Update January 30, 2010. Current post is Doug Copp, Dubious & Self-Promoting "Rescue Expert" Shows Up In Haiti
Recommended Reading
- Snopes.com on "Triangle of Life" and Mr. Copp
- Marla Petal's refutation of Copp's claims, and sound earthquake safety advice. Clicking www.cert-la.com/RejoinderToDougCopp.pdf will download a (PDF) document
- Voices on the Ground in Haiti: Stanford Emergency Medicine Team -- Narrative with Links to Posts
(Index: *Doug Copp: Disaster Hero or Massive Fraud? (links to the Albuquerque Journal's four-part piece criticizing Mr. Copp's actions and rebuttals of Copp's claims from the Red Cross.)
*Doug Copp II. Includes in the comments a huge, long, repetitive, blustering missive from Mr. Copp himself. In the interests of fairness, I left it up.
* Doug Copp III, a rebuttal of Doug Copp's advice from expert sources.
*Doug Copp IV, more venom from Mr. Copp and more rebuttals from those more qualified. )
I had a big spike in readership today, most looking for "Doug Copp". Here's what I wrote about Copp; here's the article that I believe caused most folks to search.
Experts challenge quake advice e-mail: "Triangle of Life" debunkedSan Rafael, CA, Sep. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. earthquake experts said an e-mail circulating on the Internet is giving inaccurate information about how people should protect themselves during quakes.
The e-mail, called "Triangle of Life," is authored by Doug Copp, who identifies himself as "the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team." Among its recommended actions during an earthquake is "Everyone who simply "ducks and covers" when buildings collapse is crushed to death -- Every time, without exception. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are always crushed."The problem, according to agencies such as the American Red Cross, is such a recommendation is "inaccurate for application in the United States and inconsistent with information developed through earthquake research."
The current recommended procedure for personal earthquake protection, according to Rocky Lopes, manager of the ARC's Community Disaster Education, is called "drop, cover and hold on," meaning seek refuge under a heavy object such as a desk.
"That recommendation is based on U.S. Building Codes and construction standards" and "has saved lives in the United States," Lopes said.
"The Red Cross strongly advises not trying to move ... during the shaking of an earthquake," he said. "The more and the longer distance that someone tries to move, the more likely they are to become injured by falling or flying debris, or by tripping, falling, or getting cut by damaged floors, walls, and items in the path of escape."
October 15, 2004: I am still getting a couple of hundred hits a day from searchers looking for Doug Copp info.
Here's some of what the Firehouse Forum has to say:
-----
*aren't you glad I didn't post that--it exceeded my daily squick allottment.
Posted by: liz | Friday, October 15, 2004 at 05:46 PM
But Nuketown has a pointer to this letter to the editor (which is misidentified as an "editorial"--the distinction is important:
More importantly, Nuketown has a reply from Doug Copp himself, in which he refutes a lot of the claims in the Journal, and closes with,
Who the heck is doug copp? The simple answer is someone whose love for God and people gave him the strength to take on a lot of Goliath's and never run from any of them.
Well, hmmn. There are Christian self-deluded folk.
Posted by: liz | Friday, October 15, 2004 at 05:58 PM
There is also something called the International Association of Crusty Old Jakes , who are coming over here looking at Copp. You have to be a member to read the site, and I'm not sure I qualify. Uhmm, well my dad was Jake to his friend, and I am almost positive they aren't speaking of toilets.
Posted by: liz | Friday, October 15, 2004 at 06:10 PM
There are those that are observing this attack on Mr. Copp from afar. All parties concerned would be well-advised to "tred very carefully" because their research efforts so far are very wanting and in one case, completely false. Mr. Copp does not have the financial means to go against one Tom Lang in court, but be advised that certain others do and their financial resources match and exceed Mr. Lang's or Knight-Ridder. Should said investigation prove that Mr. Copp is wanting, then all legal energies will be directed towards one Mr. Copp. This attack on Mr. Copp will be allowed to continue, but we advise all to research ALL of their contributions exceedingly well.
Posted by: Interested Parties | Tuesday, November 09, 2004 at 06:45 PM
Mr. Copp does not have the financial means to go against one Tom Lang in court, but be advised that certain others do and their financial resources match and exceed Mr. Lang's or Knight-Ridder.
K-R's current market capitalization is $5,444,421,000.00 with 77 million shares outstanding, trading in the mid-70s. KR">http://www.knightridder.com/investing/fundamentals.html">KR fundamentals.
Now why would anybody with two nickels to rub together give a rat's ass about a wanna-be rescuer?
More bluster and braggadocio.
Posted by: Liz | Tuesday, November 09, 2004 at 07:44 PM
Tom Lang has $120 million . He owns the ABQ Journal outright. He has done the same thing to 2 people before. Once he was sued by F. Lee Bailey. I am sick, bankrupt and libeled but I have more 'guts' than a thousand Tom Lang's and with what I have seen and experienced aqt 100 plus major disasters he is a paltry and pathetic little rich boy; more psychotic than any other personality trait.
I'll take satisafaction in beating his lieing, twisted and perverted ass.
Go to amerrescue.org and you will soon discover that Tom Lang is a liar.
here are some affadavits and articles analyzed:
Some affadavits: Your post it won't take the scans but it will take some of the text.
Dear Interested Parties:
I include some affadavits. Please pay particular attention to Peter Donahue's affadavit against Tom Lang. You will then understand why the bastard is destroying an unpaid volunteer and a volunteer rescue team.The website at amerrescue.org has more than enough video, pictures, letters from Presidents, Prime Ministers and even a Maharajah to prove Tom Lang a liar but we are still in the process of putting up several hundred more docs, hundreds of pictures and a selection of videos from the 300 hours of footage I have.
The ARTI Book (43) pages on the homepage and the videos Below Ground Zero should be most interesting.
You wrote:
There are those that are observing this attack on Mr. Copp from afar. All parties concerned would be well-advised to "tred very carefully" because their research efforts so far are very wanting and in one case, completely false. Mr. Copp does not have the financial means to go against one Tom Lang in court, but be advised that certain others do and their financial resources match and exceed Mr. Lang's or Knight-Ridder. Should said investigation prove that Mr. Copp is wanting, then all legal energies will be directed towards one Mr. Copp. This attack on Mr. Copp will be allowed to continue, but we advise all to research ALL of their contributions exceedingly well.
Some affadavits:
"The world's most experienced rescue, disaster mitigation and disaster management organization with members in 59 countries." June 2002.
American Rescue Team International (ARTI)
www.amerrescue.org
501 ( C ) 3, non profit, All Volunteer Organization
Head email:[email protected]
Office Voice: 1-415-533-2231
Fighting the Monster
Think! Have you ever, in your life, seen, read or heard of a newspaper running 5 consecutive front pages with a total of 20 articles all of which focus on destroying a single individual. Not Hitler, not Saddam Hussein, not Stalin, no murderer, no assassin, no villain but a world famous rescuer? How about a full frontal picture, on the front page with this rescuer’s crotch ripped open and privates exposed?
Well, the world famous rescuer is Doug copp, rescue chief of the American Rescue Team International.
What did he do to warrant this attack? Well, let me tell you. Doug Copp stood up to the wealthy, powerful owner of this newspaper and maybe for the first time in this monster’s life he was refused. Doug Copp told Tom Lang: “No.”
Tom Lang had used his private jet and Copp’s credentials to get permission from the FAA to fly Copp to 911. Copp was to find out that Lang’s flight was not free, patriotic or humanitarian. Tom Lang was to be selfish, demanding and monstrously cold to the plight of the NYFD and the suffering of the victims of 911.
In a sworn affidavit, from Peter Donahue, an eyewitness, to the confrontation between Copp and Lang it all becomes clear.
An excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said: ”Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave”. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:” Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?” Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back”. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Another excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:” You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge”. Doug said:” No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge”. Tom Lang looked at me and said:” Get the fuck out!” I told Tom Lang:” Go fuck yourself”. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:” I’m not giving you a badge”. Tom Lang said:” We’re out of here!”
More about Tom Lang and his writer Leslie Lithicum:
. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang wanted me to give him a badge; he wanted to have his newspaper write about him being a hero. Who knows why? Cocktail parties?
There is only one requirement to join ARTI. You must be a good person who wants to do good as a volunteer. Tom Lang and his writer, Leslie Lithicum didn’t qualify. Copp refused them.
All members of ARTI are unpaid volunteers. Tom Lang’s monstrous attack has resulted in the cancellation of humanitarian projects around the world.
Lot’s of people will pay with their lives for Lang’s rage against Copp and ARTI. Will there be justice? Who will the monster eat next?
Testimony of Rod Gale:
June 22nd 2004
To Whom It May Concern:
Hello:
My name is Rod Gale and I’m an addictions and career counselor; but for your purposes I guess its best for you to just know me as Doug Copp’s neighbor.
I consider myself to be an “everyman” in that I don’t think of myself as anything special… and I like it that way.
Last October or there about I noticed a unique jeep in my neighborhood and I had to meet the person who drove it; and I soon would- it was Doug Copp. What a guy! What a spirit and what heart…without a doubt the most inspiring person I would ever meet.
The reason I am taking the time from my day and writing this letter is that I was horrified and dismayed to hear of the recent attacks on Mr. Copp, his character; his deeds and integrity.
It sickens me to here that anyone could doubt Mr. Copp; I know that he seems bigger to life and his deeds impossible…but one only has to walk inside his motor-home and see the numerous articles written about him; or watch the television shows that he’s been featured in….for god sakes the man has a written testimonials from presidents and kings on his walls. Such assertions that he’s a fraud are in short –ludicrous and false.
