[NYTr] Victims, families gather to denounce terrorism

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

sent by Walter Lippmann (cubanews)

[Juan Pablo Letelier, whose father, former Chilean Foreign
Minister Orlando Letelier, was killed by Chile's military
dictatorship with a bomb in Washington in 1976, said all
terrorism must be condemned, no matter who is carrying it
out.

"We must be consistent in the battle against terrorism,"
Letelier said, and that he thinks the treatment of
prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, also
amounts to terrorism.-WL]

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AP via South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Feb 25, 2005
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-avictims25feb25,0,5234029.story

Victims, families gather to denounce terrorism

Bogota conference draws hundreds from around globe.

By Andrew Selsky
The Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia--From Oklahoma City and New York to Beslan, Russia, men
and women who were wounded or lost loved ones in terrorist attacks met
Thursday at a victims' congress, where they mourned their losses but vowed
to defeat terrorism and not be passive victims.

"I think if we join together and say `We are still here. You may have taken
our loved ones, but you can't break our spirit,' that the terrorists will
know they can't win," said Ken Thompson, whose mother was killed in the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing.

Hundreds of people, some in wheelchairs after being paralyzed in terrorist
attacks, packed a large meeting room in a downtown hotel for the two-day
International Congress on Victims of Terrorism that began Wednesday.

To speak at the conference, Robert McIlvaine stepped onto a plane for the
first time since his son Bobby, 26, was killed in one of the World Trade
Center towers that was hit by a hijacked airliner in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I'm petrified of flying. I think about death all the time," McIlvaine said.
But he came to the conference to describe the unceasing pain he and his wife
suffer from losing their son.

"Why was that beautiful human being snuffed out like that?" he said, his
voice cracking. Members of the audience dabbed at their eyes with
handkerchiefs as he spoke.

Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Tony Rose told how one of the hijacked planes
plowed into the Pentagon, hitting 30 feet from where he was standing.

A fireball incinerated troops near him.

"The only way we knew a pile of ash was one of my soldiers was from a watch
or ring in the ash," he said. He told of retrieving body parts from water
and jet fuel that was flowing into a drain.

"We can allow ourselves to continue to be victims, but we can rise one step
higher and take charge, and kick butt if we need to," Rose told the
audience.

Juan Pablo Letelier, whose father, former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando
Letelier, was killed by Chile's military dictatorship with a bomb in
Washington in 1976, said all terrorism must be condemned, no matter who is
carrying it out.

"We must be consistent in the battle against terrorism," Letelier said, and
that he thinks the treatment of prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, also amounts to terrorism.

The first International Congress on Victims of Terrorism was held near
Madrid, Spain, last year, six weeks before the March 11 train bombings in
the Spanish capital killed 191 people.

Azamat Tarkanovich, whose father was killed in the takeover of a school in
Beslan, Russia, in September by Chechen-led terrorists, noted that a third
congress might not have to be held if terrorists stop attacks across the
globe.

But few held such illusions. Those whose loved ones have been killed in
previous attacks said they are prepared to help relatives of future victims.

"The grieving process is the same regardless of race, religion or country,"
Thompson said. "We all feel the pain."

Terrorism waged by governments was also examined at the gathering.

A former Argentine army chief on Thursday repudiated the "dirty war" waged
against leftists during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

Retired Lt. Gen. Martin Antonio Balza, chief of the Argentine army from
1991-1999, said his country's dark past in which thousands died must be
fully explored.

"The military commanders of that time need to recognize not just the errors
of the past, but the horrors of the past," said Balza, who is now
Argentina's ambassador to Colombia.

Copyright C 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentine