9-11 families react to bin Laden’s death

The Sept. 11 terror attacks began here with Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda operatives smuggling box cutters aboard two planes at Logan International Airport on their way to deliver America the worst attack on its own soil since Pearl Harbor.

And now for three local families of those killed on that September morning, the long journey to seeing justice for their loved ones ends with a complex set of emotions.

The death of bin Laden is not so much celebrated, they say, as it is greeted with a stoic questioning of what is justice and a quiet, sometimes troubling reflection on the meaning of a very big day in history.

Not one of these three family members felt that the word “closure” was anything they were feeling. That’s despite the repeated use of the word by so many television reporters trying to describe the emotions felt at gatherings at Ground Zero and in front of the White House and here in Boston Common.

All three of these New England families’ stories run close to home for me. So I wanted to hear their honest thoughts on the news that bin Laden had been killed Sunday in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs, and see how they felt about it.

Michael Casey

Michael Casey and his wife, Neilie, lived next door in the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown. Through the mid 1990s, while I was traveling as a reporter for The Boston Globe in Afghanistan and the Middle East covering what could be seen as nascent Al Qaeda, we became fast friends. They both had spectacular careers and were great neighbors. We celebrated the news of their newborn baby girl, Riley, when we saw them in the summer of 2001.

On Sept. 11, Neilie was headed to California on a business trip for her work at T.J. Maxx when American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked and crashed into the north tower.

Michael, who has since been remarried to Lisa Hughes, a news anchor for WBZ-TV in Boston, said they watched the president’s statement to the nation on Sunday night confirming that bin Laden had been killed.

Michael said he knew Monday morning would bring the challenge of telling Riley, who is now 10 years old.

“We just told her that our country got the baddest guy of all the bad guys who did this terrible thing. … And we told her it was a very important day for our country,” Michael said.

“I have heard so many people say this brings “closure.” I don’t know about that, but it gives relief. It gives some satisfaction. I guess. I don’t know. It’s a complicated feeling,” said Michael, a photographer who has his own agency.

“I am very proud of the president and so thankful for our military. They never stopped until they got him. That means everything to us. Justice was important and we got it. We finally got it,” said Michael.

Loretta Filipov

Loretta Filipov’s husband, Alexander, was on board the same American Airlines flight as Neilie on September 11, 2001. He was an electrical engineer from Concord, Massachusetts and his son, David, is a former colleague from the Boston Globe. David and I covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan together when the emotions were still very raw for him over the death of his father. He is a great reporter and in the aftermath of the tragedy we as colleagues had great respect for his desire to keep doing what he loves to do even if he was in effect covering a story that directly touched his own family. He did it masterfully.

On Monday, Loretta and I were on WGBH radio’s Callie Crossley program together talking about the killing of bin Laden.

And Loretta shared that she heard the news Sunday night with “mixed emotions.”

“I felt relief that a mass murderer’s life ended. But a part of me also had a desire to have seen him stand trial and face justice,” she said.

“I don’t think about the word “closure.” And there is no comfort. I just don’t take comfort in someone else’s death,” she said, adding that in the end of the day “there is still an empty chair there in our home where my husband used to sit.”

“I hope for non violence and more peaceful tomorrows,” said Loretta, who is a member of Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows with a mission statement on its website that say it is “dedicated to turning grief into action for peace.”

Don and Sally Goodrich

Don and Sally Goodrich’s son, Peter, was on board the second flight into the south tower of the World Trade Center. Peter worked in computers and was on his way to a business trip in California, but his passion at Middlebury College was religion and the study of interfaith dialogue. And he kept the passion alive before his death at age 33.

In honor of their son, Don and Sally raised the money to build a girl’s school in the Logar Province of Afghanistan and carried out other community projects in the war-torn country all aimed at helping the people of Afghanistan and fostering reconciliation and understanding between Afghanistan and America. It’s what Peter would have wanted, they always say. Don is a top-notch Vermont lawyer. And Sally was a school teacher nearby in Western Massachusetts. They are amazing people and if you’ve read this blog before, you may have read my chronicling of their journey. Sally passed away in December after a long struggle with cancer. It’s been a particularly hard year for Don.

Don said he went to bed early on Sunday night and woke up early Monday to the news that bin Laden had been killed.

As he downloaded his New York Times onto a Kindle, he was stunned to read the headline and he felt overwhelmed by a wave of what he described as conflicting emotions.

“My reactions were so mixed and confounding. I had a terrible time sorting it all out,” said Don.

“One thing that really upset me was the celebrations at Times Square and at Ground Zero, the expressions of Ameirca’s strength and power. It all really truly made me feel uneasy. It troubled me,” said Don.

As a lawyer, Don said he would have preferred to see bin Laden brought before a court and prosecuted and convicted. But in the same breath, he said he was proud of President Obama and that he agreed with the idea that if there was any chance of the American commando team would lose their lives that they should have had the clear authority to kill bin Laden first.

“I would have preferred a trial, but I am realistic. All of these feelings sort of clash. I think it is a very complex set of emotions and practical questions of what is justice for a lot of the 9-11 families,” said Don.