New Research Source: Victims' phone calls and transcripts

[HamdenRice]

Believe it or not, almost 5 years after the events of 9/11, the City of New York is only now finally releasing recordings and edited transcripts of 911 calls made on 9/11 by victims of the attacks. Previously the city refused to release these important recordings because, they alleged, the recordings and transcripts might upset victims families.

The transcripts and recordings are being made available under a court order as a result of a lawsuit by the New York Times and nine families of victims.

Bizarrely, the heavily edited transcripts will not include the victims' sides of the conversations, but only the operators, unless the families of the victims consent to the release of the victims' words.

The families will be entitled to a CD containing the full unedited calls if they want them, but if the city's letters to families are any indication, only 24 families have been contacted about the imminent release of the recordings, suggesting that the city has only identified 24 victims from the recordings. It also isn't clear whether the families will receive only the recording of their own family member or of the entire archive.

Already, however, the recordings promise to provide important new data. The news program of the local NBC affiliate in New York this morning played a recorded call -- presumably released by family members -- in which a caller claims that a bomb has gone off in the World Trade Center.

http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/powerplays/archives/002537.php

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1770316

[spooked911]

1. should be extremely interesting to learn what they have been covering up

for five years-- explosions and what else?

[HamdenRice]

2. If it ever gets out

It seems that the restrictions on these tapes and transcripts are so severe, that we may never know what was said on them.

Our best hope is that there is a victim's family member who is permitted to and does request the full CD and who then makes it available to researchers.

But I thought the choice of a tape about an explosion, as the first to be publicly aired on a local news program, was very interesting.

[spooked911]

3. Yes, I agree.

[eomer]

4. What was said on them and also what other sounds can be heard

in the background.

Is it possible that an audio recording of the beginning of one of the collapses exists?

[Shoestring]

5. Disaster Drill at WTC on 9/11?

There's an interesting quote in an NYT article by Jim Dwyer about these recordings. It says:

Alayne Gentul, who worked in the south tower, the second of the buildings to be hit, had given decisive orders for her staff and others to leave the 90th and 94th floors, according to the accounts of survivors. Then she and others made their way to the 97th floor to clear out a team of computer specialists visiting her firm for a disaster drill. She was trapped with them when the second plane hit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/30/nyregion/30tapes.html

Has anyone seen any other mentions of a "disaster drill" at the WTC? Dwyer, along with Kevin Flynn, in their book 102 Minutes (pp. 76-77) says something similar:

Stephani Koskuba turned to look for Emery, but could not see him. He must have been hidden in the crowded car, she would remember thinking. In fact, Emery had not gotten on. He had already headed back upstairs to Fiduciary's office on the 90th floor, where he would meet up with Alayne Gentul. They agreed to check on the technology consultants who had come from California for disaster backup preparations and who were working on the 97th floor.

As to the identity of the "technology consultants" who had come for the "disaster backup preparations," they may have been working for Oracle, whose headquarters is in Redwood Shores, California. For example, one article says:

Oracle reported seven missing employees this week. Todd Beamer, an Oracle employee, lost his life when United Flight 93 crashed in western Pennsylvania. Another six Oracle consultants were working on the 97th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Those who missing from the company came from the United States, India, and the United Kingdom.

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/09/18/010918hnlosses.html

Any thoughts on this?

[HamdenRice]

6. After reading the Times article, this is bushit

Each family member will only receive a recording of that particular victim's conversation. What was released to the Times was only the responder's part of the conversation.

This is so fishy my cat wouldn't eat it. Even some of the families are calling this bullshit according to the article.

This does accomplish de-contextualizing and atomizing the calls and the information in them. It is just so disappointing.

That they can with a straight face refuse to release these tapes because it might hurt the families feelings makes my blood boil.