9/11 anniversary – How Hollywood star Steve Buscemi spent the week after Twin Towers attacks...

The Sun ^ | 11 September 2018 | Gerard du Cann

[Leaning Right]

...helping New York firefighters hunt for survivors.

WHEN actors want to support a cause they might appear on a charity ad or visit the suffering with an army of cameras in tow.

But seventeen years ago today, as the world reeled from the 9/11 terror attacks, Hollywood actor Steve Buscemi instead donned a uniform he hadn't worn in nearly two decades to help hunt for survivors.

*snip*

The Reservoir Dogs and Boardwalk Empire star pulled 12-hour shifts for several days alongside other emergency service personnel.

He wasn't there for publicity and refused all interview requests during the days he spent digging to recover bodies.

[Leaning Right]

I came across this little-known story by accident. I thought it was worth a post, particularly with another 9/11 anniversary coming up.

[UCANSEE2]

Thanks for posting the article. Very interesting.

[MarvinStinson]

“Some people did something”.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Never forget.

[Liz]

Busceni starred in “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers”

EDITED ---Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is a 2006 documentary film made by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films. Produced while the Iraq War was in full swing, the film deals with the alleged war profiteering and negligence of private contractors and consultants who went to Iraq as part of the US war effort.[1]

Specifically, the film claims four major contractors - Blackwater, K.B.R.-Halliburton, CACI and Titan [2] - were over-billing the U.S. government and doing substandard work while endangering the lives of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians, and their own employees.[1] These corporations were tasked with “virtually everything except the actual killing,”[3] including food, laundry, housing, security, intelligence gathering and interrogation.[4]

The film starts with the events of March 2004 in Fallujah, where four Blackwater contractors were ambushed, set afire, their burned corpses dragged through the streets and then finally displayed hanging from a bridge.[5] In interviews, two of the contractors’ families contend that Blackwater, in search of higher profit, neglected to provide proper support and protection to their employees,[5] including maps, decent translators, an armored vehicle, and sufficient security personnel (their convoy was short a machine gunner).[5][6] The families contend that with such support, their loved ones might be alive today.[6]

Iraq for Sale then takes contractors Titan and CACI to task for providing “interrogation support” for the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. These civilian contractors were outside the chain of military command, and were never held accountable for the amply documented, unsupervised torture they initiated.[3]

According to interviews with survivors, Halliburton subsidiary KBR was responsible for the “Good Friday Massacre” deaths of six drivers who the corporation irresponsibly put into dangerous zones - zones which were supposed to be off limits to civilians.[7] Also, in interviews, Halliburton’s former employees charge that while the company had a sole contract to provide purified water for US troops, they actually distributed contaminated drinking water.[5] Greenwald and Brave New Films document that at the time of production, the corporations in question had made more than tens of billions of dollars from their contracts in Iraq.[6]

In part this was because the companies were working under “cost-plus” contracts, which reimbursed whatever they spent in expenses, plus extra, for profit.[3] This means that they actually made more money when they destroyed expensive equipment and machinery, rather than repairing it.[1] The film features footage of a burning $80,000 truck (whose only problem was a blown tire) that Halliburton had set afire on the side of the road rather than replacing the tire.[3]

This was the first film to raise substantial production funds from small donations online: $267,892 from 3,000 people in 10 days.[8] The film had a limited theatrical release.[6] It was simultaneously released on DVD and shown nationwide at thousands of Brave New Films’ hallmark “house parties.”[3]

Iraq for Sale is among the best-reviewed of Brave New Films’ filmography, earning 100% approval from critics aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes.[9] The New York Times called it “a horrifying catalog of greed, corruption and incompetence among private contractors in Iraq,”[10] adding the film is “extremely effective.”[10] Salon says it was “dogged and impressive investigative reporting,”[3] and the Village Voice called it “a much needed reminder of the criminal negligence of those who lead the troops into this mess and those who have gotten rich off of it.”[11] Conservative press has been less charitable, saying the film “go[es] primarily on emotion and political posturing.”[2]

Greenwald attempted to interview representatives of the companies in question for the film, to no avail.[3] Halliburton contends the film is "yet another rehash of inaccurate, recycled information."[12] Eric Prince, founder of Blackwater, dismissed the film as “election year left-wing politics.”[13] On their website’s FAQ, CACI says it would be a “maliciously false accusation” to call them war profiteers.[14] Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is a 2006 documentary film made by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films. Produced while the Iraq War was in full swing, the film deals with the alleged war profiteering and negligence of private contractors and consultants who went to Iraq as part of the US war effort.[1] Specifically, the film claims four major contractors - Blackwater, K.B.R.-Halliburton, CACI and Titan [2] - were over-billing the U.S. government and doing substandard work while endangering the lives of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians, and their own employees.[1] --SNIP- h/t WIKI

[gibsonguy]

The “Palestinians” danced in the street, never forget that either. I saw it exactly one time on the news.

[GailA]

History Channel is running a 9/11 special all week, a new one on Air Force 1 is 2 hrs long. Already got the recorder set to tape.

[Liz]

The Muzzie that slithered into Congress on the backs of 9/11 victims----Democrat Pig-Ilhan Omar:
"We are dismantling all systems of oppression.....we’re the party of love, the party of compassion.”

Oh, that's right....Omar's "party of love and compassion" left its calling card on 911.

Pig-Ihlan's "party of love and compassion" drops in on 911.

[Leaning Right]

There’s 9/11. And the Boston marathon bombing. And all those van and knife attacks in the UK. And author Salman Rushdie is still under an Islamic death sentence over something he wrote 30 years ago.

But no one cares. We are, I think, in a repeat of the early 1930s. Back then, the Nazis were gaining strength and influence. And they were telling the world exactly what they meant to do. But no one cared.

[Eagles6]

Yeah, I remember.

Almost got fired from the bank where I worked for calling then animals.

[one4perl]

Thanks for sharing. Steve is an amazing actor, crazy range from the most dramatic to the funniest bits I’ve seen in movies. I think I’ve caught him in some shows too.

[Liz]

We are in a repeat of the early 1930s. Back then, the Nazis were gaining strength and influence....
telling the world exactly what they meant to do. But no one cared.

Good point.

[kiltie65]

I NEVER FORGOT THE HORROR, then all those women dressed in their black robes trilling that funny whistling sound they make when they are excited, and handing out candy. I’m so glad Britain and the U.S. are not taking back those silly women who went out there to support ISIS and marrying those ISIS men.

[Rollee]

I live in the SW suburbs of Chicago. Some these areas are infested with Palestinians. They did dance in the streets on 9/11. The old grannies tossed candy at the dancers. The college aged punks tried to pull down the Stars and Stripes and run their rag up the flag poles at several community colleges. They were unsuccessful in all cases and got a good beat down in the process. I remember all of this and much, much more. Those memories I will carry to the grave.

[blackdog]

https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/churchill-on-islam/