What bothered me the most was the suggestions that:
1) Doug had not taken part directly in the rescue and recovery effort immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York
2) That he was not ill and suffering directly because of it.
All right!
It really does take a lot to anger me, but for someone to suggest that this man is not sick and somehow faking it- angers me to no end. As the person who had to drive Mr. Copp to his treatments at 6 in the morning for three months because he was too ill to drive his own automobile I can testify if needed as to the severity of Mr. Copp’s injuries.
· Do you know on those long morning drives that I had to stop the car on a couple of occasions just to check to see if Mister Copp was dead.
· Do you know that the man at times had trouble remembering his own name and what he had said just a moment before.
· Do you know that he would get physically ill and vomit at the smell of cigarette smoke
· We’re you there to witness Mr Copp unable to rise from his bed because he was too sick to move?
Well I was there to witness all this and more! What do you need to see the man dead of his injuries. I mean really! To suggest that the man is not ill is inhumane and heartless and just without any merit what-so-ever.
Now!
It has come to my attention that it has been suggested that MR. Copp did not take part directly in the rescue and recovery attempt in New York. Obviously I wasn’t there; but for someone, anyone to say this about Mr. Copp to me is mere madness and that person is obviously in denial and living in some sort of altered reality. Mr. Copp’s experiences in New York have become the focus of his life, because he has been in a struggle for his life to survive every day. His motor-home is a shrine to this moment in time; this moment in his life- this moment in his life when everything changed. There is video tape evidence of Doug Copp’s journey below “Ground Zero”…come on how can you deny that he was there. How can you deny the man- to deny the man is to deny the horror, tragedy and reality of September 11th
I could go on and if needed and I will if requested. Doug Copp is the real deal and I am honored to know the man and call him my neighbor.
Yours Sincerely
Rod Gale
Richard Burke Ward Letter
17 June 2004
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Re: Doug Copp, American Rescue Team International
First, in the interests of clarity, let me make it clear that you have my permission to quote from this letter only in a context which makes clear my own precise intended meaning. You expressly do not have my permission to use my words in any other context.
Doug Copp has drawn my attention to your plans run an article concerning him in a New Mexico newspaper, asserting that he and his rescue team ARTI are fraudulent and that Mr Copp has not in fact been involved in rescue and retrieval after large-scale disasters. I, and hundreds of others, can testify that these assertions are absolutely untrue. I have included all possible contact details below so that you can discuss this further with me - i.e., someone who knows. I am a producer of high-prestige international science TV programmes, with a string of awards and high-profile hits to my name (my CV is attached).
I know, first-hand, that these assertions are utterly untrue. In fact, under other circumstances, the allegations would be laughable. I spent several months in close association with Mr Copp in the latter half of 2002. He was kind enough to advise me on the topic of disaster management and rescue for a TV programme called Future Storm for Discovery Europe. After that, I spent time with him developing the concept for an autobiographical project. I have travelled with him around the regions of Peru worst hit by El Niño, and around Britain. I have spent weeks poring over every detail of his life. I have viewed extensive quantities of video material (upwards of fifty hours)of Mr Copp and other ARTI members in rescue situations, in disasters ranging across the world.
Here are a few facts that you may wish to consider:
1. All the footage I have seen of Mr Copp and ARTI in action at disaster zones is, in my very expert opinion, genuine. I have worked extensively on programmes with a huge content of manipulated imagery and special effects: these are not altered pictures. Don't take my word for it: take the word of any expert producer. They will tell you the same thing. Whilst it is technically possible to fake a small number of such images, it is expensive, time-consuming, and requires a careful selection of brief and suggestive-but-not-definitive shots. Even then, some will fail to convince – and the expensive would be prohibitive on anything other than a full-blown movie budget. From assessing the type of shots and their quality (DV footage is hard to emulate in computers), and their sheer quantity, it absolutely certain that the images are not faked. I will be glad to explain in more detail when you contact me - as I trust you will. There is no doubt about this whatsoever.
2. When Mr Copp travelled with me to Peru for the TV documentary Future Storm, I met members of the rescue services from many of Peru's northern towns. They enthusiastically told me many accounts of rescues where they had worked alongside him, and where he had shown exceptional bravery. In addition I saw Peruvian footage of rescues in which he was involved. Unless you choose to believe that Peruvian state television is collaborating with Mr Copp in faking impossible-to-fake rescue footage, the only conclusion is that Mr Copp was really there.
3. In Peru, Mr Copp was given an official hero's welcome. He was greeted with open arms by the head of the Peruvian Fire and Rescue Service, and offered every facility, including free transport and a driver for the duration of his visit. In Trujillo, I lost a day's filming to the mayor's insistence on holding a special ceremony to welcome him. Simply because I was there with him, I too was given an honorary doctorate from Trujillo University. I subsequently lost another afternoon's filming to the fact that he was requested to give a lecture on rescue to several hundred people in Chiclayo. These events had not been organised in advance. They were spontaneous gestures of gratitude. The level of regard in which he is held is incontestable.
4. I found Mr Copp through an extensive process of research, during which he was repeatedly recommended to me by rescue experts around the world as the best-qualified person to talk to about coping with disasters. They recommended him. They know what they are talking about.
5. Mr Copp was involved in several live reports from the site of the 9/11 disaster on Fox News. No one can deny this. The footage is readily available. Fox has had a long relationship with Mr Copp, which has led them to trust him as a genuine and reliable source - through disasters across at least a decade, through production and camera crews that were actually there with him.
6. I have been told that you have raised questions about his health. I spent many weeks in his company. On many occasions he was struggling to stay conscious. On a good day, he could walk about twenty yards before needing a ten-minute rest. On more than one occasion we had to spend evenings outside because a single person had been smoking in the pub we were using as a base for talking. (For the record, he was entirely unable to consume alcohol.) A single waft of smoke, at a substantial distance, was enough to precipitate protracted and violent coughing fits – fits so bad that on one occasion I was genuinely convinced that he was about to die. Five minutes in an atmosphere where I couldn't even smell the smoke was sufficient to induce a coughing seizure that lasted the best part of twenty-four hours. I know what asthma sounds and looks like, from life-endangering attacks suffered by my son. This emphatically was not asthma. Mr Copp is lucky to be alive.
There is much more that I could tell you. I am sure that your journalistic ethics are unimpeachable, so I will doubtless be hearing from you shortly, and have confidence that you will use what I have to say responsibly and in context. In the meantime, I trust that the above information helps you understand that, at the very least, a story such as the one you apparently propose requires a far more intensive period of detailed and unbiased research than it has currently received. To make such extraordinary claims of fraud requires extraordinary proof – and, I am afraid, that there are many hundreds of witnesses worldwide who know Mr Copp well, and will gladly provide proof that your claims are false.
Yours faithfully,
Writing
2003 Writing 2nd novel, working title Redemption for Orion
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1st novel, Frozen, published by Orion, Christmas 2003
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TV and Writing
2002 Unlocking the Past for Readers Digest TV
Series Producer
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FutureStorm for Discovery Europe
Producer / Director
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2000 - 2001 SPACE presented by movie star Sam Neill for BBC1 / TLC
Series Producer
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Wrote 2nd draft of novel, Frozen
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1999 TALKING WITH ALIENS for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
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Wrote 1st draft of Frozen
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1998 EXTREME MACHINES, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE for TLC
Writer
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Wrote 2nd draft of novel, The Signs of Life
(Now given a decent burial in a swamp at midnight)
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1995 - 1997 RAGING PLANET for Discovery USA (+ Channel 4 presale)
Series Producer
1995 DESIGNING DREAM MACHINES for Equinox, Channel 4
Producer / Director
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AVALANCHE for Equinox, Channel 4
Writer
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Wrote 1st draft of The Signs of Life
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1994 ELECTRIC SKIES for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
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1993 - 1994 Development Producer, TV6
1989 - 1993 AP, BBC Science - Tomorrow's World, and other delights
Awards
Several each for SPACE, RAGING PLANET, ELECTRIC SKIES
- RTS, New York, Banff, ICA
Pre-Television
Investment Banker for 2 years, Eng. Lit. at Oxford (scholar)
D.O.B. 31 August 1963
Rita Cosby, Host Fox News Doc:
Peter Donahue Affidavit:
October 4, 2004. New York City
Subject: My experiences with Doug Copp, a Hero of the American Rescue Team International, at the World Trade Center and My Personal Witnessing of the Appalling Behavior and Lies of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum, of the Albuquerque Journal, during the same period.
I, Peter Donahue, do hereby solemnly swear that the contents of the following affidavit are true and accurate to the best of my recollection. I am being very precise because I am aware of the importance of this document. I am swearing to it, in spite of, my continuing fear of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum. I know they have viciously destroyed Doug Copp in a false and malicious way. They published 5 front pages and 20 stories which were completely full of the most outrageous lies against Doug Copp. I was shocked, appalled and stunned. I wondered what they would do to me. I continue to fear these unscrupulous people.
Years ago, when I first contacted Doug Copp, it was after viewing Doug on a TV special, saving lives. I wanted to be involved in saving lives much like Doug was. I wanted to join ARTI. I believe the year was 1997. It was late summer or early fall when I finally reached Doug, on the telephone, He was gone to disasters all the time. At that point, Doug and I spoke, briefly. He was interested in the fact that I was from New York. Also, He was very interested because he stated he lived in Queens, NYC, for a while. Doug was happy that he might have found a person to represent ARTI in NYC. I joined ARTI.
