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Rita Lasar has died: Founding member of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

Gathering:Friday, January 13th  Riverside Memorial Chapel 76th Street/Amsterdam Ave NYC11:00 am - 12:30 pm (followed by a private burial)

Rita Lasar has died. She was a businesswoman, peace activist, and denizen of the East Village of Manhattan. She was 85 years old.

Rita was born Rabecca Zelmanowitz in Cleveland, Ohio on September 16, 1931, the eldest of three children. Her parents migrated to the United States from British Mandate Palestine after the First World War. The family briefly relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then moved to New York City. In New York, they first landed in The Bronx, then settled more permanently in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Rita went to elementary schools in both boroughs and briefly attended Yeshiva, but convinced her orthodox parents to allow her to go to Seward Park High School in Manhattan. There she focused on the study of French, Hebrew, and poetry.

In her senior year at Seward, Rita met Theodore Lasar, who had earned a degree in engineering from the City College of New York. She already knew Ted via his correspondence with her best friend, Esther. He had served in the Army in the Philippines during World War II and returned a “level 3 technician,” the equivalent of a staff sergeant. Over his course of duty Ted wrote many letters to Esther, who in turn showed them to Rita. “I fell in love with the letters,” she later recalled. “They were emotional, sad, and despondent and uplifting. It felt like poetry to me.” When he returned, they dated, then married on August 23, 1949. The newlyweds took up residence in a small apartment on West End Avenue and 74^th street in Manhattan.

Anticipating a family, Rita and Ted searched for bigger living quarters, eventually moving to Fort Lee, New Jersey in 1952. Ted worked as an electrical engineer for various companies. They had their first son, Matthew, in 1954, then their second, Raphael, in 1960. But Rita hated being a conventional suburban housewife and Ted found Fort Lee boring. In 1963 the Lasars returned to Manhattan, taking up residence on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village. There they reveled in the Village cultural scene, befriending many artists, poets, activists, and politicians. Two years later the couple started their own business, the Electric Eye Products Company, which made electrical security devices for retail stores. In search of an inexpensive manufacturing site, they relocated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, soon to be renamed the East Village. Rita ran the operation; Ted designed the products. The company prospered for over 25 years.

Then in 1989 Ted suffered a stroke. As it became clear that he would not fully recover, Rita shut the company down and the couple retired. In 1991 Ted died. After her mourning, Rita settled in for a comfortable senior life. But on September 11, 2001 terrorists attacked the nearby World Trade Center. Her younger brother Abraham (Abe) worked in the North Tower of the complex, and perished while waiting for firefighters to help a wheelchair bound co-worker escape the building.

Three days later President George W. Bush cited Abe’s courage in a speech before the National Cathedral, but Rita began to fear that her brother’s sacrifice would be used as justification for recklessness abroad. On September 17, she sent a letter to The New York Times that expressed this concern. “It is in my brother’s name and mine that I pray that we, this country that has been so deeply hurt, not do something that will unleash forces we will not have the power to call back,” she wrote. The letter attracted widespread attention. Dozens of spouses, children, and siblings of victims of the attack called or wrote to her to share their concerns.

Not long after this statement, Rita travelled to Afghanistan with three other victim family members to protest the US/NATO bombing of civilians. As the US deployed forces across the Middle East in the name of a “war on terror,” Rita chose another mission and path. “I will stay behind just as my dear brother did” she promised audiences. “I will stay behind and ask America not to do something we can’t take back.” In February of 2002 she became a co-founder of September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. The group’s initiators, in the organization’s own words, shared “a belief that the violence that took their loved ones’ lives could spin out of control, and fear could be manipulated by politicians and the media to justify foreign and domestic policies that would increase violence while decreasing U.S. citizens’ rights and liberties over the years to come.” Rita spoke across the United States and around the world to protest the United States invasion of Iraq and to demand the closing of Guantanamo Prison.

Rita Lasar died of cancer at her East Village apartment on Sunday, January 8, 2017, in the care of her family. She leaves behind her two sons, Raphael and Matthew, her granddaughter Emma-Rachel, her daughters-in-law Karen Barker and Sharon Wood, and many friends. She will be buried beside her husband at Calverton National Cemetery in New York.

