9/11 Skeptics' Lunatic Fringe
9/11 SKEPTICS' LUNATIC FRINGE
TARGETS VICTIM'S WIDOW
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07162007...rea_peyser.htm
INSULT ADDED TO INJURY: Ellen Mariani, who lost husband Neil aboard United 175, is the object of a hellish Internet harassment campaign by extremists. July 16, 2007 -- THIS time, they've gone too far. A group of 9/11 conspiracy theorists - whackos who deny that jumbo jets brought down the World Trade Center - is on the attack. But their latest target isn't the government, which they claim destroyed the buildings with explosives.
They're using a vicious Internet assault to pick on an elderly widow.
"They're dirty sons of bastards! They are not real men," feisty Ellen Mariani, 69, told me. Ellen lost her husband aboard United 175 on Sept. 11, 2001.
"They have no respect for women, no respect for the dead and no respect for little children who now have been orphaned."
Ellen is the subject of a blistering battering on the Web site of an outfit that calls itself "9/11 Researchers." While conspiracy theories are nothing new - Rosie O'Donnell gave voice on "The View" to the belief the government was involved - these bozos blast fellow conspiracy groups for not going far enough.
On their Web site, Ellen's current, private home address is listed for every whack job to see. There also is "evidence" that her husband helped plan the attacks.
How could a retired, 58-year-old deliveryman help plan the destruction of the Twin Towers? The proof, presented as a kind of "gotcha!" smoking gun, is strikingly shallow.
Linked to the Web site is a copy of a deed transferring her husband's real property to Ellen. He took it out on July 26, 2001, 47 days before the trade center was destroyed.
As further "proof" that Louis Mariani - who went by his middle name, Neil - was involved, the Web site posts the lease transferring management rights of the World Trade Center to Larry Silverstein. The lease was taken out two days before Louis Mariani put his property in Ellen's name. Aha!
Confused? So am I.
The Web site is the work of a Rick Siegel, who hawks DVDs that purport to prove the trade center's destruction was an inside job. He is partners with Nico Haupt, who is known for sending blistering e-mail rants to trade-center survivors.
My attempts to reach both men were fruitless.
The odd thing is that the loonies are picking on Ellen. She has been outspoken in insisting that the government knows more about the attacks than it is admitting. But a source familiar with the groups says they tend to target people who fall short of their extreme anti-Semitic, anti-everything views.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Neil, Ellen's husband of 13 years, boarded United 175 from Boston, bound for the wedding of Ellen's daughter. Ellen was flying separately because she had booked her flight months before, and it was full.
She's refused to take a dime from the fund that compensates victims.
"Could you go to sleep at night, knowing you took money for your husband's death?" she asks.
"Try to eat alone. Try to watch programs you both liked on TV without feeling guilty. Try to go to sleep at night while you don't have your honey with you. This is the hell I go through every day.
"I don't need evil people attacking me."
It's gone far enough.
