All public statements had to be cleared by the White House, and an EPA investigation says that due to White House influence, “reassuring statements were added and cautionary statements deleted” regarding NYC’s air quality after the WTC collapse.
A senior advisor justifies this in the name of “national security”. I suggest the rationale would be something like this, “If large numbers of people move out of Manhattan, and workers won’t go in to the cleanup zones, all because they’re woried about ongoing health risks, the terrorists will have won. We have to demonstrate our power in responding to this crisis, but domestically and internationally, and we can’t do that if we just leave the place an open sore. So, fuck the potential health risks, and get people back in there cleaning up and looking brave.”
Maybe somebody can come up with a more plausible connection to national security resulting in false assurances. I hope so, because the one I’ve articulated is IMHO insufficient justification for lying to your own population.
It is hard to think of many instances when an administration lying to the American public is justified.
Certainly this is not one of those occaisions. The EPA has the responsibility to warn citizens of potentially toxic environmental situations. Perhaps some EPA officials, maybe even Whitman herself (she was boss then, right?) wanted to sound the appropriate public warning, perhaps not. One thing is almost certain-- the White House controls the critical info that the EPA (and other departments and agencies) release to the public.
So it is almost certain that the Bush administration lied about and/or covered up important public safety information.
Anyone surprised by this? Even you wing-nuts? Surely you are the least surprised of all.
Will it ever end? (We can only hope so… and I include you Republicans in that ‘we’ too–it’s time to start thinking about who will challenge the Resident in the 2004 Republican primaries. May I suggest a man with integrity and a brain? How about Senator McCain? (Again?)) (the silly rhyme would be kinda funny if it weren’t for the utterly f*ked position our nation is in right now.)
Yes, it’s certainly just another blatant falsehood to add to the current administration’s faboo resume. I’ve personally ceased being surprised by anything that Baby and his cohorts work up . . . hell, it was obvious at the time that they were lying about the air quality.
Notice that the only folks in the administration with even a speck of respectability, intelligence, or concern about our national welfare are dropping out like flies? Whitman? Fleischer? Colin Powell won’t even be there after this term, if (God forbid) Baby wins another election.
Don’t you understand? With the Bush administration everything is a matter of national security. And you’re not allowed to question them either, because that would show that you’re unamerican.
The full report of the Inspector General’s office: EPA’s Response to the World Trade Center Collapse (PDF 3.39MB) is available at this page.
Excerpt:
The White House Council on Environmental Quality is described here.
I wonder if Bush is planning a reunion meeting with the FDNY heroes during the republican convention next september ? It could get pretty exciting.
I don’t know guys I am not as gung ho to condem Bush
He probabily is covering his own ass but nontheless this quote has to count for something.
Show me that there are increased respiratory problems, increased lung cancer etc. and a cover up of unsafe air by the Bush administration and then I will join in.
Well, that paragon of journalistic integrity, Good Houskeeping, came out with this article in early August: Bad Health At World Trade Center It’s rather anecdotal, but I expect that if there are widespread problems, we’ll be hearing more about them in the coming weeks.
There would have been no reason to flee the city, but it would have been nice to know how important it was to use masks and air filtration to protect ourselves.
Of course, my highest exposure to this material took place only on 9/11 itself: I wasn’t able to come back to my apartment the area for almost two weeks. Luckily, I did make a “mask” out of cut up strips of a wet T-shirt, so hopefully I didn’t get a full dose. Still, I’m watching this issue with interest. I definately had unusual respiratory function for a few months afterwards, though it went away eventually. We were repeatedly assured that only people with asthma or other conditions should be concerned.
It wouldn’t seem necessary to soften a report that contained no warnings about unhealthy air quality. There is the possibility that EPA people were being overly cautious in warning people about the air quality and some “toning down” was warrented. However, to simply telling EPA to include reassurances sounds high-handed and deceptive.
If I were the President’s staff involved I would see to it that all copies of EPS’s original report were destroyed. We’ll probably have to wait for a “leaked” and surruptitious copy which will be tut-tutted to death by the White House.