Brown student, sister, seek closure after losing father Daughters of 9/11 victim visit Guantanamo Bay
The Republican via AP
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — “It’s my last first day of school for a while,” 22-year-old Jessica Bram Murphy says from the Providence campus of Brown University.
She is filled with enthusiasm as she begins her final year of college.
Her studies in international development have spanned a broad spectrum – from Middle East policy and Arabic to the analysis of developing countries and how they approach poverty. Last fall, she spent a semester abroad, studying in an Arabic language immersion program in Amman, Jordan.
“I’m not 100 percent sure of my future plans. I am really interested in the Middle East as a region, and I’m really interested in journalism,” she says.
At Yale University in New Haven, Conn., her sister, soonto-be 21-year-old Leila Nicole Murphy, thinks law school may be in her future one day, although not immediately. Her two majors are ethics, politics and economics, and education studies, both focused in areas of social and political inequality. She also mentors New Haven high school students, leads outdoor trips for incoming students at Yale and teaches yoga.
Seventeen years ago, the sisters were beginning kindergarten and nursery school, respectively. Each was in a classroom in schools in New York City on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 11 was flown by hijackers into the north tower of the World Trade Center shortly before 9 a.m., the first of the terror attacks to strike the U.S. that day.
Their father, Brian Joseph Murphy, 41, was at work as a vice president with Cantor Fitzgerald Securities on the 104th floor of the north tower. His specialty was the then-new world of e-bond trading. By day’s end, he would be one of three natives of Westfield, Mass., to perish at the trade center. Tara Shea Creamer was aboard Flight 11, and Daniel P. Trant was also at work for Cantor Fitzgerald.
“I don’t really remember much. It was my second week of kindergarten,” says Jessica. “Memory is an odd thing. I certainly have fabricated memories, imaginings of him, but I don’t know if I have actual memories of my dad.”
Leila was just 3 years old and would turn 4 three weeks after the attack. She says she remembers nothing of the day, nor does she have any memories of their father.
As they grew up in Manhattan, their mother, Judith Bram Murphy, and members of their extended family shared stories of their dad to help ensure they understood the man he had been. “My mom wanted his presence to be in our lives, so there have been lots of photos and the telling of stories,” says Leila.
As teenagers, they participated in a summer camp program that brought together children from around the globe whose lives had been touched by violence. It proved a touchstone for their exploration to learn more about 9/11, they say.
“The peace building camp ... really opened our lives to the violence that exists in Afghanistan, Palestine and other places around the world. It was pretty impactful for both of us,” says Jessica. “It’s kind of what started my interest in the Middle East.”
For Leila, having a camp roommate from Palestine brought home for her that 9/11 was not an isolated event. “I think I realized there are a lot of places in the world where senseless violence happens all the time, whether it be because of terror, war or military intervention,” she says.
Neither was aware, though, of the events which have been unfolding over the past six years at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where five men accused of helping mastermind the 9/11 attacks are incarcerated and facing trial before a U.S. military tribunal.
Then, last fall, they read an Op-Ed piece published in the New York Times, “Guantanamo Is Delaying Justice for 9/11 Families,” by Julia E. Rodriguez, a history professor at the University of New Hampshire who is a member of the organization September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
The author’s brother, Greg Rodriguez, was among those killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11. In the piece, Rodriguez described her participation in a program that brings victim family members and first responders affected by the 9/11 attacks to Guantanamo to observe the pre-trial hearings. It sparked the Murphy sisters to contemplate following in Rodriguez’s footsteps to Cuba.
“I didn’t know the men accused were in Guantanamo Bay. I thought it was one and done with (the 2011 killing of) Osama Bin Laden,” says Jessica.
Leila took the lead, setting up a meeting for the two of them with Peaceful Tomorrows in New York City in January. “I think once we found out more about the program, because we are both intellectually interested in issues related to U.S. policy related to Middle East and international relations ... we thought it would be a great opportunity to learn a lot,” she says. “I do want to see justice done, and it’s important to know about it.”
There were reservations,
Leila notes.
“My sister and I were both very young when (9/11) happened. It was traumatic in different ways for each of us and (going to Guantanamo) could be re-traumatizing,” Leila says. “I think for most of my childhood I did not want to be singled out. People can have very dramatic reactions. I didn’t want to be pitied so I kept it hidden, even from close friends. I really detached the national tragedy from my personal tragedy. ... I was really focused on the loss of my father, (but) I was privileged in a lot of ways so did not have to deal with that loss.”
“It almost feels like there is a burden on me, not in a negative way, when your life starts with something so hateful and out of your control, all I can try to do is try to understand, extend love and respect, (and) to understand what I can and do what I can,” Leila adds.
“It was a haphazard decision in some ways,” remembers Jessica of how they agreed they wanted to visit Guantanamo. “We have that in common. We like to take adventures, but I think it was more calculated than that underneath the impulsive act.” Both were grateful, she notes, to learn there are members of other 9/11 families who share their politics, being opposed to the death penalty, advocating for peace and searching for non-violent responses to all forms of terrorism.
Along with other NGOs (non-government observers), the sisters were part of a group who flew via military aircraft from Andrews Air Force Base in July and were then taken by boat to Guantanamo for what were to be five days of pre-trial hearings. Defense lawyers were among those on the trek. It wound up being only two days of hearings as two other days of proceedings were closed sessions and one was canceled, according to Leila. The down days involved sightseeing of the island, including a visit to Camp X-Ray, the first and most notorious of the facilities at Guantanamo where the first captives were brought and where incidents of torture and mistreatment were reported to have occurred.
For the court proceedings, the sisters sat with other observers in a room, separated from the defendants by a wall of glass and listening via audio on a 40-second delay, making it disconcerting at times.
“The hearings focused on torture and what the prosecution has released to the defense. I think some family members wonder why does this matter,” Leila says. “While I think it does matter to talk about torture, I can have empathy for the CIA and military because no one really knew what to do.”
I think we should have accountability for the U.S. missteps post-9/11.”
“I am morally opposed to the death penalty, especially given the torture. I try to empathize with everyone, but I do think there should be justice done and some form of punishment,” Leila shares. “I don’t think this is the way we should be doing it.” She suggests trying the defendants in federal court – a move the Obama administration sought in 2008 but which was blocked by Congress – might result in a far more expeditious and less costly judicial process for all.
For her, the trip proved impactful in many ways. “Healing is a long process. I’ve definitely had to process a lot of emotions because I couldn’t really process them at 3 years old. I am still processing it. It’s been hard in the weeks in post-Guantanamo, (but) I think it was really a worthwhile trip.”
For Jessica, there were points during the trip in which she felt she was participating in some sort of charade as the reality of what was transpiring struck home. It also “made me think really, really deeply for both sides.”
“I was waiting to feel something. It’s hard to explain,” she says. “I don’t think they’re innocent nor that anyone thinks they are innocent. They are Islamic jihadists. ... I didn’t feel anger. I felt a lot of confusion, curiosity and sadness.”