Meghan Hughes (202) 224-5972 or Kevin Bishop (864) 250-1417

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today released a letter from 150 family members of the 9/11 attacks in support of the Graham Amendment.

The Graham Amendment would prohibit the Obama Administration from trying anyone accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks on America in federal district court (Article III Courts). Graham supports the use of military commissions instead.

"This is a very powerful statement of support," said Graham. "I truly appreciate these family members making their voices heard during this important debate."

The Graham Amendment is cosponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman, Jim Webb, and John McCain. A vote on the amendment is expected later today.

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The text of the letter and signatories are below.

November 5, 2009

United States Senate
The U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C.

Dear Senators:

On September 11, 2001, the entire world watched as 19 men hijacked four commercial airliners, attacking passengers and killing crew members, and then turned the fully-fueled planes into missiles, flying them into the World Trade Center twin towers, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 3,000 of our fellow human beings died in two hours. The nation's commercial aviation system ground to a halt. Lower Manhattan was turned into a war zone, shutting down the New York Stock Exchange for days and causing tens of thousands of residents and workers to be displaced. In nine months, an estimated 50,000 rescue and recovery workers willingly exposed themselves to toxic conditions to dig out the ravaged remains of their fellow citizens buried in 1.8 million tons of twisted steel and concrete.

The American people were rightly outraged by this act of war. Whether the cause was retribution or simple recognition of our common humanity, the words "Never Forget" were invoked in tearful or angry rectitude, defiantly written in the dust of Ground Zero or humbly penned on makeshift memorials erected all across the land. The country was united in its determination that these acts should not go unmarked and unpunished.

Eight long years have passed since that dark and terrible day. Sadly, some have forgotten the promises we made to those whose lives were taken in such a cruel and vicious manner.

We have not forgotten. We are the husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and other family members of the victims of these depraved and barbaric attacks, and we feel a profound obligation to ensure that justice is done on their behalf. It is incomprehensible to us that members of the United States Congress would propose that the same men who today refer to the murder of our loved ones as a "blessed day" and who targeted the United States Capitol for the same kind of destruction that was wrought in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania, should be the beneficiaries of a social compact of which they are not a part, do not recognize, and which they seek to destroy: the United States Constitution.

We adamantly oppose prosecuting the 9/11 conspirators in Article III courts, which would provide them with the very rights that may make it possible for them to escape the justice which they so richly deserve. We believe that military commissions, which have a long and honorable history in this country dating back to the Revolutionary War, are the appropriate legal forum for the individuals who declared war on America. With utter disdain for all norms of decency and humanity, and in defiance of the laws of warfare accepted by all civilized nations, these individuals targeted tens of thousands of civilian non-combatants, brutally killing 3,000 men, women and children, injuring thousands more, and terrorizing millions.

We support Senate Amendment 2669 (pursuant to H.R. 2847, the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act of 2010), "prohibiting the use of funds for the prosecution in Article III courts of the United States of individuals involved in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks." We urge its passage by all those members of the United States Senate who stood on the senate floor eight years ago and declared that the perpetrators of these attacks would answer to the American people. The American people will not understand why those same senators now vote to allow our cherished federal courts to be manipulated and used as a stage by the "mastermind of 9/11" and his co-conspirators to condemn this nation and rally their fellow terrorists the world over. As one New York City police detective, who lost 60 fellow officers on 9/11, told members of the Department of Justice's Detainee Policy Task Force at a meeting last June, "You people are out of touch. You need to hear the locker room conversations of the people who patrol your streets and fight your wars."

The President of the United States has stated that military commissions, promulgated by congressional legislation and recently reformed with even greater protections for defendants, are a legal and appropriate forum to try individuals captured pursuant the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force Act, passed by Congress in response to the attack on America. Nevertheless, on May 21, 2009, President Obama announced a new policy that Al-Qaeda terrorists should be tried in Article III courts "whenever feasible."

