Fighting Ground Zero Sickness

THE ISSUE: Lila Nordstrom’s account of her campaign for health care for those suffering 9/11-related illnesses.

Lila Nordstrom is to be admired for her struggle on behalf of her Stuyvesant classmates and others who were victimized by the 9/11 terrorists and then by their own government (“The Other War,” PostOpinion, Sept. 9).

Then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman has apologized for her declaration on Sept. 18, 2001, that the air at the World Trade Center site was “safe to breathe.”

One week after the attack was too soon for any rigorous scientific study to reach that conclusion. That fateful decision was driven by politics and money.

Unless government leaders are punished for actions that kill our citizens, there will be future tragedies. Jay Taikeff

Brooklyn

As I read Nordstrom’s article, many painful emotions came over me.

Almost one year ago, I lost my best friend, who worked in the World Trade Center on 9/11. He passed away after many years of suffering from a 9/11-related illness.

This bright, educated fellow of good cheer and high moral principles now suffers no more. I am thankful for sharing his friendship, humor and wisdom.

However, it seems that some 20 years later, after surrendering in the War on Terror, inanely declaring success in the withdrawal while we leave Americans to a dubious fate in Afghanistan and sacrificing the fruit of this nation to a misconceived plan, we are back where we started.

Stanley Rubin Fresh Meadows