During our conversation, Doug asked me about my rescue experience. I told him that I had been a NY Auxiliary Emergency Service Officer. (My ID number was # 413479). I was recognized by NYPD and Emergency Services. I served from 1985 to 1994. In my years as an Auxiliary Emergency Officer, I was assigned with the 94 precinct, in Brooklyn north. Our unit was a city wide unit.
I received training in Urban Heavy Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, basic first aid, advanced first aid for trauma, as well as other live saving courses. I was trained to use: air bags, Hurst tool and other equipment.
Doug sent me a video tape which contained video of a scientific test which ARTI conducted with the participation and co-operation of the City of Istanbul, the Turkish Federal Government and the University of Istanbul. This scientific test took survivability in collapsed buildings doing “duck and cover” from 0% to 100% doing what was described as the “Triangle of Life”. The tape contained a copy of the TV Program, ‘Real TV’, which broadcasted this ‘breakthrough’ in survival from building collapse, worldwide.
I took the tape and other ARTI material to Chief Ray Downey, who was the NYFD Chief of Special Operation Command. This elite unit controlled ‘specialized rescue’ for the NYFD. Chief Downey saw the tape and he said: “This is fantastic”. Chief Ray Downey wanted to meet with Doug, personally, to organize a repeat of this test in NYC. ARTI and NYFD would do this together. Doug was contacted and agreed to the cooperation but Doug was on his way to another foreign disaster and the project was delayed until 9/11 took Chief Downey’s life. Chief Ray Downey was killed while commanding the WTC rescue operations. Chief Downey was affectionately known as the “Master of Disaster”. His men thought of him in a God like-way, without being irreverent, his men called him by the nickname ‘God’. He was a hero’s hero that is why he wanted to meet with Doug. I believe, he felt they shared a ‘common heart’ and would be able to save a lot of lives, together, with this project.
Unfortunately, Chief Downey was killed, in the line of duty, and was replaced by Chief Norman. I believe that Chief Norman was misinformed by Tom Lang’s reporter, Leslie Lithicum. If the ’hate filled comments’ about Doug Copp were really said by Chief Norman; I believe, it is because Leslie Lithicum lied to him, just like she lied to me.
When I first met, Leslie Lithicum, it was just after picking up the team at Teteboro airport, NJ.
In the van, which I had arranged to be donated to the rescue team, along with a driver, Leslie Lithicum introduced herself to me as:’a rescue specialist’. In fact, Tom Lang also introduced himself to me as a ‘rescue specialist’. It was at least a week later that Randy Haverd informed me that Tom Lang was a newspaper publisher and that Leslie Lithicum was a reporter working for Tom Lang. I didn’t know what their game was but they were both lying to me.
Originally I had arranged for the team to stay at an inexpensive motel in Long Island City, Queens. I chose this motel because it was the closest and most convenient for ARTI to have as a command center. The choice of this place would make ARTI’s contribution to the WTC rescue most effective.
Doug said: “Let’s get to the motel. Drop off our equipment and get to work”. Upon finding out that the motel was not first class, and was not located near the tourist sites and entertainment center of Manhattan, both Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang said: “Let’s go to the Marriot Marquee”. At this time, (Mike Miller who I understood to be working with Tom Lang as liaison with ARTI, but I later found out he was actually working for Tom Lang) agreed with Tom Lang. I responded to Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum and Mike Miller:” Does it really matter where we stay?” They continued to insist that they wanted to stay in Manhattan.
Steve, the volunteer driver, pulled over to the side of the road and said: “Make your minds up”. Doug was irritated and wanted to get to work. At which time, Doug said:” Fuck it, Let them have what they want, I just want to get to work”. I agreed with Doug and wanted the same. We drove to the Marriot Marquee. Mike Miller went into the Marriot and arranged for the rooms to be donated while we waited outside. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang is quoted in his newspaper stating that Doug Copp was a “free loader” and that he (Tom Lang) ‘paid for his rooms’. I certainly know that Doug Copp was not a ‘free loader’. It cost ARTI and Doug thousands of dollars in worn out and destroyed equipment as well as other expenses. The Marriot Marquee needs to be checked to see if Tom Lang actually did pay for his room; because, Mike Miller had arranged for him to have his rooms for free. Tom Lang is a very rich man he shouldn’t have got his rooms for free. The Albuquerque Journal articles said that Doug ‘ripped of’ the Marriott. These were all lies.
En route to Ground Zero, Mike Miller took over and started arguing with Doug and me. I wanted to go to Roosevelt Island to meet with the Fire Department to arrange to work together. I knew they would be happy to know about the casualty locator and that we would allow them to work with it. Doug wanted to go directly to Ground Zero and meet them there. Mike Miller kept insisting that he wanted to meet with FEMA. Doug told him that FEMA was extremely political and would not want anybody or any rescue team from anywhere to be working at Ground Zero because they wanted all the newspapers focused on them and their careers. Doug said that they didn’t put the victim as the first priority like ARTI did. We are ALL volunteers. They are ALL highly paid Federal Employees most of whom are looking for promotion. We were willing to make personal sacrifices to help people, in need.
Mike Miller went to FEMA, in spite of Doug. Mike Miller failed. Doug was infuriated and angry and ‘almost needing to be tied down’, went over to the Police Command Post. Within ten minutes, Doug had arranged for us to have a police escort with emergency lights and siren to escort us directly to the Ground Zero checkpoint (which is as far as you can go in a vehicle, because the rest of the road was filled with rubble). Doug and Leslie Lithicum have told me that there is a video of the Police Escort. Doug appeared to be very irritated by the loss of time and frustrated by all these distractions. There appeared to be a ‘break’. Doug had ‘had enough’. Doug went his own way after that and wouldn’t let Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum or the rest of these people get in his way of doing his rescue mission.
I left Doug to take care of family business till the next day.
It was soon after, that I got in touch with Doug. We met at the Marriot Marquee. Doug had told me that he had already found a hole, in the rubble, which allowed him to crawl inside far enough to gain access to the collapsed and flooded Path Station, at the very bottom of the WTC rubble. Doug was already coughing and ‘slightly disoriented’. I did not know what to make of it. I later came to understand that Doug was having reactions to being poisoned. Doug told me that the casualty locator had already been used many times to find victims. Doug has video of the machine finding victims with the NYPD. Doug told me that the NY Police Dept was great and working with them was wonderful.
At my suggestion, we went to Roosevelt Island, Special Operations Command,. I believe that Doug wanted to help the NYFD find their brothers. We wanted to help them. I went inside and saw some of the firefighters who I knew personally. I told them about the casualty locator. They wanted to see it. I went back to the van. I told Doug to bring the casualty locator inside to show to a retired Captain, who was a friend of mine and wanted to see it. Doug said:” Ok”.
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said:”Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave”. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:” Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?” Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back”. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Doug and I met with the firefighters. Doug took the lid off of a jar with rotten meat inside. The casualty locator started beeping and flashing. The Captain. and three firefighters from Rescue 3 were extremely impressed and they wanted to get the machine inside Ground Zero ASAP. Eric Wade, who was going to be involved in the manufacturing of the casualty locator, went with the firefighters to Ground Zero.
We returned to the van. Tom Lang and Mike Miller upon finding out that the casualty locator was going to be deployed by the NYFD at Ground Zero were happy. (Later, I was l told, by the NYFD that Eric Wade ‘froze’, jammed the machine, broke the machine and when seeing body parts, he ‘turned coward’. The Fire Department was mad at me because of the irrational, unprofessional behavior of Eric Wade, and the fact that I had suggested him, but they still wanted the machine. They wanted Doug to fix the machine and teach me how to use it effectively, so I could go with them. )
At the Van, Tom Lang still whined’ like a baby’, having a temper tantrum and insisted that he wanted Doug to get a badge for him. Then, Mike Miller said that if we can get a video of the casualty locator working at Ground Zero, we’ll make millions. I don’t remember his exact words, because I was arguing with Tom Lang. Doug never said anything about money or making money. At this point, Mike Miller offered me 10% of all sales of the casualty locator if I kept my mouth shut about the conversations and upset, in the van. Like me, Doug got very angry and starting yelling at both, Mike Miller and Tom Lang.
I left in disgust. All I cared about was finding my friends who were missing at this time. I know that Doug is a good humanitarian and he was between a ‘rock and a hard place’.
When I returned, later that night, several very bad things happened. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:” You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge”. Doug said:” No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge”. Tom Lang looked at me and said:” Get the fuck out!” I told Tom Lang:” Go fuck yourself”. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:” I’m not giving you a badge”. Tom Lang said:” We’re out of here!”
Mike Miller and Tom Lang left to return to New Mexico. Steve Lentz always had a glass of booze in his hands, was intoxicated and he attacked me. Doug pulled him off of me. Lentz took off with the rest of Tom Lang’s gang.
They had all left the room. I understood they were all going to leave for New Mexico.
Doug told me:” Peter, go with Randy Haverd (Rescue Chief who has worked with Doug many times) while I recover from being sick.” I continued to stay with Doug. We were alone. The door was left open.
It was appalling when they wrote that Doug only had asthma. It was obvious to everyone that Doug was sick. During my phone calls with Doug over the next 3 years Doug has always been very ill.
At this point, the Doctor entered the room, I didn’t know his name, at the time, but I understand that it was Dr. Elliot Pierce, He examined Doug. Doug’s nose was bleeding. He was throwing up in the toilet. He was coughing and he appeared to have a fever. Doug spoke with the Doctor. Doug asked him what to do. If he needed to take medicine or stay out of the rubble. The Doctor said: Don’t worry: “You’ll cough it all out, soon.”
