N000142
Thursday, December 20, 2001 9:54 PM
Comments
I am very concerned over disparate treatment. How will these payouts differ from other victims of terrorism. I hear that they are going to be far larger than any crime victim or victim of other terrorism has ever received.
What did the Lockerbie, Oklahoma City, Embassy Bombings receive from the Government for those terrorism acts?
Also, it looks like firefighters and other uniformed member's relatives will get tremendous charitable allocations, any life insurance policies, full pensions to survivors, free tuitions, other perks, and a 250K death benefit payout apparently, as things are going....ON TOP of what the taxpayers give them from the Fund.
Part of the justification is that they are heroes who rank higher than others in death. How will this compare to a security guard or WTC operator who stayed and risked their lives to help do the evacuation (all those guys and gals died), or for that matter, the soldiers in uniform who were past victims of terrorism -- most notably the USS Cole, Marines in Lebanon (1983), Air Force at Khobar Towers, and the soldiers and CIA who will die fighting the terrorists over the next several years.
As you deliberate on the awards from this fund, think of what core underlying philosophy is at work....I understand about how income, number of dependents has influenced valuation of damages in the past....but now we are past that to evaluating the value of humans by profession. As the hierarchy seems to be now, based on the money each dead American is going to get.....A cop is the highest level of human, followed by a firefighter, then by an EMT, then by a bondtrader, then a security guard, then a US soldier, then a dishwasher. As long as they die in a famous terrorist incident, not a minor one like the 3 US military attaches who were assassinated in Turkey in the 90's, or a firefighter who dies in a fire, or a cop or a lesser human being (mere civilian) who dies at the hands of a common criminal.
As a volunteer firefighter, I do not want to consider my life better than my civilian loved ones. I do not want to see a firefighter's family get 33 times the compensation that a sailor on the USS Cole's fatality list from the Al Qaeda attack.
Making this a huge gulf, in terms of net "worth" between various American's lives is a huge mistake. It is fundamentally un-American. What happened to the belief that "All men are created equal"? Was that just meaningless words? Or, does life value somehow transform if instead of a business suit, a uniform is slapped on (except military folks)?
Individual Comment
Waterford, CT
PS. I'm a volunteer firefighter and a Navy Vet.