 

Matthew Lasar

Paul Ryan's Distortions Hurt Us All

@PaulRyan said, “The law is the law. If the president takes illegal action on Guantanamo, we will be ready to respond,” which totally ignores the vast illegality of #Guantanamo. George Orwell pointed out that “if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed then the lie passed into history and became truth.”

Guantanamo is a lie. Illegal from its inception, it tramples the Rule of Law, and denies basic rights, which all Americans hold as sacred, to the human beings held there. We can next expect Ryan’s Republicans to next tell us: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. 

Denying the injustice of Guantanamo steers America away from its historical moral evolution. Only by admitting the hard truths can we move to more Peaceful Tomorrows. @bruce121Contact

What to do about ISIS?

It is not a question of violence or non-violence. Killing for what you believe in is part of the definition of evil, and we do not wish to become evil. There is no question here. We must continue in the peaceful road.

There are many non-violent actions that can effectively halt the growth of ISIS, locally, nationwide, and worldwide, too. However none of these offer the instant gratification that an all-out war falsely promises.

We tried that path in Iraq and the world is still reeling from our mistake.

I cry for those caught in the ISIS Caliphate as I cry for all the world’s victims of cruelty, greed, and madness, but I will not let sorrow and frustration move me to embrace violence as a solution. Nor will I let fear of terrorism move me to irrational action.

Perhaps “What to do about ISIS?” is not even a real question. “What can we do to help steer the world to more peaceful tomorrows?” is a better question with a better chance at achieving success. We have all been working in our own ways to do just that in ways both large and small. All we have to do is continue.

Yours in peace, Bruce @bruce121Contact

[November 17, 2015, from an open letter to September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization that has been turning grief and anger into works for peace since the 9/11 attacks on New York City]

Each anniversary is different, of course...

At the first anniversary ceremony  at Ground Zero a small army of bagpipes finished "Amazing Grace." That slow beating drum synchronized the souls of all who stood waiting for the tradition-to-come reading of the names.

The first names of the those who died on 9/11 were slowly  pouring into the air. My brother and I were standing a little bit off to one side of the podium, our feet already tired, and we talked about how Mitch's name wouldn't be read for hours.  I remember that it wasn't really quiet. People were coming and going, phone-talking, or chatting softly. Occasionally a joke or remembrance told would bring a soft laughter into the morning.

Sometimes the clan of the victim was close by. The name, no matter how softly read, slashed the morning air and focused seemingly at random on a group of ten, or two, or occasionally of one, in the tens of thousands who had gathered.

"I knew him," Ken said quietly. And then, after more, some more  names came off the podium, each one slashing the morning air, he said, again, "I knew him." I stopped counting after a couple of dozen lives known and now gone were acknowledged. He had helped some get their jobs in the Twin Towers. Some were colleagues, friends, or competitors.

September 11, 2015 by Yaseen, 121Contact

 

 

Non-violence is the way (?)

What do I say to this Yazidi teenager about non-violence?

AQIM Algeria Again

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has its origins in Algeria but most recently has focused on Mali. This past week has seen a marked increase in its rhetoric against the Algerian government.  AQIM is now urging the Algerian municipal guards to defect.

This shift in focus from Mali to Algeria may be a response to the recent setbacks it suffered as France stepped into the Malian situation with force enough to result is a serious AQIM retreat.

Why do we care?

West Point's Center on Terrorism indicates that AQIM's principle objectives includes ridding North Africa of western influence, overthrowing apostate "unbeliever" governments (including Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia), and installing fundamentalist regimes based on Islamic law. None of this amounts to a threat against the United States, but there was a distinct shift in the organization after 9/11, when AQIM (previously known as the Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden. A more official merger ocurred in 2006 when 2006 when Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the official merger between al-Qa`ida and GSPC.

Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, put AQIM's threat to the U.S. on a par with the dangers Ameria faces from Afghanistan. Recently, European security forces have arrested several AQIM members as part of plots against European targets.