.
I stopped working with Doug, for awhile. I know he was sick. I went to work with Randy Harverd. Randy is, also, very distressed about the articles Tom Lang published. Doug told me that he has video of Randy using the casualty locator, to recover victims at several disasters, with Doug. Doug told me that the films show Randy, the casualty locator and actual dead bodies being recovered with the machine.
Randy said he felt sorry for Doug because of the Albuquerque Journal articles knowing that Doug
has given most of his life to help people and that Doug was ‘being railroaded’. He said people don’t know what it is like ‘giving everything’, as a volunteer, and then getting nothing. Not even thanks, in return. Boy did Doug get ‘murdered’.
More important information:
Eric Wade, when he returned from Ground Zero with the NYFD went inside a refrigerated van (parked next to the Fire Station) with a corpse inside. The machine wouldn’t work because the body was refrigerated and the bacteria were dormant. Wade didn’t understand that the machine only works when the bacteria are active. I later learned that he had been seen by the vendor for an equipment supplier who was visiting the stationhouse. Everybody was talking about Eric Wade being seen screaming at the corpse. Doug, later, told me that he was appalled because he had actually seen Wade punch the corpse. Doug said he was afraid they would kill Wade. Eric Wade took off in a hurry and left for New Mexico immediately. The guys at the station house were ‘mad as hell.’
Doug told me that he found out that the Albuquerque Journal had published stories about Eric Wade a year before 911. Mentioning him by name for his involvement in a pre-WTC stock swindle and that he had been punished by the New York Stock Exchange. He told me that Leslie Lithicum told him that she knew about it but didn’t think it was important enough to mention in her articles because she described Wade, in glowing terms, as a person who was ‘also against Doug’.
Mike Holley, Tom Lang’s friend appeared to be a real slimy character. I understood that he was in hiding from FEMA because he had been ousted, from FEMA, for misconduct. He was constantly pleading with Doug to take him Below Ground Zero or to get him a badge. He was rubbing dirt on himself and pretending to be a ‘worker’ so he could get by the guards and get close enough to have his picture taken at Ground Zero. Tom Lang published two pictures of him with the WTC, in the background. Underneath he says that Doug Copp was a fake and that he (Holley) went to work, on his own, at Ground Zero. He is lying. He is a disgusting phony. Holley said:” I am going to take over Copp’s Casualty Locator.” These guys are manipulators they accused Doug for the things they did. Doug always acted like a good and decent hero.
Doug later told me that Doug and his wife had witnessed, Holley stealing ARTI equipment and taking off with it before Doug could stop him.
Randy Harverd and I got WTC Badges like Doug’s. Also, Doug’s credentials were used to get permission to fly to New York when all non-military flights were prohibited.
I was physically issued my numbered badge by a National Guardsman. They were doing the processing for the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. It was a very intensive screening. They recorded my signature on an Official Document. They recorded the entire document numbers of my New York State Driver’s License, my NYC Auxiliary Police Id number and other documents. Leslie Lithicum had written an entire article titled: “No Credentials”. She said that Doug had no WTC credentials. She is lying. She more than knew the truth; because, she had witnessed all the uproar because Doug had refused to give Lang and Holley Badges like Doug, Randy and I had. She is a liar.
Doug told me that Raynar Ramirez of Dateline NBC, told him of their filmed interview with Leslie Lithicum. When confronted about Doug’s Badge. Doug told me that she said:” Doug Copp found it in the street”. (This can be confirmed with the interview video). This is a lie and is utterly preposterous. The Mayor’s Office of Emergency Services (OEM) has Doug’s Badge number recorded. Do you think that Mr. Feinberg, of the Victim’s Compensation Fund who has been repeatedly criticized in the ‘New Yorker ‘and other media for being so cheap with the compensation for victims would actually pay someone who found their WTC ID in the street? This is stupid and an indication that Leslie Lithicum would do or say anything to screw Doug.
Steve Lentz appeared to be very intoxicated, during this conflict. In fact he had a glass of booze in his hand. He was drinking throughout the whole exchange. In the article he is quoted as saying he never had a drink He is a liar. I saw him drunk and he attacked me when intoxicated.
I tell people that Doug is famous throughout the world as the most experienced rescuer, in the world. I have seen him on many TV programs, saving lives. . Doug hates it when I call him a hero but Doug is a hero. Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang are disgusting liars.
I spoke with Leslie Lithicum before she wrote the articles for Tom Lang. I spoke with her at great length till the phone went dead. She never spoke with me again.
Our conversation was not reported in any of the 20 articles she wrote. She never mentioned me or any of the personal involvement she and Tom Lang had with Doug and me at the WTC. She never mentioned any of the arguments. She never mentioned their misconduct. She never wrote about the appalling and disgraceful behavior of any of them. Instead she wrote about them all as angels and Doug as the devil. I feel personally betrayed by these malicious and slanderous liars. They did not speak the truth they spoke with a’ forked tongue’. They are foul, evil people. They are disgusting! It was unethical for them to write any story about Doug. They slandered him.
It became obvious to me that she is mentally ill and a compulsive liar who would refuse to acknowledge the truth no matter what the facts were. She had a personal vendetta against Doug. The same way Tom Lang did and that she was not going to print the truth no matter what. She was out to destroy ARTI by destroying Doug and I was afraid that I was going to be her next victim.
She had already ‘gotten to’ Chief Norman. I am still afraid of the power that Tom Lang and the Albuquerque Journal have, of the ‘manipulation’ they can cause and have caused by hiding the truth of what I have disclosed in this affidavit. I am doing this affidavit to bring the truth out and to expose the hidden agenda of these people. I am exposing myself to danger because I cannot bear the burden, on my conscience, any longer for not standing up and bearing witness, by telling the truth.
It is incredible that Tom Lang has used his newspapers to destroy a good man like Doug for not ‘giving him his way’. I think it took courage for Doug to stand up to such a rich and powerful man like Tom Lang.
Doug was right when he refused Tom Lang. They are ‘evil bastards’ just like Doug told them at the WTC. I am afraid but feel relieved. I am praying that I will not be the next victim of these people.
Sworn to me on October 4, 2004 Witnessed:
. Valentine M. Jones, Notary Public,State of New York
Peter Donahue, No. 01-jo-24-4965974, King’s County
33 Ridge Road, Highland Mills, NY, 10930.
Lentz Affidavit:
some of the articles are finished with analysis.: and lots more stuff. am fighting for my life against this villain. Triangle of life has spread to many more countries and throughout the USA..even though Tom Lang's articles are used to destroy it..still saving lives
doug
Sunday, July 11, 2004
New Mexican’s Claims of Ground Zero Rescue
Work Called Info Question
Doug Copp’s work was only called into question by Tom Lang, Leslie Linthicum, who both had a personal involvement and public confrontation with Doug Copp at the WTC.
Editors of other newspapers have informed me that this is considered to be unethical to write defamatory stories concerning someone with who you have a personal conflict. Media experts have informed us that something is obviously wrong that is unprecedented to write 5 front pages, 22 articles and 53 pages concerning anyone. Neither Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussain nor Osama Bin Laden have warranted or experienced a newspaper with such an extreme attack in concentration of newspaper space. These articles are biased unprecedented, unethical and the result of anger and a vendetta on the part of Tom Lang and his assistant. These articles are filled with malicious libel, lies, exaggerations, misleading statements, misquotes, inflammatory exaggerations and lies, and omissions of truth and fact. What is missing is any of the interviews, submissions statements, and reports that were produced and delivered to the Albuquerque Journal, which put Doug Copp in a positive light.
Tom Lang and Leslie Linthicum were given 27 pounds of documents, affidavits, letters of support, letters of gratitude for saving lives and 6 cd’s composed of a complete ARTI book and a dozen videos of major network TV programs describing Doug in various ways as “one of the leading search and rescue experts in the world.” These video’s included footage of Doug Copp crawling below ground zero with members of the New York Police dept. and searching above ground zero with members of the New York Fire Dept. and Police Dept. Other footage included Doug and his team actually extricating victims trapped under rubble and a copy of a personal, unrequested video in which his Highness Maharao Shri Pragmulji Sawai Bahadur of Kutch (King) from Ranjit Villa Palace Bhuj, Kutch, who wrote “Your immense expertise and experience were invaluable-for which we have so much to be grateful to the Almighty God…” “ Once again with deep thanks, for all that you have selflessly done.” (Although 100 thousand people died in this earthquake the disaster management/mitigation expertise of Doug reduced the Governmental Ministry of Health estimate of 120 thousand to 250 thousand collateral deaths from disease was reduced to practically none.)
A 9/11 Phony- part one in a four-day series
This is a lie. There is nothing phony about crawling below millions of tons of rubble as an unpaid volunteer and ingesting so much poison into your body that the descriptive list of the toxins that the laboratories found is 35v pages long and you must spend the rest of your life in constant pain and misery with multiple sickness and illness. Copp’s life has been made a living hell.
Quoting the sworn affidavit of Steve Lentz which he submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Justice: ‘During the duration of ARTI’s rescue operations, numerous casualties, including the NYC firemen, rescue workers, EMT’s and policemen were located as a direct result of Doug Copp’s efforts and his equipment. Since returning from 9/11, Mr. Copp has sustained debilitating health problems. It is my strong opinion that the Nation has a strong responsibility to provide medical compensation to a man who selflessly volunteered to put himself in harms way with the sole purpose of rendering assistance.’
