News Copy, New York

Newly Released 9/11 World Trade Center Aerials: NYPD Releases Photos

ABC News has obtained over 2,700 aerial photos of the 9/11 World Trade Center collapse from the NYPD.

 

ABC reported that the images were taken from a police helicopter — the only photographers allowed in the airspace near the skyscrapers on Sept. 11, 2001.

The photo were obtained by ABC after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal agency that investigated the collapse.

"Some survivors may find these pictures too painful to look at," said Richard Zimbler, president of the WTC Survivors Network. "But they are an important part of the historical record."

ABC reported that the NYPD helicopter had the clearance to be up in the air in lower Manhattan only moments after the first tower was hit.  It stayed in the area for the remainder of the day.

The chief curator of the planned Sept. 11 museum, Jan Ramirez of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, pronounced the pictures "a phenomenal body of work."

Ramirez said she hoped the entire collection of photos could be included as part of the museum, scheduled to open in 2012.

9/11 Terror Trial Targets: The New Ground Zero

Justice has become dangerous but we are in the middle of a war on terror.

While the Justice Department finds itself a jurisdiction in exile, rightful fears of terrorist retribution as the trials commence (or after) should be heeded.

Following the White House asking the Justice Department to look for other places to hold the 9/11 terror trials, local officials in alternative jurisdictions are getting nervous.

White Plains hosted terror trials in the Westchester County Courthouse.  The thought did occur to people that a terror trial would make suburban New York the next target.

Just ask anyone who parked their car in that courthouse's basement.

Newburgh had been suggested by that city's mayor -- as a cheap tourist gimmick -- but Orange County Executive Ed Diana adamantly opposed the idea.

"Forty-four Orange County residents lost their lives on that most horrific day, and to bring these monsters to Orange County is an insult to our residents."

Whether the Justice Department redirects the trial to West Point, Stewart Air National Guard Base or Otisville Correctional Facility, there are security implications the Hudson Valley will be forced to grapple with.

Does the Obama administration want to further endanger the Tappan Zee Bridge, Indian Point Nuclear Plant and Stewart International Airport as future terrorist targets?

The location of the new terror trial has become the new ground zero.

It required lobbying from a California U.S. Senator to finally wake up New York's Congressional delegation to stop turning a blind eye about the dangers of a Manhattan trial.  Dianne Feinstein demonstrated that politics cannot factor into any decision.  It's about common sense this time.

"Does the Obama administration want to further endanger the Tappan Zee Bridge, Indian Point Nuclear Plant and Stewart International Airport as future terrorist targets?"

Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland counties are part of a delicate transportation corridor that is sadly ripe for a terrorist attack.  This war on terror is at a tipping point and painting a bull's eye on the back of New York City's suburban region is reckless.

These enemy combatants are prisoners of war.  The war on terror is far from over.  The double-standard on the status of terrorists as nationals or citizens of the world is plaguing the process of justice.  Perhaps it is time to lay down a firmer gauntlet, but to whom?