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American Morning

Talk with Stephen Push

Aired November 13, 2002 - 07:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The husband of a woman who was killed on September 11 will join German prosecutors as they put an accused al Qaeda member on trial. Lisa Raines was on American Flight 877 when it crashed into the Pentagon. Since then her husband has become an advocate for his wife, as well as for the other victims and their families.
Stephen Push, who has been granted co-plaintiff status in the German case, joins me now.

Good morning.

STEPHEN PUSH, "FAMILIES OF SEPTEMBER 11": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Before we talk about what that means, your reaction to this latest audiotape that we've listened to this morning?

PUSH: Well, if, it doesn't really surprise me whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive. We have been under grave danger for years now and if this latest tape wakes people up out of their complacency, I think that's a good thing. But what I'm really concerned about is on the very day that this tape has become public knowledge, the White House and the Congress are negotiating to remove from the homeland security bill the independent commission that we've been fighting for for over a year. And without the independent commission to understand what went wrong on 9/11, we're not going to be able to fix the problems that allowed these terrorists to kill 3,000 people a year ago.

ZAHN: Does that in some way make it even more relevant that you are a co-plaintiff in this case in Germany?

PUSH: It makes it more relevant because ironically the German government is doing more to help the families learn what happened than the American government is. The German government is giving me an opportunity to help prosecute the case against one of these accused co-conspirators and to gain access to the evidence that they have amassed on this individual.

ZAHN: What exactly does that mean, then? Because under German law, don't they have to keep the stuff that came out of wiretaps and bugged information secret?

PUSH: I don't understand how that's going to work yet, whether I will have to get some kind of a security clearance to see the information or whether I'll be limited in the amount of information I will be able to see. But they have 87 binders full of evidence and even if I can see a large portion of that, I'll be in better shape to understand what happened on September 11 than I am right now.

ZAHN: Is that your main reason for pursuing this?

PUSH: No. I also want to make sure that the prosecution is effective. The, I will be helping the prosecutor and the judges to investigate the case, to determine what questions will be asked of the witnesses, what witnesses will be called. But I think the most important thing is to put a human face on the tragedy. This is not just, you can't just look at a piece of paper and see a number of three thousand and some odd people who were killed.

You really have to understand how the victims and their families have suffered. And this is particularly important when it comes to sentencing, if he is convicted and the judges have to determine how long his sentence will be. I want them to understand how much the victims and their families have suffered before that decision is made.

ZAHN: When you talk about what you think is lost by not having this independent investigation, what is the most critical answer or question you think needs to be addressed to help you deal with your own personal loss of your wife?

PUSH: Well, it's not so much my personal loss. You know, my wife is dead and I can never bring her back. But if -- I don't want her to have died in vain. I want other families to be protected in the future. And there are many, many questions that could be answered.

Just to give one example, there were -- more than half an hour elapsed between the time that the second tower was hit and it was clear that we were under attack and the time that my wife's plane was crashed into the Pentagon, yet there were no military jets over Washington protecting it. Why?

We still haven't gotten the answer to that. And there are thousands of other questions that haven't been answered.

ZAHN: And just a final thought this morning on what kind of triumph it will be for you if you get some convictions in this case.

PUSH: Well, I think it's very important to see that these, the people who are responsible are punished and unfortunately the disadvantage of the German legal system is that they're very light on sentencing. And one of the things I want to try to do by participating is see that this guy doesn't get out in five years if he is convicted.

ZAHN: Stephen Push, thank you very much.

PUSH: Thank you very much, Paula.

ZAHN: The cofounder of Families of September 11.

We'll look forward to tracking your progress as this trial gets under way.

PUSH: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 13, 2002 - 07:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The husband of a woman who was killed on September 11 will join German prosecutors as they put an accused al Qaeda member on trial. Lisa Raines was on American Flight 877 when it crashed into the Pentagon. Since then her husband has become an advocate for his wife, as well as for the other victims and their families.
Stephen Push, who has been granted co-plaintiff status in the German case, joins me now.

Good morning.

STEPHEN PUSH, "FAMILIES OF SEPTEMBER 11": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Before we talk about what that means, your reaction to this latest audiotape that we've listened to this morning?

PUSH: Well, if, it doesn't really surprise me whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive. We have been under grave danger for years now and if this latest tape wakes people up out of their complacency, I think that's a good thing. But what I'm really concerned about is on the very day that this tape has become public knowledge, the White House and the Congress are negotiating to remove from the homeland security bill the independent commission that we've been fighting for for over a year. And without the independent commission to understand what went wrong on 9/11, we're not going to be able to fix the problems that allowed these terrorists to kill 3,000 people a year ago.

ZAHN: Does that in some way make it even more relevant that you are a co-plaintiff in this case in Germany?

PUSH: It makes it more relevant because ironically the German government is doing more to help the families learn what happened than the American government is. The German government is giving me an opportunity to help prosecute the case against one of these accused co-conspirators and to gain access to the evidence that they have amassed on this individual.

ZAHN: What exactly does that mean, then? Because under German law, don't they have to keep the stuff that came out of wiretaps and bugged information secret?

PUSH: I don't understand how that's going to work yet, whether I will have to get some kind of a security clearance to see the information or whether I'll be limited in the amount of information I will be able to see. But they have 87 binders full of evidence and even if I can see a large portion of that, I'll be in better shape to understand what happened on September 11 than I am right now.

ZAHN: Is that your main reason for pursuing this?

PUSH: No. I also want to make sure that the prosecution is effective. The, I will be helping the prosecutor and the judges to investigate the case, to determine what questions will be asked of the witnesses, what witnesses will be called. But I think the most important thing is to put a human face on the tragedy. This is not just, you can't just look at a piece of paper and see a number of three thousand and some odd people who were killed.

You really have to understand how the victims and their families have suffered. And this is particularly important when it comes to sentencing, if he is convicted and the judges have to determine how long his sentence will be. I want them to understand how much the victims and their families have suffered before that decision is made.

ZAHN: When you talk about what you think is lost by not having this independent investigation, what is the most critical answer or question you think needs to be addressed to help you deal with your own personal loss of your wife?

PUSH: Well, it's not so much my personal loss. You know, my wife is dead and I can never bring her back. But if -- I don't want her to have died in vain. I want other families to be protected in the future. And there are many, many questions that could be answered.

Just to give one example, there were -- more than half an hour elapsed between the time that the second tower was hit and it was clear that we were under attack and the time that my wife's plane was crashed into the Pentagon, yet there were no military jets over Washington protecting it. Why?

We still haven't gotten the answer to that. And there are thousands of other questions that haven't been answered.

ZAHN: And just a final thought this morning on what kind of triumph it will be for you if you get some convictions in this case.

PUSH: Well, I think it's very important to see that these, the people who are responsible are punished and unfortunately the disadvantage of the German legal system is that they're very light on sentencing. And one of the things I want to try to do by participating is see that this guy doesn't get out in five years if he is convicted.

ZAHN: Stephen Push, thank you very much.

PUSH: Thank you very much, Paula.

ZAHN: The cofounder of Families of September 11.

We'll look forward to tracking your progress as this trial gets under way.

PUSH: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com