MEET WITH PROSECUTION IN THE CASE OF THE U.S. vs. KSM
Posted on June 19, 2026 Leave a Comment
Get updated on the Military Commissions case of the 9/11 detainees at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay. Opportunity for engagement and to ask questions.
When: July 22
Where: Virtual / In-Person in Washington D.C.
RSVP: July 10
Contact to Register: osd.pentagon.omc.list.vwap@mail.mil
THE ART OF THE DEAL RIPS JUSTICE FROM 9/11 VICTIMS
Posted on June 18, 2026 Leave a Comment
As we approach the 25th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, American victims of international terrorism are being dismissed by our government. Happy birthday Mr. President.
OUR GOVERNMENT WANTS AMERICA TO FORGET!
For seventeen years 9/11 families have fought to pursue justice against sovereign countries and designated State Sponsors of Terrorism. In 2015, PL. 114-113, known as JASTA, was enacted by Congress to establish the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund with the goal to bankrupt terrorism by seizing sanctioned Iranian assets and fining companies that do business with Iran, distributing a portion of those assets to American victims of terrorism. Battles ensued for three more years to lift the ban on 9/11 families, unjustly imposed as the result of a fine-print waiver attached to the Victims Compensation Fund of 2001, forfeiting our right to pursue future civil suits. In 2018, 9/11 victims, family members, and victim estates received judgements from the Department of Justice. An initial round of payments began at the end of 2019. The Fund, designed to issue annual payments of varied amounts, is set to sunset in 2039.
This is an act of Congress! Poof.
None of the 9/11 planners nor powers have been set to trial! 9/11, USS COLE, and Bali Nightclub Bombing Detainees continue to enjoy immunity from conviction in an assisted living facility (costing taxpayers at over $13,000,000 per detainee, annually) off the mainland, 1,400 miles from Ground Zero. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/us/politics/sept-11-attacks-trial.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Victims, survivors, and victim family members are also determined to bring the financiers and individuals who aided the 9/11 hijackackers— Saudi government employees— to trial in our unyielding litigation against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/us/politics/saudi-arabia-lawsuit-9-11-families.html?s
25-YEARS, NO JUSTICE FOR THE 2,977 SOULS MURDERED ON AMERICAN SOIL.
The USVSSTF has been the only form of justice I may see in my lifetime. I was 37 when my life was shattered and my children and I were thrust into this ceaseless, redactive public charade through six administrations of politicization and monetization of David’s murder.
Lifting the sanctions on Iran for the purpose of voter gain is a disgrace. Infuriating! Does this mean that Iran’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism will be lifted?
The United States is literally supplying terrorism victim blood money to a military regime (aka: IRGC) to grow terrorism forces, bolstering crimes against humanity.
There is no mention of the Americans who were victimized by the terrorists cultivated by this militant regime. Americans who were awarded a shred of justice mandated by Public Law, to have it ripped away in the forthcoming 25th Anniversary of the event of our lifetime which lives in infamy.
Paragraphs 7-11 in the “Memorandom of understanding”(MOU) 14-point deal struck with Mr. President between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to exit his illegal war, draining American’s pockets and waning his popularity among voters, the Senate, and the billionairs who profit by funding his office . https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/us/politics/us-iran-agreement-deal-text.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
7. The United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions, i.e. a Board of Governors resolutions, and all unilateral US sanctions, primary and secondary, in an agreed upon schedule as part of the final deal. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America acknowledge the critical importance of the sanctions termination issue above mentioned and expressed their intentions to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them to paragraph eight. Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon in accordance with the schedule mentioned in paragraph seven, with the minimum methodology to be down blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA.
8. The two parties also agreed to discuss the issue of enrichment and other mutually agreed matters related to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear needs, based on a satisfactory framework being agreed upon in the final deal. The final deal will confirm the provisions of this paragraph. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledge the critical importance of the nuclear issues above mentioned and express their intention to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.
9. Pending the final deal, the United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.
10. The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of MOU until the termination of sanctions, US Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products, and derivatives, and all associated services, including banking transactions, insurances, transportation, etc.
11. The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Upon the implementation of this MOU, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will mutually agree on the procedures related to the release of these funds during the negotiations. Such funds, whether retained in the original account or transferred, shall be made fully usable for payment to any ultimate beneficiary designed by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America undertakes to issue all necessary licenses and authorizations accordingly.
U.S. v. KSM, et. al. Notification
Posted on January 24, 2026 Leave a Comment
Dear Survivors & Families,
We write to inform you regarding the recent developments in United States v. Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, et. al.
As you know, there has been continuing litigation regarding pre-trial agreements related to three of the five accused. Earlier this month our office notified you that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the defense motions for a rehearing. This means that the Court’s July 11, 2025 decision, which determined that then-Secretary Austin validly withdrew from the agreements in August 2024, remains in effect.