Self-proclaimed rescue guru
(This is obviously inflammatorily, provocative and biased. Copp has never claimed to be a rescue guru or any other kind of guru. Copp’s humanitarian work speaks for itself. Copp has never looked for thank you’s, he just wants the medical treatment detailed by his doctors to stabilize his medical condition and remains beyond his financial reach.)
Doug Copp’s mission to ground zero was considered so important that he had clearance to be flown to New York even though all civilian air traffic in the United States had been grounded.
(Copp did not arrange or submit documents for clearance to go to ground zero. Mike Miller primarily using documents from the ARTI web site contacted Congresswoman Heather Wilson who subsequently contacted the director of the Federal Aviation Administration. Based upon Copp’s experience and track record at disasters they made all arrangements for Copp to be given clearance for Tom Lang’s jet to take Copp to New York City even though all non-military air traffic in North America had been grounded except for the flights evacuating the Bin Laden family. Copp made no presentations, no declarations, and no claims to anyone. Copp’s track record spoke for itself.)
Once there, he says he assumed a pivotal role
(Leslie Linthicum is lying and is making a false and inflammatory statement. Obviously intended to give the reader the impression is Bombast. This is outside of Copp’s character and intended by Leslie Linthicum to paint a picture of someone who is the exact opposite of Copp’s selfless and humanitarian character. Copp does not use the word pivotal in his vocabulary. In Kip Purcell’s (attorney for Copp, statement to special master Feinberg of the victims compensation Fund, Purcell wrote that Copp played a pivotal role. Although it is true that Copp was by far the most experienced rescuer, disaster mitigation/management “expert” at the WTC Copp prefers to let his 700 letters of gratitude from world leaders speak for him. Copp does not need to make Bombast statements. Leslie Linthicum is preparing to paint a picture and create a theme, which she repeats throughout her articles to assassinate Copp’s character with false representation. )
and sustained devastating injuries
(Copp has been treated to date by a total of 25 doctors, medical specialists, and medical experts for a litany of injuries and medical problems. He continues to be treated by several specialists even after 3 years. Doctor Tim Smith of Berkley California, a best selling author, medical researcher and specialist in the immune system continues to be Copp’s primary doctor. Dr. Smith’s outline of Copp’s extensive medical problems is 20 pages long.)
while wading through the “toxic soup”
(Scientists have identified thousands of toxins becoming airborne at the WTC. The scientists who monitored the air at the WTC are the same scientists who monitored the air at the Iraqi oil fires during the first Gulf war. They’re published scientific reports have stated that the air at the WTC was 100 times more toxic than the air at the Iraqi oil fires. Dr. Vojdani, of Beverly Hills, world famous specialist in Toxicology has informed Dr. Tim Smith that he estimates there are thousands of different chemicals, compounds, metals and particulates that were absorbed into Copp’s body during Copp’s multiple trips below ground zero to the areas of the highest concentration of toxins at the still smoldering fires. Dr Tim Smith is quoted in his submission and sworn under oath testimony to Special Master Feinberg; during this time he was exposed to a toxic array of chemicals of unprecedented proportions. Consider that Copp ingested into his body through his skin, his lungs and his eyes solvents and chemicals from the H-VAC systems in the buildings, hazardous material from all the sewage lines in the building, which was raining down on him in the collapsed subways. The laboratory tests found that Copp’s lungs had become populated with 10 types of fungus and 2 types of yeast from the flooded subways which Dr, Tim Smith describes as being a ”mushroom farm.” Copp has video of Steve Lentz on six different occasions of Steve Lentz, covered in soot and grease, proclaiming how “dirty and sooty” below ground zero is/was. This is in spite of the fact that Leslie Linthicum quotes Steve Lentz as saying the air was “clean.” The videotape shows the air so dirty and foul that Copp’s respirator became clogged. The digital camera with digital tape and the very lowest level of “lumens of light” required to operate this colored camera could only produce extremely dark, black and white images. The light from our flashlights would disappear into the black void after only 4 or 5 feet. Copp’s body ingested the particulates in this air which was partly composed of the material from all the carpet, furnishings, desks, chairs, paintings, office equipment, photocopiers, 50 thousand plus computers and even human bodies that were incinerated and put into the air, ingested by Copp and put into his blood stream. Many doctors have told Copp that his unprecedented and a miracle that Copp is still alive and there was a testimony to Copp’s athletic physical condition prior to 9/11 and his determination to fight for life that helped him to survive the first 2 years of this intensive poisoning.
in search of survivors and victims,
Copp has video and testimony of his work at the WTC, which includes his work with NYPD, NYFD, and other ARTI members. Prior to leaving New Mexico Copp was contacted by Edie Callahan of Fox News New York. She contacted Copp within a few minutes of the collapse to find out what Copp, as a world famous rescuer, when he would be coming and what he would be doing. Copp told her a flight has already been arranged and that he would be doing many things to fulfill his responsibilities as rescuer chief disaster mitigation/management expert. Copp told her that he had the experience of destroyed skyscrapers from Mexico City to Kobe, Japan and his number one priority would be to go to the huge subterranean voids which would exist next to the outside perimeter walls of the subterranean areas adjacent to bedrock. Copp explained that skyscrapers have a different collapse scenario, a different survivable void location and methodology than other types of structures. Copp explained that the above ground collapse would have the force going downward due to gravitational force due to the mass of the collapse above. There would also be on each and every floor an outward or lateral transference of force until ground level was reached. Above ground there would be no survivable voids or they would be minimal sue to the terrific forces involved. Below ground is a whole different world. Below Ground the lateral force component is transferred back inward by bedrock. This means that the center core below ground zero would be completely pulverized where as the outside perimeter areas would remain completely undamaged. They would stay exactly the same prior to the collapse. Copp knew then and was later proved correct that this area could potentially contain thousands of survivors unharmed. So Copp told Edie Callahan that his number on e priority was to gain access through the pile of rubble to these areas. When Copp arrived in New York City he put his equipment in the” staging area” or “the command center” which was to be Copp’s hotel room. After stowing unnecessary equipment and making final preparations Copp went to the WTC and within a few hours gained access to the entire subterranean area. Even after Copp visibly showed the signs of poisoning and was falsely told by an incompetent doctor, Dr. Elliott Pierce, a friend of Tom Lang’s, that the air was safe and he would be OK (See Peter Donahue’s sworn affidavit containing information relating to Dr. Elliott Pierces examination of Copp) Copp continued to risk his life by searching the sub terrain area a total of 6 times. Copp was correct; this huge area on 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th levels below ground zero all contained huge voids. Thank god that the time delay for the WTC buildings to collapse from point of impact till the fire caused the simultaneous collapse of multiple floors consequently followed by the domino like effect which we all remember was sufficient to prevent the deaths of thousands who would have normally been trapped in the voids that Copp had predicted, searched for and found. As an unpaid volunteer Copp has been paying for his bravery, dedication and humanity not only with constant illness and pain but the scourging hatred of Tom Lang and Leslie Linthicum towards a good man.
and was awarded nearly $650,000 for his injuries.
The reality is that Copp went bankrupt. The agreement of the victims compensation fund required that Copp sign away all rights to sue. Every government agency, Private Corporation involved in both the 9/11 disaster and any subsuquencial negligence that impacted Copp. The money was not an outright gift or grant. It required for example that Copp give up his rights to sue the environmental protection agency for their fault in actually lying to the general public including Copp when they said the air was not harmful. They did not want to cause a panic and tell the truth about the toxic air so they lied. Copp and anyone else who signed an agreement with the Victims Compensation Fund have no recourse against them even though it has been proven that they willingly and knowingly lied and that people’s health was damaged as a consequence of their lie. Before when Copp was deciding weather to sign his rights away and trust to the decency and fairness of the victims compensation fund instead of the law courts, Copp’s lawyer informed Copp that he had been informed by the Victims Compensation Fund that the fund would be generous and the treatment of the ‘heroes’; that the nation would be grateful, that Copp would get money for medical treatment within a month, that Copp would be compensated for all of his medical expenses, that Copp would be paid for lost income for the rest of his life and that Copp would have no financial worries at all. Nothing could have been a bigger lie or farther from the truth. Copp went 21/2 years struggling with medical bills, trying to get medical treatment on credit, trying to get prescribed medicine, which costs thousands per week, trying to keep a roof over his head. Can you imagine being so sick that you spend 10 to 12 hours per day with medical treatment with 400 pills, drops, capsules of medicine per day and you have no income what so ever for 21/2 years, the stress was incredible. Many times friend told me that the fund was hoping that Copp would die before time came to issue a cheque to him. After 21/2 years Copp’s attorney received $649000. He took out his fees, he took out the fees for a previous attorney, he paid for all the experts’ the fund required; to economists an accountant, a bookkeeper, a rehabilitation specialist, a psych neurologist, several expert doctors, numerous laboratories, numerous other specialists. After deducting payment for all the other outstanding bills for 21/2 years Copp is left with nothing. Consider that Dr. Tim Smith’s accounting for future medical expenses to stabilize Copp’s medical condition is one million nine hundred and sixty thousand dollars. This amount is agreed to by the leading medical expert in the world who in this field of medicine Dr.Rheas of Dallas Texas has written “It appears that Mr. Copp is slowly deter rating and as Dr Smith has intimated, may die without prompt treatment. The costs that Dr Smith has indicated appear to be appropriate and within the range of normality.” According to the agreement that Copp signed with Victims Compensation Fund Copp expected to receive $5 1/2 million. The victims compensation fund rules state that in exchange for signing your legal rights away victims will be compensated for lost income for the rest of their working life, all medical expenses and compensation for pain and suffering. There has been a litany of magazine articles, newspaper stories and TV coverage stating how the victims’ compensation fund has been paying the victims paltry sums. Congress, who allocated the money to the fund, expected that 40 billion dollars would be paid. Feinberg was issued an initial amount of 6 billion dollars. Congress expected to issue him another 34 billion dollars. At the termination of compensation by the fund not only did Feinberg request the issuance of the 34 billion dollars; he returned 2 billion dollars from the initial amount. When everything is said and done Feinberg issued one tenth as much money as congress had mandated. Feinberg gave 8 ½ million dollars to a woman of his own community, who had an injured leg, which is now fully recovered, and non-life threatening. Copp understands that she has full use of her leg with no permanent damage done. Copp has no animosity; he applauds the woman for being compensated for her relatively minor injuries compared to Copp. I am sure the fact that she has connections with Feinberg had no influence on his decision to compensate her, but consider this, the New Yorker magazine quoted a married man with children who’s wife had been killed as stating “Feinberg spit on the grave of my wife.” The fact that Tom Lang, because he owns the 2 major papers in New Mexico has put the political pressure on Congressman Tom Udall to demand that the Victims Compensation Fund/Justice Department investigate Copp to take away any compensation from him is unpatriotic, immoral, evil, disgusting, inhumane, un-American, Scand less and foul. Leslie Linthicum, when she informed Copp that she was going to have his compensation taken away and even use their newspapers to put Copp in jail laughed with glee. Satan would be happy with them.
