7/7 Victims Push For 9/11-Style Public Inquiry
7/7 victims push for 9/11-style public inquiry^
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakin...n=211848726&x=
5/22/2006
Survivors of the UK's July 7 bombings said tonight that they are hopeful that some form of public inquiry will be held.
Their optimism followed a two-hour meeting with John Reid, the new Home Secretary, who for the first time faced direct questions from those caught up in the attacks.
Afterwards, Rachel North, who was on the train at King’s Cross, said they had found some “common ground” despite the government’s refusal to launch a full public inquiry.
“There’s a great willingness to listen, and there’s a great willingness to co-operate.
“He’s very adamant that he doesn’t want a seven-year thing like in Northern Ireland (the Bloody Sunday inquiry).”
She added that the survivors envisage an investigation that would look at social issues and foreign policy to establish why the bombings took place.
“He’s thinking Bloody Sunday, but we’re thinking like the 9/11 inquiry (in the US). A new way of doing things.”
Another member of the eight-strong group of survivors at the meeting tonight, Peter Zimonjic, who was caught in the blast at Edgware Road, agreed that Mr Reid had listened to their arguments.
“He gave us a lot of time. We are hopeful, but we’ll have to wait and see. We started the meeting a way apart, and now we’re a little closer.”
The Home Secretary is planning to hold meetings with other victims and relatives of those killed, he added.
Earlier, the Home Office confirmed that an additional £2.5 million in extra compensation payments would be made available to victims and the bereaved before the first anniversary of the attacks.
The move has been seen as a response to strong criticism from victims who say the compensation so far has not met the needs of some people who have had to adapt their homes, or can no longer work.
A Home Office spokeswoman said that about 500 victims have now made claims to the Government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, with payouts ranging from £1,000 to £118,000 and totalling more than £2 million.
The amount victims receive will increase by half again following the additional payout.
Details of arrangements for commemorating the first anniversary of last summer’s bombings are also understood to have been discussed at the meeting.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has revealed that a two-minute silence will be observed to mark the date, and confirmed plans for a memorial garden to be sited in Tavistock Square, where one of the suicide bombers struck.
On July 7 this year there will also be an evening commemorative event in Regent’s Park.
During the day, members of the public will be encouraged to lay individual flowers to create a giant mosaic, which will be completed by families and survivors at the end of the event.
As Mr Reid published the Government’s “narrative” of the July 7 attacks last week, he revealed that changes to the criminal compensation system would be made retrospective for those affected by July 7.
He said at the time: “Since the events of July 7 were not only exceptional but were a spur to considering how to improve the system, I would regard it unfair if people had to wait until we completed the whole system and then found the improvements were not retrospective.”
