BEDMINSTER (New Jersey) — Nearly 21 years later and an almost endless stream of pain, this is where the 9/11 story has ended.
Three relatives of the victims of America’s most deadly terror attack — a husband who died; a father who died; and a daughter who lost her son — stood Tuesday on a patch if grass near the local library. This community is known for its rolling hills and horse pastures. A golf course that was owned by Donald Trump stood just two miles away.
It was 9:20 AM. It was 9:20 a.m. Despite new FBI documents showing that Trump hosted a tournament funded by Saudi Arabia, tempers remained tense. These files also contain evidence that at least 12 Saudi officials were involved in financial and logistic support for the Islamicists responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.
LIV Golf Tournament at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster begins Thursday with a pro-am. Friday will see a three-day 54-hole tournament that features such celebrities as Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka.
LIV Golf Series, which will feature several tournaments over the next months culminating at Trump’s Doral course, Miami, is described as “golf like you’ve never seen.” There’s also the added controversy of 9/11 and Saudi Arabia’s alleged connections to Islamist terrorist terrorism.
None of the players signed up for golf have made any comment about allegations that they are wrongfully taking money form a regime that supported the 9/11 attacks. In which 19 terrorist operatives from Osama Bin Laden’s al Qaida terror network hijacked four commercial planeliners on Sept. 11, 2001. Two hijackers crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center towers, one into the Pentagon, and another into Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Terry Strada was seen on Tuesday in Bedminster’s Clarence Dillon Public Library. She had lost her husband Tom in the rubble surrounding the twin towers of the trade center. They collapsed after the hijacked planes crashed into them. Just four days after Tom died, Strada, who was living in Basking Ridge at the time, gave birth the youngest child of the couple.
Strada described the tournament as “offensive, disrespectful”, and it is partly funded by $2 billion from Saudi Public Investment Fund.
She added, “A multibillion dollar public relations stunt” — all of which were designed to “sports-wash the Saudi connection since 9/11.
“Golf, but louder”
Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster (New Jersey). Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
You will find another story at Trump’s golf course two miles down Lamington Road. It is located past the Rocking Horse Farm, which advertised lambs and sheep for sale. It was a story about a business transaction that saw scores of workers finalizing arrangements for the LIV golf tournament.
Some workers drove golf cars. Some workers drove golf carts.
Trump was absent. Trump was not present.
Trump did not mention Saudi Arabia’s connection to 9/11 in his speech. He has suggested that he will run for the White House again in 2024. Trump, however, spoke with the Wall Street Journal in advance to praise what he considers positive publicity for Saudi Arabia’s funding of the LIV Golf series.
Trump stated to the Journal that he believes that the media attention they have gotten has been more important than anything. Trump stated that the public attention they have received is worth billions of dollar. It’s one the most talked about things in sports and sports are a huge part of our lives.”
Trump stated that he didn’t know enough about the families of 9/11 victims or their loved ones. He said, “I don’t know much about them, I don’t know how they relate to this, their strong feelings, and I understand their feelings.” I cannot really comment on that as I don’t understand what they are saying or who they’re referring to.
Trump posted a message to pro-golfers last week, amid increasing criticism about the Saudi connection to the LIV Tournament. Trump didn’t address the Saudi connection with 9/11.
On Monday, however, Trump received a response to a note from 9/11 victims’ families at his Bedminster course. It was written by a woman identifying as an aide to Brett Eagleson. He lost his father Bruce in the debris of the trade center. She has since become a fierce critic of Trump and Saudi Arabia.
Eagleson, a Middletown resident, said, “I was riding on my lawn mower.” “The call came in from a blocked number. It seemed spam to me. It was spam to me so I took it.”
NorthJersey.com interview with Eagleson: He did not “catch” the woman’s identity. He stated that she had told him that Trump wanted to know that the 9/11 victims were “very dear and near to him.”
Eagleson stated that if that is true, he wondered why Trump would host the LIV Golf tournament when it is sponsored and funded by the Saudi Investment Fund.
Eagleson claimed that Trump’s aide had told him that the “LIV” contract was binding.
Eagleson stated that Trump is well-known for breaking contracts. “The call was basically a b.s. “The call was essentially a b.s. We are clearly not getting through the president.”