But there is little evidence Copp performed real rescue work,
Thank God that Copp has video tape and some witnesses of his work at the WTC who have not been frightened, intimidated, manipulated, or forced to run away and hide by Tom Lang. Copp believes that if he didn’t have the video of him actually working at ground zero and below ground zero, then Tom Lang and his gang would be telling everybody that Copp spent his time at a gambling casino in Atlantic City and never even went to WTC.
and it is doubtful that he deserves compensation.
See above
By Leslie Linthicum
Journal Staff Writer
Doug Copp made his case to the September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund
At the hearing with Special Master Feinberg, which lasted 2 or 3 hours, Copp spoke with Feinberg no more than 5 minutes. Kip Purcell, attorney for Doug Copp, led the neeting. Dr Tim Smith testified for about 20 minutes, Dr Gerry Ross testified for 30 minutes, Paulina Copp spoke with Feinberg for 5 Minutes. Feinberg and the Fund have been given 27 pounds of documentation concerning Doug Copp’s work, his expertise and his illness. In addition Feinberg had been given many videos of Copp saving lives and his work below ground zero, which Feinberg told us he had not watched. So when Leslie Linthicum says that Doug Copp “Made his case” this is misleading, false and inflammatory. She is writing in this tone only to manipulate the readers of the newspapers into having a false impression of Copp’s character.
last fall with a story that stood out even among the incredible tales of bravery
This is inflammatory and misleading. Documents were presented; testimony was given, just as in a court case. Copp gave no tails or stories of anything. Copp answered questions for a very brief time, which Feinberg asked him. At the end of the hearing Feinberg stated, “your presentation was the most complete and thorough of any I have heard.” He got up from his chair and approached Doug Copp, he embraced Copp and stated, “You are an American Hero.”
and loss that are the daily bread of a board assigned to compensate victims of the nation’s worst terrorist attack.
As the most experienced rescuer in the world,
Note that Doug Copp is not just a “rescuer.” His role with ARTI
Is as executive director, rescue chief. Disaster manager, disaster mitigation expert. In these capacities ARTI has documentation from all over the world for saving lives, managing disasters, directing and consulting with the Presidents and Generals and other leaders of many countries. ARTI has trained hundreds of organizations in rescue, disaster management, disaster mitigation, through out the world. These organizations trained by Copp include the Red Cross (Many countries), the Military (Navy and Army in many countries), Embassies (USA, Canadian, British, Turkish), Ministries of Civil Defense (South America, Central America, Asia), Fire Departments (Asia, North America, Central America, South America). Copp’s training videos have been used and South America, Central America and North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. ARTI and Copp have delivered donated rescue equipment, medical equipment and fire fighting equipment amounting to millions of dollars.
Copp is noted as ‘the most experienced rescuer in the world.’ Copp prefers to say that he is the rescue chief of the most experienced team in the world. There is a specific reason for this. If Copp was to say ‘best,’ ‘most professional,’ ‘most beautiful,’’ most ugly.’ These would all be subjective claims. Copp uses the term ‘most experienced’ because he has the evidence to prove it. Consider this fact from 1988 until 1999 the only team with any united states connection what so ever; private or governmental that worked outside of US territory was ARTI. No fire Department in the US nor FEMA, nor Military or Private went to a disaster in a foreign country except Doug Copp and ARTI. On six occasions such as the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, FEMA formally offered assistance through the US government to the foreign government and were refused. Copp and ARTI were not only accepted but also received written documents of gratitude from the leaders of those countries. For example, in the earthquake in Kobe, Japan the US government ‘formally’ offered assistance through the American Ambassador in Japan to the Prime Minister of Japan. The Ambassador was told ‘no thank you.’
Copp and ARTI received a letter from
Kazutoshi Sasayama, Mayor of Kobe. The letter states; “ …Your professional training and experience helped alleviate the pain and suffering of the Kobe earthquake victims.
On behalf of the citizens of Kobe, I would like to thank you for you quick response to our tragic disaster. The experience you brought with you was a great service to the people of Kobe.”
Graham Fry, Far Eastern And Pacific Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Great Britain, states: “We on our side were impressed by the professionalism of the American Rescue Team…”
This scenario has been repeated many times all over the world. Time and time again ARTI is either the only American organization at a disaster or the only rescue team from anywhere at the disaster. Many times Copp was put in charge of all the resources of the stricken country. This is all documented and factual.
equipped with the only device that could detect the scent of decaying flesh,
Copp has a 1-hour video called the Copp Casualty Locator. This video contains actual footage of the Casualty Locator being used by team s from many countries in the actual act of locating victims. This device invented by Copp is in the process of being patented. Patrick Kelley, Patented attorney and engineer has spent $15000 of his own money from his own pocket in ‘costs’ as well as hundreds of hours of legal time to acquire these patents. This is the measure of his faith in the patent ability of the device that he has put his own money and time on the line for a small percentage of ownership.
This device was used at the WTC and there is actual footage of the machine finding human remains. Steve Lentz told Copp that he had personally located many victims with the causality locator on the occasions that he took the machine and went with it to work with NYFD and NYPD to locate victims.
Steve Lentz is quoted in a sworn affidavit notarized by Karin Atkinson, Notary Public, presented to the Victims Compensation Fund, US Justice Department: “During the duration of ARTI’s rescue operations, numerous causalities including NYC firemen, rescue workers, EMT’s and policemen were located as a direct result of Doug Copp’s efforts and equipment.”
The casualty locator does not detect the scent of decaying flesh. The causality locator detects the specific and unique combination of gases given off as a by-product of the digestive system of bacteria as they devour human remains.
Copp said, he mobilized a search and rescue team from his home in the East Mountains after the World Trade Center buildings were hit.
This is misleading. Copp did not mobilize a search and rescue team from New Mexico, Copp did not mobilize anybody. Mike Miller who Copp had met a couple of weeks before, when Copp had taken video to Mike Millers friend and partner, John Grace, to have transcribed for a documentary for the Discovery channel was making about Doug Copp. Mike Miller had contacted Copp and said that he wanted to go with Copp to film him using the Causality Locator. He also told Copp that he could arrange transpiration for Copp to get him to New York as quickly as possible because he knew ‘everybody’ of importance in New Mexico. Mike Miller contacted Congresswoman Wilson. Mike Miller contacted Tom Lang. Mike Miller contacted everyone who went to New York City from New Mexico. Mike Miller contacted the White House. Mike Miller contacted the TV stations in New Mexico. Copp needed to get to New York City as quickly as possible and was perfectly happy for this person who knew ‘everybody’ to arrange it. Copp had just moved to New Mexico from San Fresco and practically knew no one.
Copp had contacted members of ARTI in other countries. The ‘politics’ of ‘hidden agendas’ and ‘turf wars’ prevented the most experienced rescue workers in the world from coming to New York City. Copp contacted team members in New York City who made logistical and tactical arrangements prior to Copps arrival. Copp also contacted team ARTI members in Peru who arrived in New York City after planes were allowed to fly again. The used the Casualty locator up until the beginning of December when the killers’ fields landfill was closed.
He said he flew to New York the next day
Copp does not know whom Leslie Linthicum is referring to when she quotes him as telling somebody he flew to New York the next day. She omits this information; however,
Steve Lentz is quoted in a sworn affidavit notarized by Karin Atkinson, Notary Public, presented to the Victims Compensation Fund, US Justice Department:
“ On September 12th, 2001, I along with Doug Copp, founder of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), and other team members, undertook rescue operations at the WTC site, A.K.A. “Ground Zero,” beginning September 12th, 2001, with the intention of locating potential survivors.”
and undertook the most dangerous work---searching the deepest underground cavities of the rubble.
