of accomplishment with the release of the final report, the four insist they have more work to do.

"We're not done yet," said Van Auken, whose husband, Kenneth, died in the trade center.

"Our mission was to get the country safer. Until the recommendations are put in place, I can't say we accomplished anything. We can't rest yet."

Kleinberg said she was heartened by the contents of the report, but dismayed by comments she heard from members of Congress on how they were eager to work on it — in September. She called on Congress to cancel its summer recess and work immediately on implementing the report's recommendations.
 
"Before Sept. 11, we had a high-threat period that summer," said Kleinberg, whose husband, Alan, was killed in the trade-center collapse. "George Tenet went on vacation. The president went on vacation. This feels similar. Where is their sense of urgency? What do we say to the next victims? 'Sorry, we got busy?' "

Van Auken said there were "hundreds of times" when she felt so frustrated she felt like giving up on the hope of receiving a public accounting of the government's handling of Sept. 11. But she and the others pressed on, and they now want political leaders to act with dispatch to fix things.

"We feel it's really important that our congressmen and the president get behind making these recommendations law," she said. "Despite the fact that there's a presidential election, politics can't trump national security."

Breitweiser also said politics cannot be permitted to delay needed reforms, such as better intelligence sharing, foreign-policy reforms, better preparedness among local first-responders, and better airline security.

"You know what, it's three years after 9/11," she said. "We've waited long enough. We've been vulnerable long enough. I don't know what more it's going to take. I want our elected officials to feel the same sense of urgency that we do."