P000401
Tuesday, February 05, 2002 12:53 PM
Speech at American Insurance Association
Dear Mr. Feinberg:
I heard part of your speech at the American Insurance Association on
C-SPAN. I wish to say that I was very impressed with your presentation,
your knowledge of the subject, and your awareness of the problems in
dealing with such a difficult issue. When I heard that Congress was going
to create a special master, I was quite concerned. I felt that there was
an inherent injustice in that some victims of terrorism (e.g., Oklahoma
City bombing; the two US embassies in Africa; Americans overseas, etc.)
had received little or no compensation from the government, while the
victims of the 9/11 treasury were going to be the beneficiaries of
governmental largesse. I also had concerns about what type of precedent
was being sent. For instance, there are statements by well known
government officials stating that our enemies will use weapons of mass
destruction, if they gain access to them. These weapons, as you know, can
cause far greater damage than that which occurred on 9/11. It is easily
feasible to imagine that 100 or a 1,000 times as many people may be
killed in such an attack. Will all those individuals be entitled to
compensation from the government? Will they be entitled to equal
desserts?
After hearing you speak, I am a little bit more encouraged that someone
has at least spent some time thinking about these matters. I realize that
you were put in an impossible situation and have done the best you could.
I hope that you might be able to spend a very small part of the money
appropriated by Congress to sponsor some studies (by historians,
religious thinkers, etc.) about what should this nation's and this
government's response be to future events of mass destruction. While this
is certainly an unpleasant subject, I think we have been forewarned and
thus ought to be prepared to deal with the unthinkable.
Once again congratulations on your work.
Individual Comment