We strongly object to the President creating a two-tier system of justice for terrorists in which those responsible for the death of thousands on 9/11 will be treated as common criminals and afforded the kind of platinum due process accorded American citizens, yet members of Al Qaeda who aspire to kill Americans but who do not yet have blood on their hands, will be treated as war criminals. The President offers no explanation or justification for this contradiction, even as he readily acknowledges that the 9/11 conspirators, now designated "unprivileged enemy belligerents," are appropriately accused of war crimes. We believe that this two-tier system, in which war criminals receive more due process protections than would-be war criminals, will be mocked and rejected in the court of world opinion as an ill-conceived contrivance aimed, not at justice, but at the appearance moral authority.

The public has a right to know that prosecuting the 9/11 conspirators in federal courts will result in a plethora of legal and procedural problems that will severely limit or even jeopardize the successful prosecution of their cases. Ordinary criminal trials do not allow for the exigencies associated with combatants captured in war, in which evidence is not collected with CSI-type chain-of-custody standards. None of the 9/11 conspirators were given the Miranda warnings mandated in Article III courts. Prosecutors contend that the lengthy, self-incriminating tutorials Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others gave to CIA interrogators about 9/11 and other terrorist operations--called "pivotal for the war against Al-Qaeda" in a recently released, declassified 2005 CIA report--may be excluded in federal trials. Further, unlike military commissions, all of the 9/11 cases will be vulnerable in federal court to defense motions that their prosecutions violate the Speedy Trial Act. Indeed, the judge presiding in the case of Ahmed Ghailani, accused of participating in the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in Kenya, killing 212 people, has asked for that issue to be briefed by the defense. Ghailani was indicted in 1998, captured in Pakistan in 2004, and held at Guantanamo Bay until 2009.

Additionally, federal rules risk that classified evidence protected in military commissions would be exposed in criminal trials, revealing intelligence sources and methods and compromising foreign partners, who will be unwilling to join with the United States in future secret or covert operations if doing so will risk exposure in the dangerous and hostile communities where they operate. This poses a clear and present danger to the public. The safety and security of the American people is the President's and Congress's highest duty.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "the challenges of terrorism trials are overwhelming." Mr. Mukasey, formerly a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, presided over the multi-defendant terrorism prosecution of Sheikh Omar Abel Rahman, the cell that attacked the World Trade Center in 1993 and conspired to attack other New York landmarks. In addition to the evidentiary problems cited above, he expressed concern about courthouse and jail facility security, the need for anonymous jurors to be escorted under armed guard, the enormous costs associated with the use of U.S. marshals necessarily deployed from other jurisdictions, and the danger to the community which, he says, will become a target for homegrown terrorist sympathizers or embedded Al Qaeda cells.

Finally, there is the sickening prospect of men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed being brought to the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, or the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, just a few blocks away from the scene of carnage eight years ago, being given a Constitutionally mandated platform upon which he can mock his victims, exult in the suffering of their families, condemn the judge and his own lawyers, and rally his followers to continue jihad against the men and women of the U.S. military, fighting and dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan on behalf of us all.

There is no guarantee that Mr. Mohammed and his co-conspirators will plead guilty, as in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, whose prosecution nevertheless took four years, and who is currently attempting to recant that plea. Their attorneys will be given wide latitude to mount a defense that turns the trial into a shameful circus aimed at vilifying agents of the CIA for alleged acts of "torture," casting the American government and our valiant military as a force of evil instead of a force for good in places of the Muslim world where Al Qaeda and the Taliban are waging a brutal war against them and the local populations. For the families of those who died on September 11, the most obscene aspect of giving Constitutional protections to those who planned the attacks with the intent of inflicting maximum terror on their victims in the last moments of their lives will be the opportunities this affords defense lawyers to cast their clients as victims.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators are asking to plead guilty, now, before a duly-constituted military commission. We respectfully ask members of Congress, why don't we let them?