The defense has the opportunity to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of the United States and will have until April 6, 2026 to file their petitions should they choose to do so. A petition to the Supreme Court is the only appellate course of action remaining in this process.
Ensuring you are engaged and informed is important to the prosecution team. In support of that mission, VWAP will host the team for two in-person/virtual events on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, where you can hear from the prosecutors and discuss the current state of the proceedings. These events will allow them to further explain the path forward and for you to express your views.
We encourage survivors and victim family members to attend and participate. In-person attendance is available for those in the D.C. area. However, there is a limited capacity, and all attendees will be subjected to a security screening.
Admittance to the events, both virtually and physically, will only be allowed through an RSVP to ensure that only survivors and victim family members are in attendance. Please RSVP by Monday, February 2, 2026. When you RSVP you will be given the opportunity to submit questions to the prosecution team in advance, but you will also have the opportunity to ask your questions during the Q & A portion of the event.
We encourage you to share this information with immediate family members and other survivors, so they have an opportunity to enroll in the VWAP program to join the meeting.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact my office with any questions or concerns.
Our entire VWAP Team, including Director Danielle Reddan, can be reached at osd.pentagon.OMC.list.vwap@mail.mil. Details regarding these events, including how to RSVP, are contained in the attached information sheet.
We will continue to provide you with additional information and updates about this case as it becomes available. Thank you for your continued engagement and commitment to this legal process.
Very Respectfully,
Danielle Reddan
Director
Victim/Witness Assistance Program
Clayton Trivett
Managing Trial Counsel
9/11 Prosecution Team
Jeffrey Groharing
Trial Counsel
9/11 Prosecution Team
Joshua Bearden
Colonel, JA, U.S. Army National Guard
9/11 Prosecution Team
NFORMATION SHEET
Event Information:
The meetings will be held on February 10, 2026 in two sessions:
Virtual Meeting – Morning Session 9:15 AM
Virtual Meeting – Afternoon Session 4:15 PM
Tysons Corner, VA (Live) [Office of the Chief Prosecutor]
Further information, including the meeting invitation, will be distributed after a confirmed
RSVP. Please RSVP here: https://forms.osi.apps.mil/r/q3hxy9Dfix
Please submit your RSVP by the end of business on Monday, February 2, 2026.
Contact Information:
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Victim/Witness
Assistance Program (VWAP) Team:
Email: osd.pentagon.OMC.list.vwap@mail.mil
Phone: 703-695-6966
LARK ASCENDING
Posted on October 31, 2025 Leave a Comment
I stand in the opening of the garage in my home in Vermont, chucking balls for the border collie to chase. The yard is veiled under a heavy blanket of leaves, the amber and bittersweet tinge of fall’s bruising. I’m wearing winter fleece under my rain jacket. The dog doesn’t care about the cold or the soaking rain. The shifting late afternoon light catches a faint stain in the concrete, where my son last parked five years ago. This deluge has cloistered me. But I need to move beyond the long private pass, breath fresh air, lift my spirit. I drive to a nature preserve, harness the dog, and grip the leash as if it’s the only thing left to hold onto. It’s 5:00 PM. The cold feathers my spine. I don’t want to step into this darkness. Is this baptism worth suffering for…?
On this day in 2020, just after I prepared the house for my sister’s arrival, my son has hugged me goodbye and says he’ll plan supper. COVID has cancelled Halloween so I hike the nature preserve with my dog. Tuned to a radio app, a beautiful pastoral composition sings from my pocket— “Lark Ascending” by Vaughan Williams. Violins resonate in rising and drifting motion while starlings undulate in the fading light, like a dark veil. My son has already risen into the firmament, but I don’t know this yet. What I know is that he will love this music. I pause in the meadow, pull out my phone, and tap the title into a note. The October sky blushes over a nearby field, where a herd of banded cows rush toward the pale with their throaty bellows, scouting us with their big black eyes. They don’t know about larks, only fences and boundaries and meadow and mountain and hoof and breath.
The earth tilts toward darkness and I quicken my pace to loop back. Stones scrape against the tread of my boots. Leaves dapple the path ahead like copper coins cast from a heist, masking my impression. The citrine sun illuminates an opening where the silhouettes of two massive junipers vignette a tinting reflection. The way out is longer than anticipated and I cannot outstep the glow sinking into the mirror pond. I think my son has returned home with a bag of groceries, perhaps he’s slicing onions, draining clams, tempering cream. Anxious to share the splendor, I prepare to text the photos I snapped with a note of my return, idling in the unpaved lot. But I don’t. Instead, I think of sitting together, scrolling through photos, listening to violins, holding the beauty.