This is an indicates AQIM's widening its target selection, and may auger a coming focus on the U.S. as well.

 

http://www.cfr.org/north-africa/al-qaeda-islamic-maghreb-aqim/p12717

http://news.siteintelgroup.com/component/content/article/6-jihadist-news/2956-aqim-extends-offer-to-algerian-municipal-guard-to-repent

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/aqim%E2%80%99s-expanding-internationalist-agenda

 

 

Related articles

Al-Qaeda pressures Algeria and General Ham pays a visit

Yesterday Mali, Today Mauritania: U.S. Gen. Ham is getting a Workout in Africa

Al Qaeda's Gamble in Mali

Guantanamo Trials: Reinventing a Justice System & Bugging the Courtroom

Is the Guantanamo courtroom being bugged by unknown parties? This weekly summary of proceedings is by Valerie Lucznikowska of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization that continues to lobby for the closure of the Guantanamo Detention Center. Invited as a 'family member' who lost someone in the 9/11 attacks she has documented some surprising aspects of the trial.

"Rita Lasar and I attended the Guantanamo hearings through CCTVthis week at Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn.  (Each of us missed someportion of the events, but one of us was always present.) The current hearingsare to review and decide motions brought by the defense in the cases of KhalidSheik Mohammed (KSM), Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid binAttash, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Ali Abd al-Aziz Al, the so-called 9/11co-conspirators.

Monday, January 28 began the pre-trial motions. The participantsare named in the attached chart of the courtroom, with the accused and counselon the left and the government team on the right (CCTV showed the room theopposite way, from behind the judge). Open sessions were held on Monday,Tuesday and Thursday (morning only). Special closed sessions were calledfor when classified information was to be discussed, or when the judge calledfor an ex parte (pertaining to one party or not requiring the attendanceof all parties) session.

As I had not attended such proceedings before this, I was struckon Monday by the realization that most of the motions (which can be seen on theOMC website) were procedural, and precedents were called up largely fromfederal law and also from military law. That stands to reason as the military commissionscourt (also referred to as the military court and tribunal) is based on theMilitary Commissions Act of 2009 (which replaced the Military Commissions Actof 2006) and has no precedents in capital cases, nor many precedents at all.(NB: Military commissions law, first established in 2006, is not the same asmilitary law, and normal military courts rarely deal with anything as seriousas death penalty cases.)  So we are dealing with a whole new structurethat has to be articulated, and sometimes invented, as it occurs. Motions thatwere to be heard (not all of which were taken up during these sessions) are inan attached document, previously sent by Karen Loftus. Not all motions listedwere actually heard, and some were named as classified and heard in camera (private session).

Monday also provided the most significant (and startling)event of this week's hearings: an unknown source cut off the CCTV video andaudio while KSM lead counsel Nevin was referring to a motion relating to blacksites.  CCTV stream is on a40-second delay to all (family members and press are in a sound-proof roomwatching the proceedings) to allow time to cut off the feed if classifiedinformation is inadvertently mentioned. This sent the usually calm andcollected Judge Pohl into a state of high irritation, asking why this hadhappened as he is the only one in his court who can order the security officerto push the button that cuts off the feed, and he had not ordered it. DoJ(Department of Justice) lawyer Joanna Baltes explained that the "OCA"(Original Classification Authority) in this motion, which refers to interrogationsat black sites, would be the CIA – pointing to that agency as the source. In turn, this provoked deep concern in the defense attorneys who wantedto know if the communications among themselves and with their clients - in andout of court - were being recorded or overheard.  Subsequently, the judgeordered the cut audio and video to be publicly released, as there was noclassified material divulged, and ordered "an undisclosed” governmentagency to remove any enabling equipment from his courtroom (“unplugged”).

The defense introduced an emergency motion to haltproceedings until they are assured they are not being overheard.  JudgePohl did not rule on that motion, but said that this must be resolved firstthing at the next session on February 11, and it will be discussed among theparties in the interim.

