posted 03-17-2004 10:08 AM            

LAW enforcement agencies should investigate Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and FBI agents for possessing mementos from the sites of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a group of lawyers said.

The National Whistleblower Centre made the request today because an inquiry found Rumsfeld has a piece of the airplane that flew into the Pentagon inside his office.

The Justice Department's inspector general also discovered that 13 FBI agents had taken rubble, debris and items such as flags and a Tiffany crystal globe paperweight from Ground Zero at the World Trade Centre.

Defence Department spokesman Eric Ruff rejected any suggestion of impropriety.

"It's not a souvenir; it is a memento on display in Secretary Rumsfeld's office," Ruff said. "It's hard to imagine there's something wrong in trying to remind people of what happened on 9/11."

Rumsfeld "may have violated the federal conversion statute", the Whistleblower Centre wrote to Attorney-General John Ashcroft.

posted 03-17-2004 01:11 PM            

Even though many people probably have pieces of evidence from the wreckage site, it rubs me the wrong way that any of the Cabinet Members do! No shame! Here is a short but sweet explanation re: Rumsfeld's souvenir from the Pentagon:

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Friday night that Rumsfeld has a shard of metal from the jetliner that struck the Pentagon on a table in his office and shows it to people as a reminder of the tragedy Pentagon workers shared on Sept. 11, 2001.

"He doesn't consider it his own," Di Rita said, adding the piece is on display for the Pentagon. "We are mindful of the fact that if somebody has an evidentiary requirement to have this shard of metal, we will provide it to them."

BTW, it is against the law to withhold this type of evidence!