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Honestly and Truthfully Report What Happened

Jack Lynch, Coalition of 9/11 Families

The position of the Coalition of 9/11 Families is that we consider the bathtub area sacred and hallowed ground. Our reason for this is because we know from the Global Positioning System maps of the Fire Department that the majority of those who died, died within twenty seconds when each tower came down. They came down in approximately ten seconds each. And at that time, with the tremendous energy that was released, human beings were destroyed. Their bodies were disintegrated, and they were scattered over a wide area. But the area where their souls left their bodies was the bathtub area. That's sacred and inviolate.

Abraham Lincoln understood that well when he made his address at the Gettysburg Address. He said, "the men who died here, their blood consecrated this ground." The people that died on 9/11 in the greatest loss of life in American history at its darkest hour, in the shortest time frame ever, twenty seconds - we must honor them. If we don't, future generations will castigate us as being greedy, materialistic and selfish.

I want to congratulate the people that put together this program, because it is a good first step. It is a draft. I'm a little disappointed that the word "terrorist" does not appear in the 9/11 wording [within the memorial program elements]. It is referred to in the first attack in 1993. The attack on both occasions was by terrorists who hate us. We must remember that. I would like the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to go back and honestly and truthfully record what happened on 9/11.

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