… I return home to unfurl a line across the verge, so no goblins and fairies with a sweet tooth ring the bell. No Jacko-lanterns or violins or mask. I want to light a fire, curl under a soft blanket, thaw leftovers, and write this story.
2025 Deborah Garcia, All Rights Reserved. Photos from personal photo stream – October 31, 2020, Jericho VT.
Autumn Reflecting Absence
Posted on September 22, 2025 Leave a Comment
Image created from personal photographs, enhanced using photo editing tools and Microsoft Copilot.
Fall was once another woman’s favorite time of year. For her, cooling temps renewed energy, darkening days shifted from strawberries and cream to steamy apple pies, falling colors signaled lifecycle tinting toward her October birthday. This woman holds a precious contemplative space in absence alongside her living son, through the gilded equinox— The September remembrance of meeting her lover and his death; the hallowed October parting of her beloved son; the September 22 birthday of a mother who blew out her last candle in 1981.
© 2025 Deborah Garcia, all rights reserved
THE NEWS IS MOSTLY TRUTH
Posted on September 11, 2025 Leave a Comment
Wendy and Barb sit on either side of me like the sibylline lions, Patience and Fortitude. I’m looking toward the corner of Morris and South Bay, listening for the rumble of a school bus, but all I hear is my heart pounding. I imagine Dylan’s morning: he’s humming a new tune; made a new friend; drawn a picture of his family.
Sue parks at the curb. I’ve forgotten the sitter was coming, that I have an afternoon of feeding tubes and language games. Startled, I turn to face her. Sue sees me the way you see tragedy, no matter how dark the shades are.
“Oh no Debbie, please don’t say it.”
A simple statement, don’t say it. A window slamming shut on your life.
I see her. She is real. This is real. Monday, David was to stay home. Sue was not coming to the doorstep, now she is.
I want to go back inside, savor my coffee and flip the open news page. It’s the wrong day and I know everything now. I want the phones silenced before noises form words that are all wrong. I want to push the green call button, sob to Dave about Dylan’s first day of school, while he pauses on the concourse.
The four of us sit on the stoop in silence, and I wonder if I can forestall a terrible thing from happening, by simply remaining still.
A yellow bus pauses.
I move alone to the corner to embrace the innocence, and walk our four-year-old into his new world.
The driver whispers, “I hope you don’t know anyone in the buildings. It’s terrible.
“Mommy, I had a great first day of school. Dasani is my best friend!”
The blue sky is now veiled in a milky haze, the breeze has become a wind, and the air is silt, and sea, and ash.
“What did you do today?”
“We had circle time, I got my name on my cubby, and we made pictures. I had fun in school today.”
“That’s very good Dylan.”
© 2025 Deborah Garcia, all rights reserved
URGENT ACTION CALL to Family and Friends of 9/11 Victims
Posted on September 8, 2025 Leave a Comment
Use the Letter Template Download below. Email Subject line: Bring the AVTCA to the Floor—“Honor Your Promise on 9/11.” Address 5 members of congress as follows:
Congressman Lawler: Courtney.Kaufman@mail.house.gov
Congresswoman Malliotakis: Kevin.Rodgers@mail.house.gov
Senator Cornyn: Leslie_Slaughter@judiciary-rep.senate.gov
Leader Scalise: Meg.McGaughey@mail.house.gov
Speaker Johnson: Chris.Jaarda@mail.house.gov
THANK YOU.
DAVID GARCIA, 40: A Life Composed of Courage and Passion
Posted on September 7, 2025 Leave a Comment
(May 11, 1961 – September 11, 2001)
David Garcia, 40, loved music: YES, Miles Davis, Acoustic Alchemy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Debussy. Music underscored his challenges, triumphs, and dreams, a passion he enjoyed sharing with his young sons. “You could almost relate anything to music,” he said. College breaks were spent feverishly recording vinyl albums to cassette, listing the discography on 2×3 cards and arranging them alphabetically in the stereo cabinet he built himself. “I’m just sittin’ here, recording,” he noted, whilewriting song lyrics in letters to me, through the dating years. He built a pair of console speakers and shouldered a 20lb boom box built from car speakers and plywood. In his 30’s, he avidly supported the IMAC Theater (Inter-Media Arts Center) in Huntington Station, NY, friending the owner. We had tickets to see Acoustic Alchemy at the IMAC September 29, 2001.
Born and raised in the mid-Hudson town of Wappinger’s Falls, David graduated from Roy C. Ketcham High School with honors in 1979. Despite receiving devastating news that he was losing his eyesight to Retinitis Pigmentosa two years prior, he left home in the fall for SUNY College at Cortland, earning a B.S. degree in math and computer science, where he met his wife in 1981.
David and Deborah were 25- and 23-years-old when they married in July 1987. They purchased a ‘fixer-upper’ home in the seaport village of Freeport, Long Island, where he went to work replacing plaster with sheetrock, re-wiring, re-plumbing, and building tiered flower boxes along the front of the house for Deborah. This father of two sons put in twelve-hour workdays, taking over childcare after returning home. On the side, he coached his sons in little league, skiing, and building Lego worlds. He also loved spending weekends in his hometown, racing his newly purchased boat along the Hudson River.
He did not let the absence of a driver’s license or employment discrimination due to his disability keep him from moving forward. In 1985, he moved to New York city where he began his professional career as a mainframe programmer. Over sixteen years, this devoted family man carved a robust career as an IT professional and CEO of his consulting LLC, Rapid Business Software, developing a sought-after reputation in software-engineering with leading global financial companies, ultimately bringing him to Marsh & McLennan at One WTC in 1999. He had been planning a career shift from software engineering to web development in the Summer of 2001. Three weeks after 9/11, Deborah discovered a To-Do list on his computer synched from his Palm Pilot on September 9— Send web resume to concentric.net, Morgan Stanley… . A resume was sent 9/10, interviews were scheduled for 9/27. Also noted, Wills – Due Date, 9/10/01: Discuss simple will with financial planner: ask for testamentary trust and guardianship of children.He journaled, “There are many things to do in the time that is left.”
He was always willing to help family and friends with home repair and computer jams. His boys knew that Daddy could fix anything. A basement bench held a rotating supply of broken toys, notably a prized remote control boat that he had stayed up late repairing on the 10th.
David’s enthusiasm for life was not lost to the questionable future of his vision. He moved through the world with such finesse that few noticed his blindness. “The one thing in life,” he wrote, “is to try and get a lot of fun”—a mantra that epitomized his resolve to capture rich experiences before his world went dark.
Portions of David’s remains— recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center— were identified between February and August 2002. He was among 295 colleagues whose lives were taken in the attacks.
© 2025 Deborah Garcia, All rights reserved
BREAKING NEWS: Path Clearing In the 9/11 Case For Kingdom of Saudi Arabia To Face Trial
Posted on August 28, 2025 Leave a Comment
Judge Daniels, of the Federal Court in the Southern District of New, just delivered a decision and order to deny KSA’s motion to dismiss.
This motion was initially brought to the SDNY by KSA in 2004.
Judge Daniels accepted evidence that undeniably links Saudi officials to provide financial and logistical support to hijackers.
The judge did not buy that the drawing of an airplane with equations related to the height and distance of a plane’s flight path, (found in Omar al-Bayoumi’s London apartment) had any reasonable explanation, dismissing a claim of being his son’s high school homework assignment, asserting the drawing “facially (directly) connects Bayoumi, with knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.” The judge further finds that Bayoumi’s 1999 videotaping casing of the Capitol, supporting FBI documents indicating him as a Saudi intelligence asset. Additional evidence proved he had frequent contact with consular official and Imam Fahad al-Thumairy, employed by KSA’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs (MOIA), also alleged to have direct links with two of the 9/11 hijackers with whom Bayoumi lived in California. Thumairy was chief Imam at the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City, California and a diplomatic employee at the Saudi Arabian Consulate General in Los Angeles. The judge finds that “KSA sent Omar Al Bayoumi and Al Fahad Thumairy to the U.S.,” as government employees, concluding that “Plaintiffs have shown that Bayoumi, Thumairy, and KSA knowingly, or at least with deliberate indifference, supporting the hijackers’ terrorist activity,” by “providing assistance to the hijackers” in the U.S.
Much of the evidence presented had been turned over to the FBI in the early weeks after the 9/11 attacks, by the British police force, and questionably mishandled by the FBI and CIA, downplaying the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s ties to al-Qaeda plotters and their role in the 9/11 attacks. Here.
Further, The court asserts, “Plaintiffs present sufficient facts to support a reasonable inference that their claims satisfy the JASTA exception.”
The years of investigation and arguments that this ruling builds upon, has been bolstered by the efforts of 9/11 families in the 2016 passage of the Justice Against Sponsor’s of Terrorism Act (JASTA- Public Law No. 114-222). JASTA law amends the Foreign Soverign Immunities Act, Anti-Terrorism Act, and the Effective Death Penalty Act. It allows all victims of international terrorism to file suits, holding foreign governments not designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism, accountable when providing support to terrorism acts inflicted upon American citizens. The act waives soverign immunity for foreign states casuing injury or death in the United States by an act of international terrorism in the U.S. or tortious acts of agents of that foreign state while in office or employed regardless of where the the acts occurred here, and here.
Promise of Justice demands transparency and accountability. We will not stop until every line of truth is unveiled and every path of justice is secured— for generations to come!
© 2025 Deborah Garcia
