09/07/21 09/07/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! oncwe sawhe itial urse, wetarted reazing -- there s lead ithe air. i was ready getting wnin there s intenonal toxic exposure quot when heder s --

[inaudible] amy: 9/11 uettled dt. this weemarks th20 anversary the sepmber 1 atcks. weook atn enrang new domentary the impt of t toxi canr-causin smoke a dut that hungver grou zero, sickening so manyet how the vironmenprotecti ancy to peoplthe airas sa to brthe. werehey trng to save wall stet? we wll speakith decracy w!' jn ialso heed expostherisis deite intense essureot to and we ll talk atudent whose scol near e site rpened before the smo had spped rning. will al look at h 91 responrs had tfight for health ce jusce while ty

we sick an dng. weill spea wh joe adroga, e fher of lice dective jas zadra who died of a respiratory illness after assisting in rescue efforts at ground zero about how he had to fight to get his illness recognized. >> refused to admit he was sick. ey wou not givup. th would s a serget to the house tmake surhe was ithe hoe becausehey we hopin to cch him outside the house where they could discipline him and probably firing him. that is how much they wanted to get rid of him, to say he was not sick. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. unemployment benefits for

millions of u.s. workers expired on labor day after president biden declined to press the democratic-led congress to extend assistance, even as many states suffered their worst surge of the pandemic. an estimated 9.3 million jobless workers lost benefits, along with 26 million members of their households who relied on the income. the cutoff of aid came after the labor department reported the u.s. economy added just 235,000 jobs in august, a significant slowdown due largely to the spread of the delta coronaviru variant. e unemplment ratfor african americsos .6 of a percentage point in august to 8.8%. on labor day, president biden met with members of the international brotherhood of electrical workers in wilmington, delaware, shaking hands and posing for selfies. across the united states, at least 1000 schools in 35 states

have canceled in-person classes since the start of the school year, with tens of thousands of students forced to quarantine due to community spread of coronavirus. a disproportionate number of closures have come in the deep south, where vaccination rates are lowest and public health measures in schools are lax-to-nonexistent. cases are rising fastest in school districts where students have been back in classrooms for weeks. the u.s. is now averaging over 1500 covid-19 deaths and 150,000 positive tests per day. in idaho, republican governor brad little said hospitals are preparing to adopt crisis standards of care, with medical workers set to ration care as hospitals fill beyond capacity with covid-19 patients. in afghanistan, the taliban has claimed control over panjshir valley, the last holdout of anti-taliban forces. a spokesman said the taliban was

in the final stages of forming a new government, with an announcement expected shortly. he denied reports of infighting and a power struggle within the taliban ranks. meanwhile, attacks on afghan women are continuing to escalate. witnesses in the central ghor province said taliban militants beat a female police officer in front of her family saturday before fatally shooting her. in kabul, protesters and journalists were assaulted saturday at a rally demanding equal rights. protesters said taliban soldiers blocked them from marching on to the presidential palace. >> together with the group of our colleagues, we wanted to go near a former government office for protest. before we got there, the taliban hit women with electric ters and used tear gas against won.

they also hit women in the head with a gun magazine and the women became bloody. there was no one to ask why. amy: the world health organization once more than health care centers across 2000 afghanistan may soon be forced to close, at least temporarily, because their donors are barred from working with the taliban. this is who emergencies director rick brennan. >> that will be associated with an increase in illness and death. we would expect -- and also rolling back the tremendous health gainsf the last 20 years. amy: secretary of state antony blinken says the u.s. is negotiating with the taliban for the safe passage of u.s. citizens and some afghans to leave aboard charter flights. a team of engineers from qatar is working with the taliban to restore service to kabul's main airport. domestic flights have resumed, but international civilian flights remain on hold due to damage to the airport's radar and navigation systems.