Celebrities claim ‘fake outrage’
Phil Mickelson, Charles Barkley, and Charles Barkley discuss the eighth green at Capital One’s The Match Champions For Change at Stone Canyon Golf Club, November 27, 2020 in Oro Valley. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images For The Match
Trump isn’t the only cause of frustration for families affected by 9/11.
Charles Barkley, a former basketball star, is openly promoting himself as a TV analyst for LIV Golf tournaments. He said that relatives of 9/11 victims, and other critics, were expressing “fake anger” at LIV Golf’s support from Saudi Arabia.
Barkley stated that he heard a lot about blood money and sports-washing. Howard Eskin was not impressed by Barkley’s outrage. “Everybody involved in sports has taken money from blood.”
Eagleson quickly responded to Barkley.
He said that his comments about the Saudi Arabia 9/11 LIV Outrage were ignorant, and shared his thoughts with NorthJersey.com. Perhaps you believe our outrage is fake, because you haven’t seen the bodies. My dad was killed in the Towers of Fire. His remains were never found. We never got to say goodbye.”
Barkley didn’t respond. Barkley is scheduled to headline the LIV sponsored pro-am tournament on Thursday.
The events of Tuesday morning in Bedminster and the weeks before show the ongoing disconnect between those who wish to remove the layers that have long obscured the 9/11 story, and those who want it to be told openly and those who just want to forget or move on.
Many 9/11 victims and their families are concerned by the thousands of pages of evidence that links Saudi Arabia to the attacks. Reports indicate that several Saudi officials, including one linked to the Saudi intelligence agency, helped the Islamic terrorists and hid in North Jersey. They rented apartments, opened bank accounts, and joined local gyms.
A group of relatives of 9/11 victims including Dennis McGinley, Haworth’s brother, and Dan McGinley, Ridgewood lost their brother, Dan, shot a TV commercial that referred to Saudis as “blood money”.
McGinley stated that the “this golf tournament” is being held 50 miles away from Ground Zero in a 30-second spot. The spot will be broadcast on Fox and other cable channels for golf fans. Ground Zero was the name rescue workers gave to the seven-story piles of rubble that had been left after the twin towers collapsed.
Alison Crowther, standing on Tuesday on the lawn in front of the Dillon Library, Bedminster, wondered when the truth will come out about Welles’s death.
Crowther drove 70 miles to her Upper Nyack home. Crowther pleaded for a group of journalists and TV crews to examine the FBI files, which contain compelling evidence linking at least 12 Saudi officials to the attacks on 9/11.
Crowther even brought a red t-shirt to remind people that Welles was her son. He was seen leading office workers to safety on September 11, 2001.
Welles helped one group of workers escape the South Tower’s flames, then returned inside to look for more. The tower fell.
She took the bandana out of her purse and stared at them silently for a few moments.
She said, “Sometimes I feel that our government is more interested protecting everyone else than we are”
Matthew Bocchi, New Vernon, sat in silence in a chair while he waited for his turn to speak. John, his father, had died in the North Tower of the trade center when John was only nine years old.
Bocchi reached into his wallet to show a photo of his father, who was just 38 years old and had a bushy, jet-black head.
“People say I look like him,” Bocchi said.
He said that his memories are what keep him going. While the LIV Golf tournament is indeed distressing, and Trump’s inaction disheartening, Bocchi stated that he will continue to press for the truth about the 9/11 attacks.
He spoke to the crowd moments later. He described what it was like to see the video footage of the towers burning on that September Tuesday 2001. He described what it was like not to have a father as a child. He accused LIV tournament players of taking “blood money”.
He paused, then looked around at the crowd. A larger number of relatives of 9/11 victims will be present at the library’s lawn on Friday, when the tournament starts.
Bocchi stated that “we, as the 9/11 families, aren’t going away.”
Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist at NorthJersey.com and the author of three critically-acclaimed non-fiction books, a podcast producer and a documentary film producer.
By: Michael Kelly
Title: Grieving begins anew for 9/11 families as LIV Golf event gets underway at Trump’s Bedminster course
Sourced From: golfweek.usatoday.com/2022/07/28/liv-golf-event-gets-underway-at-trumps-bedminster-golf-course-9-11/
Published Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 12:48:33 +0000
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