Doug Copp has a long, documented and videotaped history of doing the most dangerous work himself. It is an Osha statistic that each and every tunneler who is involved in a confined space rescue has a 60 % probability of being killed the first time he does this kind of work. Consider that of the nearly 400 firefighters killed 95% of them had never experienced confined space rescue prior to being killed. It would be easy to verify that the most experienced American member of any US Fire Department has only survived crawling inside of 5 collapsed buildings. Memo Tans ever of Akute, Turkey (a team which Doug Copp founded in 1994 and in which Doug has his ID for Akute which describes him as ‘Rescue Chief’) is probably the next most experienced person in the world. Copp estimates that Memo has probably survived 30 collapsed buildings. The WTC is the 894th pile of rubble that Copp had crawled into to save lives and recover victims. Copp has videotape and pictures of him inside collapsed building at disasters all over the world. Copp had compiled some of this video into a 1-hour training film called Urban Heavy Rescue that has been used to train governmental and private rescue teams, fire dept. And military in the Philippines, Tajikistan, Peru, Australia, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, Turkey, and other countries. Copp has saved the lives of many tunnelers who would otherwise be killed. Actual video footage of real life action such as the video inside the WTC has been used to teach people how to defy the 60% death rate of rescuers who have not been taught by Copp.
These videotapes of Copp below ground zero were used at the time to give instructions for the people with Copp so they would not be killed as they entered a new dangerous area below ground zero. These videotapes have been instrumental in teaching rescuers so that they would not be killed and instrumental in proving the work that Copp did at the WTC. Leslie Linthicum and Tom Lang would have people not believe their own eyes. Well, they can’t get away with it.
“For six days, Mr. Copp waded in a toxic soup,
Dr. Tim Smith, of Berkley California, primary care doctor for Doug Copp is the person being quoted. The reason why he states six days that Mr. Copp waded in this toxic soup is because Copp went down into the Path Tunnels one hundred feet below the surface level on six occasions. The reason why Copp continued to go into this area on six occasions was because although Copp had checked the area thoroughly he continued to feel compelled to search the area because of his rescuers intuition. This intuition has saved Copp’s life on several occasions in the past. Copp has a picture of himself inside of a collapsed gold mine in the Peruvian Andes. Copp who is also a Fire Captain with the National Fire Department of Peru and his team mates had crawled one hundred feet into the partially excavated area of the mine as close as they could get to the completely collapsed area in which they expected survivors to be trapped on the other side. At the instant the photograph was taken, Copp had an overwhelming feeling, gut instinct, survival instinct revelation. Copp said to the team, ‘We need to get out of here now or we are going to be dead.’ Copp jumped up and everyone fled getting out of the place as quickly as they could. As they came within eighty feet of the entrance which was open high enough for them to run they ran as fast as their legs could take them. An aftershock had caused the entire area to collapse. The rubble was falling on their backs as they ran out the entrance. The mine completely collapsed. Copp had had no warning except for his instincts; however, if they had been a split second later they would have been dead. Throughout Latin America rescue people are given names. The one that was given to Copp and which hundreds of newspapers published was Lacucaracha, the survivor. Copp became famous as he later went through 100’s of collapsed buildings without getting killed as Lacucaracha, because nothing can kill Lacucaracha.
Copp continued to go back to the area which Gary Suson, Honorary Battalion Chief, NYFD and official photographer for the Uniformed Officers Association of NYFD is quoted at septembereleven.net as saying;
“ I was kind of shut off emotionally down there, a little too much for the senses – being all underneath the worst disaster area in the country. This was one of many trips I would take exploring and documenting in this structurally unstable area. On this particular night, I lowered myself down onto the train tracks and waded in this toxic green water over to an adjacent platform where the train had rested since 9-11. I hoisted myself up onto the platform and walked into the subway car, which would later be nicknamed the GHOST TRAIN.”
After the ruble was removed enough to extricate the damaged part of the Path Train a dead womans body was found, although this area had been searched continuously and open to people after being structureally supported to make the area safe this woman’s body was not recovered until 7 months later. Copp had continued to return to this hellish area six times virtually standing on top of her every time coming within a foot or two feet of her without being able to see her. Copp could not use his Casualty Locator because the air was so contaminated and foul with particulates and soot that the machine’s filters would clog in seconds. This is why Copp continued to go to the area; he just couldn’t be satisfied inside. He continued to feel unsettled that the area was clear and that no one was left behind.
breathed toxic air, and had toxins smeared on his body
The toxins were not smeared on his body. The video shows quite clearly that Copp and Steve Lentz had this greasy soot from the burning jet fuel covering not only their bodies and clothing but as Steve Lentz says in the video, it permeated everything inside of and covering every object and everything, it was everywhere.
surface, “a report by one of his doctors said. “ It is unlikely
that anyone has ever in human history been exposed to as
concentrated or complex a mixture of dangerous
chemicals.”
There are a multitude of scientific documents and scientific tests and air samplings to prove that this “mini city” of 50 thousand people when it became vaporized and released into the air it became the most toxic atmosphere ever tested. This was above ground zero, below ground zero was a thousand times worse because this was the source of the smoldering fire and the area where all the airborne particulates were concentrated. In addition this area was flooded with chemicals from all the cooling systems, all the cleaning products, sewage and all the other toxic liquid products from this mini city. Gary Suson describes it as: “Toxic Green Water.” Additionally, Copp came to learn from Dr. Tim Smith and the Chief laboratory technician of Great Smokey Laboratories as not a subway or train station but considered it to be a “mushroom farm.”
When Dr. Smith sent the blood and urine samples to the head scientist at Smokey Laboratories without giving him any background information he asked him, “What can you tell me about this guy?” The head scientist responded, “He’s been living in a sewer for thirty years.” Afterwards Dr Smith had told him where Copp had been and the head scientist responded, “I got that one right.”
Copp’s claim to the victim compensation fund
Considering the word ‘Claim’: as explained above, Copp had to sign away his rights to sue the environmental protection agency for lying about the air quality, the Republican Party, members of the Administration, and other various Government agencies for negligence in preventing the attack and other governmental entities who would be liable. A better word than claim would be settlement or agreement. If Copp had known that it would be 2 ½ years instead of one month before he got money for medical treatment and instead of ‘generosity’ he would not even receive enough to cover the doctors calculations for the money to stabilize his medical condition. Copp never would have signed any agreement with the Victims Compensation Fund. Copp would have relied on justice from a jury rather than generosity.
said he returned to New Mexico two weeks
later and was never the same.
Truer words have never been spoken or printed. There are a multitude of witnesses, sworn affidavits, doctors sworn testimony, and documentation to prove this.
Over the next months, Copp said, his health
deteriorated until he could walk no more
than a block without resting , His list
of 41 medical problems included chest pain, coughing,
blurred vision, dementia and a fractured spine.
This is what the Doctors have testified under oath. Leslie Linthicum knows this very well; she is substituting and reducing the Doctors sworn testimony for mere statements from Copp so that she can manipulate the reader. She does this in a deceitful continued, calculating way in all her dealings both in her written libel and her manipulating of people on the phone. She never stops deceiving people. She is habitual.
Regarding, Leslie Linthicum writing: “ 41 medical problems, included chest pain, coughing, blurred vision, dementia and a fractured spine,” this is part of Dr. Tim Smith’s 20 page summation of Doug Copp’s medical problems which is all true except for the statement that he has a fractured spine. The Doctors have concluded that his spine is not ‘fractured’ but ‘fragmented.’ He has 3 pieces of bone broken from his spine, which frequently causes extreme pain and has caused permanent partial paralysis.
Kenneth Feinberg, the special master of the fund, heard
Copp’s case for two hours in Washington, DC.
As stated above, Copp only spoke for 5 minutes. Experts gave the rest of the time testimony.
Then he sent Copp a cheque for $649,885, tax-free.
Leslie Linthicum is being provocative again and inflammatory with inaccurate statements. Copp did not receive a cheque from the Victims Compensation Fund. Kip Purcell, attorney for Copp received a cheque. Before Copp got a cent, Kip Purcell deposited the money in the Law Firms trust account and withdrew their fees. Next they withdrew the fees for a previous attorney, followed by expenses for Doctors, laboratories, economists, and rehabilitation specialists. Accountant, Psych-Neurologist, 30 intervenes treatments, other medical specialists, other experts, other fees. After all these expenses Copp was issued a cheque from which to pay the expenses of 2 ½ years without income, half a dozen hospitals, various other doctors, including an operation on Copp’s spine and a list of accumulated expenses several pages long. The reality is Copp is permanently disabled, he need almost 2 million dollars in medical treatment, he has no income and he is suffering from disease, injuries every minute of every day with a future so bleak that Dr. Boucher has told Copp of conversations that he has had with doctor friends about Copp looking towards a “hard time.” Considering these facts the actions of Tom Lang and Leslie Linthicum are foul and evil that Copp who is a ‘practicing Christian” can see no other possibility than the cravings of these two people other than “a satanic lust.” As Peter Donahue testifies by quoting Tom Lang it is obvious to anyone that Tom Lang is a wealthy and powerful man, became extremely angry with Copp because Copp refused to give him the badge and vehicle by which Leslie Linthicum could write stories about Tom Lang’s heroism. Doug has spoken to a psycharitrist about Tom Lang and the psycharitrist told Copp that Tom Lang, by his actions, obviously had a deep seated sense of inadequately and inferiority. This is common among extremely wealthy and powerful people who did not earn it themselves, but everything was given to them on a silver plate by their parents. Tom Lang’s extreme condescending and aggressively rude and violent behavior towards people is part of the problem. Tom Lang had sexual overtones at the WTC. Whenever Copp thinks of Tom Lang he remembers him wearing a rope belt with tassels on the end. Copp had only seen this twice before. Both times teenage girls were wearing them with their dresses. When Lang walked he ‘swung his ass’ in a very provocative way. This was extremely bizarre. The very first article Tom Lang wrote had a front-page picture of Copp sitting down with the crotch of his jumpsuit ripped open and Copp being exposed. This obviously has provocative sexual overtones. Copp has spent much time thinking ‘why?’ Why does Tom Lang want Copp dead, driven to the grave, putting pressure on politicians through his newspapers not only to have Copp’s money taken away (which he has already spent) but he wants Copp put in jail. There is no doubt in Copp’s mind that Lang would even go to the point of digging up Copp’s grave and defiling his body. Copp believes that Tom Lang’s behavior can only be completely explained by ‘true evil.’