Respectfully submitted,

Margit Kastel-Arias
Wife of Adam P. Arias, 37, Eurobrokers, Two WTC, 84th Fl

Donald C. Arias, Lt Col, USAF (ret)
Brother of Adam P. Arias

Thomas V. Arias
Brother of Adam P. Arias

Andrew D. Arias
Brother of Adam P. Arias

Lorraine Beliveau
Sister of Adam P. Arias

Lauren Lucchini
Sister of Adam P. Arias

Karen A. Arias
Sister-in-law of Adam P. Arias

Nicholas C. Arias
Nephew of Adam P. Arias

Maureen Basnicki
Wife Ken Basnicki, 48, Canadian citizen, One WTC, 106 Fl.

Emily Schenkel
Goddaughter of Lorraine Bay, 58, Flight Attendant, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Edwin Root
Cousin of Lorraine Bay

Margaret Beamer
Mother of Todd Beamer, 33, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

David Beamer
Father of Todd Beamer

Michele Beamer Sorensen
Sister of Todd Beamer

Bonnie Beamer
Aunt of Todd Beamer
 
Richard Young
Uncle of Todd Beamer

Alice Hoagland
Mother of Mark Bingham, 31, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Herbert K. Hoglan
Grandfather of Mark Bingham

D. Linden Hoagland
Uncle of Mark Bingham

Lee N. Hoglan
Uncle of Mark Bingham

Vaughn V. Hoglan
Uncle of Mark Bingham

Candyce S. Hoglan
Aunt of Mark Bingham

Maureen Bosco
Mother of Richard E. Bosco, 34, Citibank, One WTC, 105, Fl.

James Boyle
Father of Firefighter Michael Boyle, 37, Engine 33, WTC.

Elizabeth M. Berry
Sister of Captain William F. Burke, Jr., 46, Engine 21, WTC

Christopher E. Burke
Brother of Captain William F. Burke, Jr.

Michael T. Burke
Brother of Captain William F. Burke, Jr.

James M. Burke
Brother of Captain William F. Burke, Jr.

Janet M. Roy
Sister of Captain William F. Burke, Jr.

Bradley Burlingame
Brother of Captain Charles F. Burlingame, III, 51, pilot, American Flt. 77, Pentagon

Diane McDavitt
Sister-in-law of Captain Charles F. Burlingame, III

Mark and Anine Burlingame
Brother and Sister-in-law of Captain Charles F. Burlingame, III

Debra Burlingame
Sister of Captain Charles F. Burlingame, III

Robert Fraina
Brother-in-law of Captain Charles F. Burlingame, III

Beverly Burnett
Mother of Thomas E. Burnett, 38, Jr., passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Thomas E. Burnett, Sr.
Father of Thomas E. Burnett

Barbara Catuzzi
Mother of Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas, 38, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Larry Catuzzi
Father of Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas

Dara Catuzzi Near
Sister of Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas

Jordan Cayne
Father of Jason David Cayne, Cantor Fitzgerald, 32, One WTC, 104 Fl.

Laura Brough
Daughter of Georgine Rose Corrigan, 55, passenger, United Fl. 93, Shanksville

Patricia Schiavo
Mother-in-law of Jack L. D'Ambrosi, Jr. Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 103 Fl.

Dominic Schiavo
Father-in-law of Jack L. D'Ambrosi, Jr.

Leslie Dimmling
Wife of William J. Dimmling, 47, Marsh & McLennan, One WTC

Christopher O'Connor
Cousin of Commander Patrick Dunn, 39, United States Navy, Pentagon

Jeanne Evans
Sister of FDNY Firefighter Robert Evans, 36, Engine 33, WTC

Christina Evans-Serafin
Mother of FDNY Firefighter Robert Evans

Starling Seravin
Step-father of FDNY Firefighter Robert Evans

Anne Malave
Aunt of FDNY Firefighter Robert Evans

Diane Fairben
Mother of Keith G. Fairben, 24, Paramedic, NY Presbyterian Hospital, Two WTC