the u.n. world food programme has published disturbing new footage of the brutal humanitarian crisis in ethiopia's tigray region. this comes as the agency just the footage showed a site with supplies being loaded on camels and brought to a remote area that had been cut off from aid for months. this comes as the united nations continues to warn millions of people are on the brink of famine saying an estimated 100 trucks of a need to enter to meet people's urgent needs. this is a resident of tigray, who was displaced by the months-long conflict that started in november. >> could not sleep at night and think stre thinking about what to be my kids. i still think about how to provide for my kids. amy: in guinea, an army colonel

said he has dissolved the government of president alpha conde, spiraling the country into political uncertainty. on sunday, pictures surfaced of condé in the custody of men wearing military attire. meanwhile, guinea government officials have been banned from leaving the country. this is colonelmamady doumbouya, the coup's leader. >> the committee wants to reassure our economic and financial process of the normal coinuation o activities in the country. mining companies are asked to continue their activities the maritime borders will stay open for the export of mining products. the curfew in mining areas as listed in order to continue to do so. amy: condé was a year into a contested third term he won after he made changes to the constitution allowing him to run for reelection. in brazil, millions of supporters of far-right

president jair bolsonaro are expected to take to the streets today on brazil's independence day triggering fears from opponents of potential chaos and violence. ahead of the massive march over 150 lawmakers, academics and former government officials from around the world wrote a letter saying they fear bolsonaro and allies, which include white supremacist groups and military police, may be seeking to instigate a trump-like insurrection or a military coup, as polls show most brazilians wouldn't vote for bolsonaro in next year's election. their letter read in part -- "the people of brazil have struggled for decades to secure democracy from military rule, bolsonaro must not be permitted to rob them of it now." meanwhile, a ruling from the brazilian supreme court is expected soon on a case that could determine if thousands of brazil's indigenous people can reclaim ancestral lands that were stolen from them. in mexico, immigration and security forces violently blocked the passage of hundreds of asylum seekers in the southern state of chiapas over

-- who hoped to reach u.s. for refuge. the caravan was largely made up of central american and haitian families. in more immigration news, the biden administration is once again deporting asylum seekers to guatemala city by air, marking a possible end to the practice of expelling asylum seekers to remote jungles in the guatemala-mexico border. this is an asylum seeker who was deported to guatemala last week. >> for now we lost and it is not worth crying over because the trip cost as many. we did not lead with our own money, but borrowed money. it is harsh because things are very hard year. we lost. we nd to carry on in guatemala, take any jobs we can find because life is hard here. we were unexpectedly depted from wanting to live the american dream. amy: parts of louisiana remain underwater, more than a week after hurricane ida struck as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the united states. more than 600,000 electricity

customers in louisiana still have now power. the storm's death toll rose over the weekend to at least 63. at least 50 deaths came in the northeastern u.s. as ida's remnants brought record rainfall and flash flooding. president biden is visiting storm-ravaged areas of new york and new jersey today. nearly one in three u.s. residents live in a countyit by a weather disaster in the past three months. that's according to a "washington post" analysis of federal disaster declarations. "the post" reports that 64% live in places that experienced a multiday heat wave. on sunday, more than 220 health journals around the world published a joint editorial demanding urgent action to keep average global temperature increases below 1.5 degrees centigrade. in minnesota, progressive congresswomen of color have joined the fight against enbridge's line 3 pipeline, demanding president biden intervene to halt the project.

if completed, line 3 would carry more than 750,000 barrels of canadian tar sands oil a day through indigenous land and fragile ecosystems. minnesota's ilhan omar led a rally by the congressmembers known as the squad. >> they want to prioritize corporate profit over the lives of indigenous women in the future of our planet. joe biden promised to be the climate president. and this is his opportunity to follow through. amy: michigan officials are urging hundreds of families to evacuate their homes nr a detroit europe -- detroit area ford motor plant after 1400 galls of gasoline leaked into city sewers. the wing county health department says there is little risk of an explosion but the residents are at risk from toxic benzene fumes that can cause cancer. in lakeland, florida, a former u.s. marine sniper carrying

multiple guns and wearing full body armor targeted a family apparently at random early sunday morning, killing four people in their own home. among the dead was a mother and a three-month-old baby she was cradling. an 11-year-old girl who was shot seven times survived. the shooter also killed the family's dog. the gunman, 33-year-old bryan riley, was wounded during an intense gun battle with police and arrested. riley was deployed as a marine sharpshooter in both iraq and afghanistan between 2008 and 2010. riley's girlfriend said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. he had a concealed weapons license and was working as a security contractor. actor michael k. williams, best known for bringing to life the character of omar little on hbo's acclaimed series "the wire," has died. he was 54 years old. williams was found unresponsive in his brooklyn apartment monday afternoon. his death is being investigated as a potential drug overdose.

in a 2017 interview with "the new york times," williams opened up about his struggles with substance use. he said -- "addiction doesn't go away. it's an everyday struggle for me, but i'm fighting." and legendary greek composer mikis theodorakis has died at the age of 96. his popular songs and music, including the scores for the movies "zorba the greek" and "z," were banned during the military dictatorship of the 1960's and 1970's in greece, and theodorakis spent much of his three years of banishment in a remote village and in prison. and in mexico city statue of , a christopher columbus that was removed last year will be replaced by a statue of an indigenous woman. mexico city's mayor claudia sheinbaum made the announcement monday. >> it is a great recognition of the 500 years of resistance by

indigenous women in our country. this is for them. we owe them an history of our country, other homeland. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, "9/11 unsettled dust." this week marks the 2010 anniversary of the september 11 attacks. we look at an in reaching you documentary on the impact of that toxic, cancer-causing smoke and dust that hung over ground zero and how the environment protection agency, were they protecting wall street? told people the air was safe to breathe. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: the greek dissident was imprisoned for years, famous for the musical scores of "zorba"

and so much more. he died this weekend. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we're going to start with a warning to our listeners and viewers. today's show includes graphic images and descriptions. sun that you may certainly have heard and seen before. yes, this week marks the 20th anniversary of the september 11 attacks on the world trade center towers inew york city and the pentagon in washington, d.c., that killed nearly 3000 people. we will never kn exactly how many people because those who go uncounted in life go uncounted in debt, perhaps the undocumented workers around the area. we begin our coverage looking at the impact of the toxic, cancer-causing smoke that hung

over ground zero in manhattan as the fire burned for 100 more days. at the time, the environmental protection agency told people who worked at the site and lived and went to school near it that the air was safe to breathe. in the years that followed, more than 13,200 first responders and survivors have been diagnosed with a variety of cancers and chronic respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses. close to 1900 first responders, survivors, and workers who recovered bodies and cleaned up the wreckage have since died from illnesses, many of th linkedo their me at grnd zero for th ole ho, we'll loo an enging n documentary that exposeshe masve vironmenl and puic healt cris caused by t 9/11 atck d how poticians d epa he

ristine dd whitm put wal stet'interestbefore plic heal in the termath. also shs how 11 responrs and svivors h to fit for heth care stice ile theyere sick gointo washingto scores times in wheelairson crches, wi oxygen. ye tons toxic dt fell o new rk city 9/11. whe conctrated the 16cre dister sit wind carrd the chical contamints throuout the ci in mhattan, ooklynand queens. this is the trailer for the new documentary "9/11 unsettled dust." >> oncwe saw t actua

initia reports, arted reizing it wa bze. therwas led the air i was alrea gettinwarnings there we many more potenal toxi eosures. >> when heardstin to whitn say the air quaty was at, we we horrifd. the ccentratis are such a d'tose a hlth haza. will ke sure erybody safe. pluc notnly we readn the r, we were dnking and ting it. >> my husband d i a other peopleho werenginee went do tthe si. the was qstio it s an healthy te. >>ome ople wer usingome

pot mask even thguys at groundero. >> resndedo the wod trade center, eathing eoxicir and ey said it wasafe to eathe. you're talng aboumen that could t beere that ar layingn icur at home th iv' >>he first rponders were told they wod be incded in the ansportaon bilpassed st week. >> not onef the fist respderstanding th me he todayhould have to he. not e ofhem shou have to ke anoth trip toashingt. >>his about whington, d.c., heing out peoplro 431 coressiona disicts tat wento groundero. new york was not attacked. this country was attacked. amy: that's the trailer for the new documentary "9/11's unsettled dust," which premieres later this week on pbs stations

in new york, new jersey, and long island. for more, we're joined by lisa katzman, the film's director and producer. one of the key figures in the film is democracy now! co-host juan gonzález, who is also with us. his critical work at the beginning of the time after 9/11 changed the landscape of how people understood what was happening near and around the pile. he and joel kupferman of the environmental law & justice project were among the first to expose the public health and environmental crisis at ground zero. in a series of reports for "the new york daily news." juan gonzalez is also author of "fallout: the environmental consequences of the world trade center collapse." juan, we are beginning with you.

that "new york daily news" cover that caused so much outrage and response, an attack on you -- it was in october. it said "exclusive." we will show it right here, "toxic zone" was the headline. levels of benzene, other dangerous chemicals at ground zero exceed federal standards. that may not surprise people now, juan, but you are the one had it on the cover at a time when the epa head was telling the country all was well in lower manhattan in terms of safety for people returning to work. talk about how you came to understand how toxic ground zero was. juan: well, amy, i actually had started -- i did an article less

than three weeks after the attack on the world trade center on september 28, which began to talk about the high levels of asbestos that joel kupferman had discovered in his own independent testing that he had done around ground zero -- even as far down as battery park. i very high levels of -- very high levels of asbestos and fiberglass, which he did a being responsible for much of the scarring the lungs that many of the first responders and other people downtown had. i had done two articles before that big front-page story. of course, as joel was able to get even more public records requests on health testing that had been hidden from the public, that big october 26 article as i recall was the one that laid out those findings. and the response was

unbelievable. the backlash against it from the mayor's office, from the epa to the "daily news" to the point that my editors pulled back. they began after that beginning to hold my columns stop at one point, i had to go to the editor-in-chief at the time, ed coaster, and said, where you holding up my follow-up? he says, well, you know, city hall says this and the epa says you are overstating the problem, your sensationalizing and "the new york times" is not following our stories, none of the other press are agreeing with us? i said, we do we depend on other media to report what we find? it became clear the paper had been cowed by the federalists and the city government.

i said to him, ed, you don't really know me. you just got here about a year ago. i don't know you, so this is what i'm going to do. you run the paper. you are in charge of the paper. i am in charge of my column. so i am going to keep writing about this issue because i don't want it on my conscience that 20 years later pple will start getting sick and dying because we did not warn them of the potential health effects year. so i'm not going to start -- stop writing. the paper did in up killing some of my columns but they read most of them at the back of the paper. my only mistake was it would take 20 years. it was far less. it took five years for the deaths and the severe illnesses to really become apparent. by then, the paper had a new management, new editor. the paper embarked -- the

editorial page embarked on a campaign to reveal the deaths and illnesses that were occurring and eventually it won the pulitzer prize, the editorial board, for its coverage of the health effects, the very health effects that five years earlier it had tried to squash. history has a strange way of evolving on issues like this. and i think it is a lesson that most media are very good at exposing problems far away. the closer the problems get to home, nor difficult it becomes to expose them. amy: you should have won the pulitzer prize for your series of prophetic reports. i wanted to go to david newman with the new york committee for occupational safety and health. he is speaking in the documentary "91 unsettd dust

there w substanal dat availablerior thawould incate ccern wh the collap of thtwin tower onof thoseashe widely own anidely documeted an widely adversed heavuse of asbestosuring th constructio of the world trade cter oject. sohe figur that inide spreadnd unconsted ishere we 400 tonof asbess used, sprad ofireoofing merial therade cenr consuction. that fige excudesbable addition asbestosein pipe insutionnd other apications so the is a hu amount. i thinit is sa toay whater wasn th wor trade center was released into the general environment. nothing disappeared. amy: "nothing disappeared." whatever was inside the world trade towers became what we breathe. that is david newman with the new york committee for occupational safety and health.

juan, you talked about "the new york daily news" winning the pulitzer and you did not. you should have. you are the one who led the way in exposing this. i want to bring in the director lisaatzman, directornd producer of this utterly devastating documentary "9/11's unsettled dust." talk about why you chose to make this film and the significance of a crusading reporter like juan gonzalez and others who are putting out this information, going against the financial establishment -- let's remember who the country's mayor was at the time, rudy giuliani. the informal -- the environment protection agency administration who now says, ok, maybe she made a mistake, dreads the 9/11

anniversary because of this, christine todd whitman, saying everyone, back to work. >>t is an honor to be on the show. hi, juan, good to hear you report on this first stories. the reason i was drawn to make the film was i aa member -- i live downtown, four blocks from the world trade center and what became ground zero. i witnessed the recovery, the rescuend recovery effort looking to my living room windows at it over aumber of months was not it was very evident, virtually the time i had it teaching job at the time upstate so i was not in my apartment on a full-time basis. but, to anybody who lived here for who spent any time here are

near downtown and hatton, it defied once senses and common sense to imagine that this wasn't a horrendously, i mean off the charts, environmental disaster. so the statement that you're safe, the denials that were made were utterly absurd. the level of disconnect from reality is almost legendary i would say at this point. it is really hard to fathom that those things were said and the reason i felt i needed to make the film was to address that and to address the lack of accountability at the time and then what ensued in the years afterward is that the lack of accountability traveled through the courts, traveled through the way that the publicans in

congress thought abouthat should be done to help first responders and the saeoplthat wer always tting "ver forget, never fort" and consntly remindinus of t heroi of the respders werunwillin to do ything toctuall hel them. the hyprisy of that,he ra i felover that as me went on, led meo nt to ma th film, wch i beg doing in 201when theirst respders werakin-- they had been makg tripso d.c. to past the jamesrovoker/11 heth and comnsation act for so time. ther w an iensificaon o thos eorts i2010, anthat is whei began filming. amy: i want to go to another part of the film. every three minutes your drop

drops. this is the epa's kaufman and kimberly flynn, founder of 9/11 environmental action, speaking about the epa's failure to warn people of the dangerous conditions at ground zero. pple could havetold us, i'm lowed toear a respiator becausthere arcamerasround d theyon't the obcts of wearing respirat while eaning u >> everyon who w affecte came. therwere rponder there re area rkers. ere wermany, maesidents and nantsssociaon leade, and therwere scitists als whwere bringg their informatn. >> cistineodd whman, t head othe epa who w telling the people the air is safe to breathe, all it in a quarter million dollars of stock in citigroup and her husband work for citigroup, travers

inrance compa had insance polici sh th if t air s not fe to bathe, coul cause travele iurance half a blion, llionollars in claim we, gss whowns travers insuranc cigroup. d at is w the insurance companies saved millions of dollars buying christine todd whitman's life. amy: juan, talk about the significance of this. the personal, financial connections, what this meant for so many people and continues to mean for the sick and the dying today. juan: i think people should remember christine todd whitman did not act alone. she basically was acting under orders.

it was later revealed i think by the treasury secretary under the bush administration that george bush had -- the president at the time, had directly ordered that wall street be reopened within a week of the attacks. there was a fear in the administration that the continued closing of the financial markets was going to have a disastrous effect on the world capital. so basically, once bush ordered wall street be reopened, that meant thousands and thousands of financial industry workers had to come back to downtown manhtan, then the health officials, including christine todd whitman, had to justify, had to justify the orders. and rather than do the science first and figure out the policy, the policy was established and science was made to fit the

cts. itas laterevealed byhe epa's inspect generaleport at the wte house -- e had ofhe envinment policy at e whit house,ames colson, had actual rewrittenhe press reeas the was putng out downpy the health imcts. this w a direcorder fr the whe houseo get walstreet back up d runni and t rest the populion of ler nhattan basicly inssence were collateral damage tohe policy. amy: this is christine todd whitman testifying at a 2000 seven correctional hearing on whether the federal government's actions at the 9/11 attack sites come at the pio, violated the rights of first responders and local residents. >> i got a call from the white house the day after from the

office of economic advisor, which is not surprising, they're concerned about the economy missing -- reminding me of the importance of wall street, of opening the stock market. i indicated until the building was cleaned and said, would be inappropriate -- that is the last i heard of that. it was cleaned, say, as you've heard from mr. henshaw, for them to go back in and they were allowed. was it wrong to try to get the city back on its feet as quickly as possible in the safest way possible? absolutely not. safety was first and foremost, but we were not going to let the terrorists win. amy: during the hearing, whitman was questioned by florida democratic congressmember debbie wasserman schultz. >> the epa did have the ability to take over the site at the point they felt -- that is under presidential decision in the national contingency plan come the epa could have taken over

control of the sites and the city as the lead agency if they felt the city was properly protecting their workers. they had the ability to do it and chose not to. if you are saying the law was not structured in new york to allow you to do that, then why didn't the epa take over? >> congresswoman, under epa would have under certain circumstances had the authority to take over the site. what had to be proven in order to invoke the superfund act, substantive substantial and imminent danger. the readings we were getting -- this was relative to the overall air, talking more about outside of the pile or not indicating that. we were working in fashion with new york. as far as the workers on the pile, we were tasked why osha to do -- excuse me, by fema to do the health and safety monitoring, to monitor the air. we did that and provided --

>> when it comes to substantial and imminent danger, are you talking about immediate deaths, horrible sickness within weeks? the cancer that is the result of exposure to asbestos does not manifest itself substantially or immediately. it could be years. but it is almost certain. how is it you did not exercise your authority given that knowledge, which has been known for years? >>'s's the gentlelady time is expired. >> that was based on what the interpretation of what our legal ability to act was in consultation with counsel at the time. amy: that w your congress member jerry nadler who represented the ground zero area, chairing the meeting, christine todd whitman being questioned by democratic congressmember debbie wasserman schultz. before we go to break and hear the story of joe zadroga, whose

name is on the law -- i don't think you know the details. juan, your comment on what christine todd whitman was saying and the information that was being suppressed from the highest levels, nadler would go on to say that she and america's mayor, mayor giuliani, should be tried for criminally negligent -- criminal negligence? juan: i think it is important to recall the role of rudy giuliani as well because you see the epa was a monitoring agency. the federal agency that should have assured the protection of all the people at ground zero was osha. the occupational safety health administration. osha deliberely did not enforce its standards for working on a dangerous site like that because giuliani insisted that he was in charge. he was the incident commander on

the pile, and he maintained his control of all information and all activity at the pile long after what should have been a rescue operation. therefore, osha was not allowed by mayor giuliani to actually conduct its legally required business. as a result, many, many people ended up being exposed and getting sick and not having proper protection. we should never forget the role of rudy giuliani in allowing the situation to go on for so long. amy: and that was very different at the pentagon, which was also attacked, where they had the proper attire. we will talk with joe zadroga in a minute. the bill is the joe zadroga act, his son that has since died. back in a minute. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: son by michael williams in "the wire," michael williams who has died at the age of 54 in brooklyn. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we are spending the hour look at the out raging new film, "9/11's unsettled dust, following the 9/11 responders and survivors who had to fight for health care justice while they were sick. i need his clip, we hear joe zadroga discuss his son james, 9/11 responder and then your congresswoman carolyn maloney. >> my son jimmy was an nypd dective. he was sicks on as heot ho, three mons aftethe evt i saido h, let's go t colomb presbytian hostal and talko a pulmonologi, the

head pulnologistbe a prbyterian ent tohe hospil. the ctor satith for an hour oso and emined him and told us come back in two eks. when weame backn two wes, the docr broughhis intohis fice ia cushiod chair d sat down ansaid, jmy, i'm not ing to tat you. we wershocked. we said,hat do y mean? he sai no, i anot gointo treahim. he gotp and lked out were a ttle dumounded. we lked at eh other and could t undersnd why ts door wld not tat him. as wwere gng down the elator i sd, jimmy, this going be a lo process i said and d tell yothe trh, you a screwed the're n going ttake car of you the dertmentreatedim teible. thdepament refused to mit he was sick. they juspersecuted him. ey wouldot give up.

th wanted m to quit th would sd a sergnt to eouse tmake surhe was in thouseecausehey're hopg to cch him oside the hou wherthey could displine hi and prably firhim. at is homuch the wanted t ridf him, to say wa not si. jim died jaary, 2006. fod him in hisedro with s little dauter sleeng on e bed. he g up duri the nht to get her aottl found hion the for wh a bott in his nd. thbabys seping. fortunely, we re in ne jerseyndhecean, dical aminer d a posp. it ce back, e doct stang on t medical repor thajimmy died fm workg at grod zer on 9/11, that he had dust

partics in hisungs and tt is what heassed aw from. coue, the cy would t admito that. oomberg me on thair and id, with his dical examir, atho was ts new jsey mecal exiner to say this person -she wouldot call him an offic -- thathis pers died from 11. so we we to the dical aminer's offi. i broht a picre of jmy. i said, lten, we e not lking about any oect. we arealking aut my so i want yoto loo at at picte when y talk abt him. he tned arod and sa, st, i wa you ce your family t dropaying heied fr 9/11. if y don't drop tt heie fr 9/11, i will to the press and will say that jam us drugs illally a he died

from musing drugs. >> it came so nasty with so many headlines tt were derotory tardam joe zaoga doehave peoe came t me andsaid, calyn, cnge the title the bl. is tocontrorsial. eryone lieves tt zadrog s a joke adct. i said, i changito leve the xt names, thewill do the samehing to em. he w not a dope addict. he was our first responder. he served at 9/11 and we should stick with the zadroga name. amy: "we should stick with the zadroga name." that is from "9/11 unsettled dust." we are joined by joe zadroga who is been watching or listening -- you have been watching or listening to him talk about his son james.

joe, we did not see your son year after year either in wheelchair or with oxygen for with crutches going to washington, this parade of people who were victims of 9/11 of their own government because he died in 2006. but carolyn maloney stuck with your son being the name on the james zadroga 9/11 health and compensation act. can you talk about what this means to you and who is covered and what you went through at the end trying to get jimmy help? >> spent five years trying to get jimmy help medically, through politicians, through newspapers, the radio, through tv stations -- everyone refused

to help us. they would deny us access. when he went to the hospital, the ctors would wt to trt him and id they uld take good carof him 9/11 responde would te good ce him. th twoays lar, they diharged h. viousl it wa't frothe doors, it s from t dmintratiofrom the hospits teing them toet him out and let him go me and die,ore or ls, that what they wersaying. went on fofiveears ting . we went to erybody. they were ve frusating. it took toll on the family. it tooa tollobviousl on jiy. ey left m tdie, me or le. the poli did noto anythi for h.

theyere tryi to get rid of him. ey wanted him to go out on general disability just to get rid of him. i told jimmy to refuse geral dibility, it w a job connecd inju and to ay for e fight. we stayefor the ght. eventual, they d let hi out on a jobelated injury b they did not say directly a result of 9/11. more or less, they wted to get rid of him. that is w it went. he was on oxygen. i mean, s a watch wityour chdas a hlthy 30-ar-old madeteriore down, siing on oxygen 20 47. his wife passed away om the stress of tching m die.

we did go to one doctor in wecheste, was fries with e femenecause he worked street cmes cywide. he used to go to the firehouses to eat. it is who the femen gto for eir lungroblems. they gavhim a door in wechester. within three mons after e event -- he wento the docr in westchter who amined han the doctor told him, three years you will be blind, five years you will be dead. he died within five years. amy: our condolences. because even though it was 2006, i know how incredibly hard this is for you onhis 20 the anniversary, joe. what is a, 15 years later. yes, this week marks the 20 the

anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and we are spending the hour looking at the massive environment on a public health crisis that followed at ground zero in new york and how politicians from the president to the epa had christine todd whitman mr. president, bush -- prioritized. lila nordstrom joins us. she was a student at a school next to where the trade centers collapse. she explains how the school quickly reopened despite health concerns. she also tells the story in her new book just out "some kids left behind: a survivor's fight for healthcare in the wake of 9/11." she is executive director of stuyhealth. welcome to democracy now! still with us, lisa katzman, the

director of the film was not for people to understand what happened at your school after the attack and how the site was used as you kids tried to go to school. >> the thing to understand is our school was not just next to the world trade center site, but we are also in the center of the cleanup operation. so we got sent back to school at a time the neighborhood was not yet open to the public. we went through five police checkpoints on our first day of school october 9, less than a month after the attack. our school had not been adequately cleaned. there were incs tck of wld tradcenter dt in o schoo bins at the bar ty wereriing thdebris t w rightnext to our school wif wver th wasigned bthe goveor at thtime that alled theto

placa toxic ste unext ta scho. r scho was oft no to the -- we were nexto a comnity coege. thre were ousands sdents th were atnding schooin therio andhere wernot any safetprecautis being tan as wealked tand fro school the ilding wwere attding scho smelled likemoke 24 hours a day for e entire length of me. weere the for nin monthsf the cleanup operation starting in early october. juan: lila, i remember reporting on the head of the parents association at that time -- we are talking about the best high school in the city of new york. the woman was constantly battling with school officials and being told everything was safe and yet test results in the high school were showing abnormally high levels of lead and other contaminants.

>> this was an ongoing conversation. he began as soon as we got back to the parents association found we have been misled about the safety indications. we were told they would be installing these filters in the school air system and they spit and llion doars cleang the school and thaseem lika lae sum. they kepthrowingut that numb like it was aeangful incation ohow safehings re. that pents fou the surroundg area w not yet say for bitation ofourse,he schoo was. t al a lot othe this they d said ty would do to otect the air inside the scol had n aually be do. e pares associion on t ard of ed d ba this contentis jrneyhere the uld eachire thei ownir quity expertso exame the r quality andhere wer callg each other's resus intouestion.

mewhile, aostediay upon our retu, studen are getng noseblds and headaes and ronic cough. it w from thair. e scho nsesine s baed up. even a boowith the nework mes" repted no one cld get to see aurse at the school. inhe artic, as ty are rerting noah caget into see the rse, widesprd respatory issues gng on in thschool, e boarof eis saying, yeah, but don't worry, there won't be any lon-term consuences. amy:e only have a few minutes. an hbo documentary is coming out about the high school kids. it does not mention this issue of the environmental health. one of the people featured is a woman named catherine choi that you write about in "the your jelly news" and it mentions of the very end, come and she died of cancer.

it does not say 911 related cancer. but this has been why did out of history. >> that was incredibly frustrating realization because the federal government presumes theancers on the cover conditions are 9/11 length, so it is not a stretch to say her cancer is 9/11 link. that is something the federal government would acknowledge. the fact that was omitted from a story that was basically used to exploit and narrative about unity after 9/11 that we did not feel or experience and we have become victims of a narrative, sort of excludes the non-unity piece of that story, has been incredibly frustrating. it is an ongoing struggle that we face in terms of not just sing our stories reflected in media, but also seeing her sort of action to these programs as valid, seeing our story as one

that entitles us to the services that first responders have as well. a lot of times survivors don't even think they all of i, don't believe they went through anything -- never seen their story reflected anywhere in without validates them. amy: lisa katzman, your final words in the last 20 seconds? we never allow for soundbites. but this time. >> i think the take away of this film is this is -- this issue of lack of accountability that our political leaders have think that 9/11 is the beginning of a period of history where we see an increase of this. we saw it in the bp disaster. we even see it in the way the egregious way thamasking was handled during the covid time where female was completely corrupted. amy: we have to leave it there

but i thank you so much for this remarkable documentary called "9/11 unsettled dust" directed by lisa katzman. lila nordstrom, your book lo)?■ó

hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. the taliban are looking to the future by revisiting their past. they promised leadership that would be inclusive but have drawn from within their own ranks in naming a caretaker government. many have ties to the regime that led the country before the u.s. invasion