December 18-24, 2003

pretzel logic

Saddam on the Stand

by Howard Altman

Ellen Mariani is not interested in spin. She does not care what George Bush thinks about the capture of Saddam Hussein. She does not care what Howard Dean or his Democratic rivals think.

The 65-year-old Derry, N.H., widow has her own very special interest in the deposed despot.

On Sept. 11, 2001, she and her husband, Louis, an employee of the HP Hood dairy company, were flying in separate planes to her daughter’s wedding. At 9:03 a.m., the Boeing 767 he was on, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everybody on board and, eventually, thousands more in the doomed building.

Mariani doesn’t care that Bush is euphoric, Dean is defiant and the rest of the Dems are compliant.

Mariani, who believes George Bush knows more than he is telling about 9/11, is suing the president in a federal civil RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) action, filed at the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, to learn what Bush knew when. With news of Hussein’s capture, she is now seeking Hussein’s deposition. Mariani believes that Hussein knows something about how much advance notice Bush had about the attacks that killed her husband.

"I think Saddam would know a lot," says Mariani, referring to the Bush clan’s historic ties to Hussein, which includes then-Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush (and then-U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Donald Rumsfeld) helping Iraq in its fight against Iran.

Philip J. Berg, Mariani’s lawyer and a former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate, is even more emphatic in his reasons to seek Hussein’s deposition.

"In our complaint, we cited 100 reasons the administration knew of the events of 9/11 before 9/11," says Berg. "Our position is that they knew about this and didn’t take steps to warn other people."

Those 100 reasons cited in Mariani’s amended complaint, filed late last month, offer a damning circumstantial case -- including reports of dozens of warnings from intelligence agencies around the world -- that U.S. officials knew a 9/11-type attack was imminent yet failed to act.

Those reports include warnings from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, as well as Russian and Israeli intelligence, in the beginning of September 2001. Berg also cites a July 26, 2001, CBS News report that Attorney General John Ashcroft was no longer flying commercial aircraft due to a "threat assessment" issued by the FBI.

In addition to asking why the Bush administration failed to act before the attacks, Berg says he wants to know why U.S. warplanes failed to intercept the clearly hijacked planes before they hit the towers and the Pentagon. He also believes that at deposition, Hussein might be able to shed some light on the long-standing friendship between the Bush family and the family of Osama bin Laden.

"Plaintiff believes that defendant GWB [George Bush] both grossly and criminally failed to carry out his duties as President and Commander-in-Chief and should be held accountable to her and the American People as to what he knew prior to the '911’ attacks," states his complaint.

How seriously is the White House taking Mariani’s lawsuit?

Seriously enough to have filed a motion to dismiss, which will be heard before Federal District Court Judge Eduardo Robreno in Philadelphia on Jan. 14.

What does the White House think about Saddam Hussein sitting for a deposition?

Hard to say. A call to the White House press office was not returned by presstime.

For Ellen Mariani, this is no more about money than it is about spin.

"You can give me all the money in the world and I am not going to get him back," says Mariani of her late husband. "You know what? We have children, grandchildren and generations to come who have already been affected and I want to make sure that when I leave this world, I leave it a better place. That’s why I want the truth. The White House is blocking the truth and that will leave a poor future for our kids."

Mariani says she considers herself a patriotic American.

"I am not bashing my country or our beautiful flag," she says. "But I cannot fly our beautiful flag until the truth comes out."

For the most part, Mariani is alone among victims’ family members.

"A lot of them don’t want to go this road," she says, stoically. "A lot of them had insurance. A lot of them are medicated. A lot of them are much younger than I am. Their futures are a little brighter."

It is a lonely road, but one Mariani says she has no choice but to take.

"He would have wanted someone to help where his voice was stilled forever," she says of her husband. "He knows I would do this and that I am doing it for him."

In addition to filing the suit, Mariani has written to Bush, but received no answer. She has a very strong message for the White House.

"I do not know how they can sleep at night," she says. "I do not know how they can look at the mirror in the morning and shave their faces and know they could have stopped thousands of murders on our soil. Like the murder of my husband, who spent four years in the Air Force protecting this country. It is just shameful."