Ken Fairben
Father of Keith G. Fairben

Shirley A. Felt
Mother of Edward P. Felt, 41, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Sandra V. Felt
Widow of Edward P. Felt

Gordon W. Felt
Brother of Edward P. Felt

Andrew Garcia
Son of Andrew T. Garcia, 62, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Audrey M. Olive
Daughter of Andrew T. Garcia

Kelly Garcia Arrillaga
Daughter of Andrew T. Garcia

Claudette Greene
Wife of Donald F. Greene, 52, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Bonnie Greene Le Var
Sister of Donald F. Greene

Debbie Rand
Cousin of Donald F. Greene

Kathleen Haberman
Mother of Andrea Lyn Haberman, 25, Carr Futures, One WTC, 92nd Fl.

Gordon Haberman
Father of Andrea Lyn Haberman

Julie A. Haberman
Sister of Andrea Lyn Haberman

Shirley Hemenway
Mother of ET1 Ronald J. Hemenway, 37, Chief, Naval Operations Office, Pentagon

Robert Hemenway
Father of ET1 Ronald J. Hemenway

Theresa Holland
Mother of Joseph E. Holland, III, 32, Carr Futures, One WTC, 92nd Fl.

Joseph F. Holland, Jr.
Father of Joseph F. Holland, III

Rose Lang
Mother of Rosanne P. Lang, 42, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 104th Fl., and
Grandmother of Brendan M. Lang, 30, Structuretone, Two WTC

William M. Lang
Father of Rosanne P. Lang, and
Grandfather of Brendan M. Lang

Matthew D. Lang
Brother of Rosanne P. Lang, and
Uncle of Brendan M. Lang

Katherine V. Lang
Sister-in-law of Rosanne P. Lang, and
Aunt of Brendan M. Lang

Lee Ielpi
Father of Firefighter Jonathan L. Ielpi, 29, Squad 288, WTC

Patty Sumner
Sister of FDNY Lieutenant Joseph G. Leavey, 45, Ladder 15, WTC

Tim Sumner
Brother-in-law of FDNY Joseph G. Leavey

Edith Lutnick, Executive Director, The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund
Sister of Gary Frederick Lutnick, 36, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 104th Fl.

Carole O'Hare
Daughter of Hilda Marcin, 79, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Michael McAvoy
Brother of FDNY Firefighter John K. McAvoy, 47, Ladder 3, WTC

Natalie McAvoy
Sister-in-law of Firefighter John K. McAvoy

Michael J. McAvoy
Nephew of FDNY Firefighter John K. McAvoy

Marlena Joy McAvoy
Niece of  FDNY Firefighter John K. McAvoy

Joanne Lane Segal
Friend of FDNY Firefighter John K. McAvoy

Lori Montesion
Cousin of FDNY Firefighter John K. McAvoy

Holly Miller Hedley
Wife of Special Master Officer Craig J. Miller, 29, U.S. Secret Service, WTC

Vera Murphy Trayner
Wife of Patrick Sean Murphy, 36, Marsh & McClennan, One WTC, 97th Fl.

Lori Murphy
Mother of Patrick Sean Murphy

Thomas Murphy
Father of Patrick Sean Murphy

Gary Nelson
Father of Ann N. Nelson, 30, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 104th Fl

Mary Novotny and Bill Novotny
Parents of Brian Christopher Novotny, 33, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 104th Fl.

