N001029
Thursday, December 27, 2001 9:48 PM
victims compensation
Dear Mr. President:
Our family was stunned like everyone else at the events of September 11th. We donated as much as we could to help the victims. I am not surprised to hear that millions of dollars had been raised for the victims. I was surprised to learn the government planned on a victim's compensation fund. I do not understand why this is necessary when so much money has been raised through the private sector. I do believe we as good citizens should help the people who need it especially the families who lost their primary provider but I do not believe it is the job of the taxpayer to support those who lost a loved one indefinitely. There are many situations where a loved one is lost due to accident or sudden illness and those affected have to get on with their lives as a matter of survival and there isn't anyone giving them a big payday. I think the government was too quick to come up with this idea without investigating all possible solutions.
The thing that bothers me the most is the greed is starting to show. I saw a guest on the O'Reilly factor last night (Wed) and he said that he had lost his brother and his parents had lost their son. They would receive approximately $250,000 as his heirs. I do understand they lost someone that no amount of money could replace but I do not understand parents profitting from the loss of their child. The guest said he wanted his parents to agree to take the money because his father has a heart condition and if the airlines were sued it could take a long time to settle. How can family members that were not being supported by the victim be entitled to a monetary award? Nothing was said during the program to the effect that he supported the family in any way ,so what is happening here? While we have heard many wonderful stories about the victims there are many stories we have not heard. How many families are going to come forward to get a monetary award even if they were estranged from the victim? Has anyone even thought of that?
The second example I saw just today in Time magazine. a widow was quoted as saying,"This is sick joke. I'm ready to throw up." The caption said Widow of a September 11 victim unhappy with her proposed compensation of nearly $1.5 million. I was stunned. The American taxpayer is not responsible for what happened but we are going to be paying for it regardless.
If compensation is being given to victims of terror lets start with the victims of the Beirut barracks bombing. Then lets move on to Oklahoma City, the USS Cole and the embassy bombings in Africa. Those were all terrorist attacks but there was no outcry for compensation for those victims. What about the young Marine corporal who lost his foot stepping on a land mine in Afghanistan ,is he going to get any compensation? He was in Afghanistan fighting terrorism as a direct result of September 11th. No, he will get some pats on the back, maybe a purple heart and be shown the door. If one United States citizen deserves compensation because of an act of terrorism than all United States citizens who are victims of terrorism deserve it.
The victims families involved in the September 11th tragedy should get every dime of the money that was raised for them and that should be enough. If they choose to sue the airlines then so be it. If there isn't any money there they are not going to get any and the airlines seem on the verge of bankruptcy. The victims families should have our compassion, our empathy and our sympathy, but the loss of a loved one does not mean a lifetime of financial security at the expense of others.
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