In another important development, the defense leveled acharge of “unlawful command influence”, meaning interference from thegovernment. Responding to this, the judge has orderedthe “convening authority” – the Pentagon’s most senior official responsible forthe war court, retired Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald, to testify in a pre-trialhearing the week of Feb. 11.

Judge Pohl heard arguments on 15 motions and ruled on six, onewas withdrawn by the defense and one was mooted.  A number of othermotions that are not yet decided deal with information flow among defenselawyers and their clients, and between the prosecution and defense. One defensemotion asks the judge to remove the language allowing the OCA to determinewhether a piece of information is allowed to be given to the defense on a“need-to-know” basis.

Another important motion dealt with the defense's request thatdefense lawyers be granted 48-hour stays in the area of confinement of theirclients to properly investigate the conditions of their confinement. The judgehas not ruled on this as yet, and indicated that the hearing could be partiallyclosed as classified. 

It is clear from viewing the proceedings that reinventing ajustice system is a long and arduous road, and thousands of motions may stillbe in the offing, indicating a trial date at the very minimum of a year, andconceivably much more, away.  One defenseattorney thinks it will be at least 2-3 years away. Most agree that if thetrials had been held in federal court, they would have been over and done withby now.

Nevertheless, I found the proceedings fascinating, and hope Iwill be able to attend the February sessions (Feb. 11-14 - see attached) whenarguments will be heard on motions to dismiss (such as "Motion to DismissBecause the Military Commissions Act Unconstitutionally Requires the ConveningAuthority to Act as Both Prosecutor and Judge of the Defendants") will beheard, as well as, perhaps, a resolution to the mystery of the governmentagency that bugged the courtroom!"

[Passed on to you as received on February 2, 2013 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact]

Related articles

Clarity on Guantanamo

Close Guantanamo

We don't march much these days, but enough is quite enough and it's surely time to close Guantanamo, the constant reminder of too many American faults.

Aside from it's power as a recruiting tool for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups who love to point to the hypocrisy of America's praise of Justice and the Rule of Law; aside from the inhumanity of keeping in prison men already found innocent; aside from the repeatedly broken promises of President Obama...It's just not right.

Terry Rockefeller, at yesterday's march and rally in Washington, D.C., said it quite eloquently. She's a member of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and has been working on issues of the Rule of Law for years. She said, "...the Guantanamo Military Tribunals are a deeply flawed legal system invented by the Bush Administration, which Congress and the Obama Administration have tried unsuccessfully to rectify.

By decision of the Tribunal judge, all testimony concerning torture of the defendants will be classified.  Outrageous!  It is well known that the defendants were tortured...In a ruling...made public last week the judge said lawyers in the 9/11 proceedings cannot share even unclassified materials with the press or public. 

We say enough! End the Military Tribunals and try the 9/11 suspects in Federal Court."

January 12, 2013 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

The full text of Rockefeller's speech:

Guantanamo after 11 Years

 On September 11^th 2001, my sister Laura was helping to run a seminar on information technology.  When the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, Laura was on the 106th floor.

 Today, more than 11 years after Laura’s murder, there is still no justice for 9/11 victims and their families. The prison at Guantanamo and all it represents has never furthered this goal.  Instead, torture, indefinite detention, and the failure to transfer inmates approved for release have made Guantanamo a powerful symbol of lawlessness; while the Military Tribunals in which the men accused of the 9/11 attacks are currently being tried fall egregiously short of the fair, transparent, and Constitutional trials that the United States should have conducted years ago.

9/11 families, along with all US citizens, indeed the entire world, have been betrayed! 

 Our organization, September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was founded because we believed that nonviolent responses to the 9/11 attacks were possible and would in the long run be the most effective way to prevent future terrorist attacks.

 Peaceful Tomorrows’ members have consistently spoken out against wars that have produced hundreds of thousands of deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.  And, as we opposed war, we demanded efforts to bring those responsible for the 9/11 attacks to justice. We believe that the Rule of Law and respect for human rights are vital to promoting nonviolence and ensuring security.