Bill and Lorraine Novotny
Brother and Sister-in-law of Brian Christopher Novotny

Michael and Eileen Novotny
Brother and Sister-in-law of Brian Christopher Novotny

Jeanne and Steve Lawler
Sister and Brother-in-law of Brian Christopher Novotny

Daniel and Stacey Novotny
Brother and Sister-in-law of Brian Christopher Novotny

Robert Novotny
Brother of Brian Christopher Novotny

Kevin and Kelli Novotny
Brother and Sister-in-law of Brian Christopher Novotny

Dorothy O'Berg
Mother of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg, 28, Ladder 105, WTC

Dennis E. O'Berg
Father of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Elizabeth O'Berg
Grandmother of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Patricia Ferguson
Sister of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Douglas Delguidice
Uncle of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Agnes Delguidice
Aunt of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Robert O'Berg
Uncle of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Carolyn Coyne
Aunt of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Thomas Coyne
Uncle of  FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg

Christian Coyne
Cousin of FDNY Firefighter Dennis P. O'Berg
 
Geraldine Davie
Mother of Amy O'Doherty, 26, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 104th Fl.

Maura O'Doherty
Sister of Amy O'Doherty

Dolores Owens
Mother of Peter J. Owens, Jr., 42, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 104th Fl.

Peter J. Owens, Sr.
Father of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Kevin Owens
Brother of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Terence Owens
Brother of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Thomas Owens
Brother of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Elizabeth Stanton
Cousin of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Thomas Stanton
Cousin of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Kristina Stanton
Cousin of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Jenna Stanton
Cousin of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Briana Stanton
Cousin of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

Thomas Stanton, Jr.
Cousin of Peter J. Owens, Jr.

John Pasquale
Father-in-law of Andrew Stern, 40, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC 104th Fl.

Florence Pasquale
Mother-in-law of Andrew Stern

D. Hamilton Peterson
Son of  Donald A. Peterson, 66, and
Stepson of Jean H. Peterson, 55, passengers, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Firefighter Robert Reeg
Survivor, FDNY Engine 44, WTC

Brian Long
Son of Diane Simmons, 54, and George Simmons, 57, passengers, American Flt. 77, Pentagon

Melissa Price Long
Fiancee of FDNY Firefighter Brian E. Sweeney, 29, Rescue 1, Two WTC, and
Daughter-in-law of Diane and George Simmons

Freddy Helm
Brother of Diane Simmons and
Brother-in-law of George Simmons

Andrew Ficarella
Brother -in-law of Diane and George Simmons

Tricial Ficarella
Sister-in-law of Diane and George Simmons

Irene Johnson
Cousin of Diane Simmons

Marion Kminek
Mother of Mari-Rae Sopper, 35, passenger, American Flt. 77, Pentagon

Frank Kminek
Father of Mari-Rae Sopper

Shannon J. Spann 
Wife of Johnny Micheal Spann, 32, Central Intelligence Agency, killed in action November 25, 2001, Qala-i-Jangi, Afghanistan

Johnny Spann
Father of CIA Agent Johnny Micheal Spann

Gail Spann
Mother of CIA Agent Johnny Micheal Spann

Alison Spann
Daughter of CIA Agent Johnny Micheal Spann

Emily Spann
Daughter of CIA Agent Johnny Micheal Spann

Tanya Spann Ingram
Sister of CIA Agent Johnny Micheal Spann

Tammy Spann Dunavant
Sister of CIA Agent Johnny Micheal Spann

Mary Ann Strada
Mother of Thomas S. Strada, 41, Cantor Fitzgerald, One WTC, 104th Fl.

Ernest Strada
Father of Thomas S. Strada

Mary Ann Sweeney
Mother of FDNY Firefighter Brian E. Sweeney, 29, Rescue 1, Two WTC

Jan Vigiano
Mother of FDNY Firefighter John Vigiano, 36, Ladder 132, WTC, and
NYPD Detective Joseph Vigiano, 34, Emergency Service Unit 2,WTC

John T. Vigiano
Father of FDNY Firefighter John Vigiano, and
NYPD Detective Joseph Vigiano

Kevin Jacobs
Brother of Deborah Jacobs Welsh, Flight Attendant, 49, United Flt. 93, Shanksville

Mary Louise White
Mother of Honor Elizabeth Wainio, 27, passenger, United Flt. 93, Shanksville