9/11 widow Beverly Eckert killed in plane crash

Fifty people lost their lives Thursday night when a Continental commuter flight from Newark, New Jersey crashed before landing in Buffalo, New York. Details remain scarce on whose lives were claimed. One victim confirmed dead is Beverly Eckert, a 9/11 widow...

That's the newsline that will be carried for the next day or two in the mainstream media, as a sort of "sad irony" story. Some of the media on the left will also note that she had been among a number of 9/11 family members who had also challenged the military tribunals at Guantanamo.

Additionally, some progressives will take note that Beverly Eckert refused to accept the $1.8 million award from the 9/11 victims compensation fund. Here are excerpts from an open letter she wrote on the subject:

I've chosen to go to court rather than accept a payoff from the 9/11 victims compensation fund. Instead, I want to know what went so wrong with our intelligence and security systems that a band of religious fanatics was able to turn four U.S passenger jets into an enemy force, attack our cities and kill 3,000 civilians with terrifying ease. I want to know why two 110-story skyscrapers collapsed in less than two hours and why escape and rescue options were so limited...

The victims fund was not created in a spirit of compassion. Rather, it was a tacit acknowledgement by Congress that it tampered with our civil justice system in an unprecedented way. Lawmakers capped the liability of the airlines at the behest of lobbyists who descended on Washington while the Sept. 11 fires still smoldered.

And this liability cap protects not just the airlines, but also World Trade Center builders, safety engineers and other defendants…

By suing, I've forfeited the "$1.8 million average award" for a death claim I could have collected under the fund. Nor do I have any illusions about winning money in my suit. What I do know is I owe it to my husband, whose death I believe could have been avoided, to see that all of those responsible are held accountable. If we don't get answers to what went wrong, there will be a next time. And instead of 3,000 dead, it will be 10,000. What will Congress do then?

So I say to Congress, big business and everyone who conspired to divert attention from government and private-sector failures: My husband's life was priceless, and I will not let his death be meaningless. My silence cannot be bought.

She has now been silenced.