Heaven is a House News
Below, please find mentions, quotes, and snippets of news. All in all, it's really not too exciting, but it's news, shared from primary sources. As you read news articles - whether from the below list, or from your personal news feed, or originating on sites you find compelling - please consider the source of your news. Be confident in the sources of your news. Form your own opinions based on the information you deem best. Challenge the opinions of others based on your insights. Rather than dismiss, debate. Be well informed.
After Years of Waiting, These 9/11 Families..., New York Times
"Pretrial hearings have been on-again, off-again for so long that some family members of the nearly 3,000 victims now question whether justice is attainable ... On July 15, Glenn Morgan, whose father Richard was killed at the World Trade Center while working with an emergency management command team ... wrote Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth..." Full article: here.
Accused Sept. 11 Plotters Agree to Plead Guilty... New York Times
Glenn Morgan, whose father, Richard Morgan, was killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center, said he respected the prosecutors, who did that which was hard; placing the pursuit of justice before the pursuit of revenge. Full article: here.
Judge Signals Impatience a Year Into Sept 11 Plea Talks, New York Times
If 9/11 prisoners die prior to verdict, said Morgan, they will be presumed innocent and that’s a trauma that can be avoided through a plea agreement.
“It should be in the hands of the lawyers, Judge McCall and the convening authority,” he said, referring to the Pentagon official who has oversight of the war court.
“We are infusing politics into a court decision, and the convening authority has the right to approve and disapprove plea agreements,” he said. “Nowhere does it say to ask some blockhead politicians for their approval.” Full article: here.
Why Are Families of Sept 11 Victims Waiting, NPR's Morning Edition
President Biden has been publicly silent about the 9/11 settlement talks .... But the ongoing 9/11 delays test the patience of Glenn Morgan. His father died in the World Trade Center collapse.
After two decades of political logjam at Guantanamo, he would settle for a plea deal, "... people like my mother died without seeing her husband's killers get prosecuted.
The longer the 9/11 case goes on, the more he worries the defendants will die without being found guilty. "And that's a tragedy that's just completely avoidable. And shame on us if we as Americans or our politicians can't get out of our own way." Full article: here.
Plea Deal Talks Are in Limbo, NPR's All Things Considered
A year ago, there was big news in a major terrorism case. Settlement talks were underway for the five men accused in the 9/11 attacks. Plea deals could finally bring the case to a close, but now those talks are in limbo. Consensus among 9/11 victim family members is mixed.
As Sacha Pheiffer notes, "One person I spoke with has a very pragmatic view. His name is Glenn Morgan. His father died in the World Trade Center collapse, and he ... does not want them (the 9/11 perpetrators) to die in prison without being found guilty, so he would support a settlement.
As Morgan notes, "A plea is better than the assumption of innocence." Full article: here.
Glenn Morgan Doesn't Mind if Terror Suspects at GITMO Die. Then Why Does He Buy Them Paintbrushes?, NBC News
Morgan says he wants to rise above his own thirst for retribution. And in that spirit, he has been donating art supplies for use by Guantanamo detainees and guards alike. Earlier this month, military officials who run the prison accepted his latest batch of donated supplies, a small act of grace in one of the world's most unforgiving places.
"I can either chose to do what's right or I can choose to do what's easy, and I choose to do what's right," he said. Full article: here.
For Families of 9/11 Victims, Virus Further Slows the Pace of Justice, Pulitzer Center
Mr. Morgan expressed his admiration for the prosecutors but said he had also come around to the idea that because of the many obstacles, a resolution might require removing the death penalty...
“...I do not expect to see justice,” he said. “I would rather have them live and be found guilty than die from natural causes and be never found guilty.” Full article: here.
Former Guantanamo Officials Blast ... (as) Costs To Taxpayers Top $6 Billion, Death Penalty Information Center
The process has also taken a toll on those whose loved ones were killed on 9/11. Glenn Morgan said a plea deal would at least bring some closure. “I’m not saying I advocate for it, but when someone in your family is killed ... your definition of satisfied is modified.” Full article: here.
Guantanamo Has Cost Billions..., NPR's Investigations
Glenn Morgan of Belmont, Mass., lost his father, Richard Morgan, on Sept. 11, 2001, in the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, and he has traveled twice to Guantánamo to watch the military court process. He says he would accept plea deals as a resolution after so many years of little progress. Full article: here.
After 9/11, Finding Comfort in Writing, Slice of MIT / Alumni Life
Glenn Morgan struggled mightily with his grief. “I was living in a cloak of darkness. I tried to fight it but ended up hurting myself...” Nearly 10 years after the attack, Morgan agreed to an interview with the FBI and New York City police to help piece together his father's timeline around the response to the attack. In exchange for the interview, Morgan entered a lottery, which he won, to travel to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to watch the pretrial of the accused perpetrators of the attacks.
“I ended up being part of a half-dozen families who traveled there. Guantanamo was a unique, solitary place. Everyone—the victims, the soldiers, the lawyers—was away from someone they loved or missing someone they loved.” Full article: here.
Goodbye, America. And Good Luck, Irish Times
This place is “a seven-mile-by- seven-mile box of raw emotion”.
Morgan lamented the stalled trial as “a squandered opportunity to shine a beacon of fairness and calibration into a dark corner of the world." He added, “The cost of entry to GTMO was expensive. My entry fee was the life of my father, Richard Morgan, and for such a dear price it would be nice to see progress.” Full article: here.
Literary Ops Ripple Across Guantanamo Bay, Courthouse News
"Whether through clandestine narratives or the suitcases of books meant to reach the suspected Sept. 11, 2001, plotters, a man whose father was killed in the terrorist attacks has helped steel the chief prosecutor and defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay alike. Glenn Morgan, a 51-year-old entrepreneur, author and father from Belmont, Mass., has been many things to different people in his travels and his fiction ... and the once-anonymous donor of 71 books to the Guantanamo prison library. With the help of a former chaplain, the books made their way to Camp Delta's more than 19,000-tome strong Guantanamo library serving Camps 5 and 6, but they apparently never made it to the final destination intended by the donor..." Full article: here.
"I Want to Look Evil in the Eyes", Irish Times
Watching from the public gallery on Monday, Glenn Morgan stands transfixed. For the first time he can see the men accused of planning the attacks that killed his father. Richard Morgan was on an emergency-response team working with the New York fire department when he was killed. Full article: here.
It Don't Gitmo Better Than This, Vice
During the press conference, a reporter asked Glenn Morgan what he'd come to see. He said, "[I'd like KSM to think], Holy shit, I can't believe they gave me a fair trial. What a fucking country." Full article: here.
Military Commission Pre-Trial Hearings for Alleged 9/11 Plotters... Truthout
"Rita Lasar, who lost her brother Abraham Zelmanowitz, and Glenn Morgan, who lost his father Richard (also a firefighter), supported trying the five men in a federal court on American soil. “We have a proven system and it works,” said Morgan." Full article: here.