 But the Guantanamo Military Tribunals are a deeply flawed legal system invented by the Bush Administration, which Congress and the Obama Administration have tried unsuccessfully to rectify.

 By decision of the Tribunal judge, all testimony concerning torture of the defendants will be classified.  Outrageous!  It is well known that the defendants were tortured. U.S. leaders justified this as necessary to protect us.  To classify testimony about this torture denies all Americans the opportunity to learn what was perpetrated in our names.

 In a ruling issued on December 20, but only made public last week the judge said lawyers in the 9/11 proceedings cannot share even unclassified materials with the press or public.

 We say enough! End the Military Tribunals and try the 9/11 suspects in Federal Court.

 President Obama you promised to do this four years ago.  Now that you have been reelected, use the power of your Presidency to finally do the right thing!   For all around the boundaries of the corrupt and malignant system that Guantanamo has become there is further decay of the Rule of Law.  Because we have been unable to try and convict terrorists the Obama Administration has shamelessly resorted to using drones to assassinate terrorism suspects.

 This was NEVER, NEVER something I wanted done in my sister’s name! We must none of us allow it to continue in our names.

 The America I believe in will release the innocent Guantanamo detainees.   It will hold those responsible for torture accountable.  It will move the 9/11 trials into Federal courts.

 The America I believe in will CLOSE GUANTANAMO.

 

 

 

Bodley And Brubeck: Steps To Peace

"This is a lovely tribute to both Dave Brubeck and Derril Bodley one of PTs founders who died so suddenly on his 60th birthday and whom so many of us loved and still do love." Rita, from September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

Bodley And Brubeck: Steps To Peace
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 by Karen Shiffman, WBUR, an NPR Boston station.

Dave Brubeck perform[ed] with his quartet at the 50th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, R.I., Saturday, Aug. 14, 2004. Brubeck, 83, made his first appearance at the second Newport festival in 1955 and has appeared regularly since. (AP)

Jazz man Dave Brubeck and music professor/peace activist Derrill Bodley were longtime friends. Bodley wrote the tune “Steps to Peace” after his daughter, Deora was killed in the 9/11 attacks. She was on United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed into a Pennsylvania field. She was 20 years old and the youngest person aboard that flight. You can hear Bodley perform the song here.

Bodley said “Steps to Peace” came to him as a message from his daughter that everything would be all right. In the months after the 9-11 attacks, his search for understanding and solace took him to Afghanistan. He talked about it on the show in 2002. At the end of the hour, we played “Steps to Peace.”

Bodley’s father, also a music professor, was a mentor to Dave Brubeck in college.  In 2004, Dave Brubeck recorded the “London Flat, London Sharp” album and included Bodley’s  “Steps to Peace.” You can hear that version here. You can hear our recent hour on Dave Brubeck here.

Brubeck and Bodley are both now gone. Brubeck passed away last week; Bodley in 2005 in a motorcycle accident on his 60^th birthday.

 

 

Statement on Gaza War

Statement on Gaza War

November 20, 2012 by  September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows” - Dr. Martin Luther King

 The Members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows are immensely saddened by the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel. We are deeply concerned about the safety of innocent civilians and the suffering and loss of life on both sides of the conflict.

We look to our courageous and committed friends in Palestine and Israel, members of the Parents Circle Family Forum, Combatants for Peace, and Just Vision, who work TOGETHER across boundaries of culture, religion, language, and against severe restrictions on movement, to understand and know one another. Their work comes out of compassion for other human beings whose lives are different, but whose needs and rights as human beings are the same. Despite the difficulties, suspicion, fear, pain, and pure logistical problems of working together, they persevere … nonviolently. Out of this willingness to talk and listen, risk and trust, has come remarkable respect and renewed commitment to continue meeting and working together. The world would call them enemies, but they call each other friend and family.

We are inspired by these courageous and wise men and women who are willing and able to move together supporting and encouraging one another along the only possible road to peace. We hope their voices rise and are heard over the clamor of violence and that the violence is brought to an end.

We are humbly grateful for the example they set for the rest of us with their very lives.