That might have been the end of the story except
for two things.
Copp is not satisfied with the amount of money.
Yes this is true.
Doug Copp
He says he will die if he doesn’t get at least $1 Click Image for story photographs
million more for medical treatments.
See the quotation of Dr. Rheas, the leading medical expert in the world, in the treatment of this medical condition. This is what Dr. Rheas has written.
And there is substantial evidence that Copp’s claims of heroism and life threatening injuries regarding 9/11 are not true.
This is pure fabrication on the part of Leslie Linthicum and Tom Lang.
continuing
"The world's most experienced rescue, disaster mitigation and disaster management organization with members in 59 countries." June 2002.
American Rescue Team International (ARTI)
www.amerrescue.org
501 ( C ) 3, non profit, All Volunteer Organization
Head email:[email protected]
Office Voice: 1-415-533-2231
Fighting the Monster
Think! Have you ever, in your life, seen, read or heard of a newspaper running 5 consecutive front pages with a total of 20 articles all of which focus on destroying a single individual. Not Hitler, not Saddam Hussein, not Stalin, no murderer, no assassin, no villain but a world famous rescuer? How about a full frontal picture, on the front page with this rescuer’s crotch ripped open and privates exposed?
Well, the world famous rescuer is Doug copp, rescue chief of the American Rescue Team International.
What did he do to warrant this attack? Well, let me tell you. Doug Copp stood up to the wealthy, powerful owner of this newspaper and maybe for the first time in this monster’s life he was refused. Doug Copp told Tom Lang: “No.”
Tom Lang had used his private jet and Copp’s credentials to get permission from the FAA to fly Copp to 911. Copp was to find out that Lang’s flight was not free, patriotic or humanitarian. Tom Lang was to be selfish, demanding and monstrously cold to the plight of the NYFD and the suffering of the victims of 911.
In a sworn affidavit, from Peter Donahue, an eyewitness, to the confrontation between Copp and Lang it all becomes clear.
An excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said: ”Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave”. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:” Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?” Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back”. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Another excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:” You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge”. Doug said:” No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge”. Tom Lang looked at me and said:” Get the fuck out!” I told Tom Lang:” Go fuck yourself”. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:” I’m not giving you a badge”. Tom Lang said:” We’re out of here!”
More about Tom Lang and his writer Leslie Lithicum:
. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang wanted me to give him a badge; he wanted to have his newspaper write about him being a hero. Who knows why? Cocktail parties?
There is only one requirement to join ARTI. You must be a good person who wants to do good as a volunteer. Tom Lang and his writer, Leslie Lithicum didn’t qualify. Copp refused them.
All members of ARTI are unpaid volunteers. Tom Lang’s monstrous attack has resulted in the cancellation of humanitarian projects around the world.
Lot’s of people will pay with their lives for Lang’s rage against Copp and ARTI. Will there be justice? Who will the monster eat next?
Testimony of Rod Gale:
June 22nd 2004
To Whom It May Concern:
Hello:
My name is Rod Gale and I’m an addictions and career counselor; but for your purposes I guess its best for you to just know me as Doug Copp’s neighbor.
I consider myself to be an “everyman” in that I don’t think of myself as anything special… and I like it that way.
Last October or there about I noticed a unique jeep in my neighborhood and I had to meet the person who drove it; and I soon would- it was Doug Copp. What a guy! What a spirit and what heart…without a doubt the most inspiring person I would ever meet.
The reason I am taking the time from my day and writing this letter is that I was horrified and dismayed to hear of the recent attacks on Mr. Copp, his character; his deeds and integrity.
It sickens me to here that anyone could doubt Mr. Copp; I know that he seems bigger to life and his deeds impossible…but one only has to walk inside his motor-home and see the numerous articles written about him; or watch the television shows that he’s been featured in….for god sakes the man has a written testimonials from presidents and kings on his walls. Such assertions that he’s a fraud are in short –ludicrous and false.
What bothered me the most was the suggestions that:
1) Doug had not taken part directly in the rescue and recovery effort immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York
2) That he was not ill and suffering directly because of it.
All right!
It really does take a lot to anger me, but for someone to suggest that this man is not sick and somehow faking it- angers me to no end. As the person who had to drive Mr. Copp to his treatments at 6 in the morning for three months because he was too ill to drive his own automobile I can testify if needed as to the severity of Mr. Copp’s injuries.
· Do you know on those long morning drives that I had to stop the car on a couple of occasions just to check to see if Mister Copp was dead.
· Do you know that the man at times had trouble remembering his own name and what he had said just a moment before.
· Do you know that he would get physically ill and vomit at the smell of cigarette smoke
· We’re you there to witness Mr Copp unable to rise from his bed because he was too sick to move?
Well I was there to witness all this and more! What do you need to see the man dead of his injuries. I mean really! To suggest that the man is not ill is inhumane and heartless and just without any merit what-so-ever.
Now!
It has come to my attention that it has been suggested that MR. Copp did not take part directly in the rescue and recovery attempt in New York. Obviously I wasn’t there; but for someone, anyone to say this about Mr. Copp to me is mere madness and that person is obviously in denial and living in some sort of altered reality. Mr. Copp’s experiences in New York have become the focus of his life, because he has been in a struggle for his life to survive every day. His motor-home is a shrine to this moment in time; this moment in his life- this moment in his life when everything changed. There is video tape evidence of Doug Copp’s journey below “Ground Zero”…come on how can you deny that he was there. How can you deny the man- to deny the man is to deny the horror, tragedy and reality of September 11th
I could go on and if needed and I will if requested. Doug Copp is the real deal and I am honored to know the man and call him my neighbor.
Yours Sincerely
Rod Gale
Richard Burke Ward Letter
17 June 2004
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Re: Doug Copp, American Rescue Team International
First, in the interests of clarity, let me make it clear that you have my permission to quote from this letter only in a context which makes clear my own precise intended meaning. You expressly do not have my permission to use my words in any other context.
Doug Copp has drawn my attention to your plans run an article concerning him in a New Mexico newspaper, asserting that he and his rescue team ARTI are fraudulent and that Mr Copp has not in fact been involved in rescue and retrieval after large-scale disasters. I, and hundreds of others, can testify that these assertions are absolutely untrue. I have included all possible contact details below so that you can discuss this further with me - i.e., someone who knows. I am a producer of high-prestige international science TV programmes, with a string of awards and high-profile hits to my name (my CV is attached).
I know, first-hand, that these assertions are utterly untrue. In fact, under other circumstances, the allegations would be laughable. I spent several months in close association with Mr Copp in the latter half of 2002. He was kind enough to advise me on the topic of disaster management and rescue for a TV programme called Future Storm for Discovery Europe. After that, I spent time with him developing the concept for an autobiographical project. I have travelled with him around the regions of Peru worst hit by El Niño, and around Britain. I have spent weeks poring over every detail of his life. I have viewed extensive quantities of video material (upwards of fifty hours)of Mr Copp and other ARTI members in rescue situations, in disasters ranging across the world.
Here are a few facts that you may wish to consider:
1. All the footage I have seen of Mr Copp and ARTI in action at disaster zones is, in my very expert opinion, genuine. I have worked extensively on programmes with a huge content of manipulated imagery and special effects: these are not altered pictures. Don't take my word for it: take the word of any expert producer. They will tell you the same thing. Whilst it is technically possible to fake a small number of such images, it is expensive, time-consuming, and requires a careful selection of brief and suggestive-but-not-definitive shots. Even then, some will fail to convince – and the expensive would be prohibitive on anything other than a full-blown movie budget. From assessing the type of shots and their quality (DV footage is hard to emulate in computers), and their sheer quantity, it absolutely certain that the images are not faked. I will be glad to explain in more detail when you contact me - as I trust you will. There is no doubt about this whatsoever.
2. When Mr Copp travelled with me to Peru for the TV documentary Future Storm, I met members of the rescue services from many of Peru's northern towns. They enthusiastically told me many accounts of rescues where they had worked alongside him, and where he had shown exceptional bravery. In addition I saw Peruvian footage of rescues in which he was involved. Unless you choose to believe that Peruvian state television is collaborating with Mr Copp in faking impossible-to-fake rescue footage, the only conclusion is that Mr Copp was really there.
3. In Peru, Mr Copp was given an official hero's welcome. He was greeted with open arms by the head of the Peruvian Fire and Rescue Service, and offered every facility, including free transport and a driver for the duration of his visit. In Trujillo, I lost a day's filming to the mayor's insistence on holding a special ceremony to welcome him. Simply because I was there with him, I too was given an honorary doctorate from Trujillo University. I subsequently lost another afternoon's filming to the fact that he was requested to give a lecture on rescue to several hundred people in Chiclayo. These events had not been organised in advance. They were spontaneous gestures of gratitude. The level of regard in which he is held is incontestable.
4. I found Mr Copp through an extensive process of research, during which he was repeatedly recommended to me by rescue experts around the world as the best-qualified person to talk to about coping with disasters. They recommended him. They know what they are talking about.
5. Mr Copp was involved in several live reports from the site of the 9/11 disaster on Fox News. No one can deny this. The footage is readily available. Fox has had a long relationship with Mr Copp, which has led them to trust him as a genuine and reliable source - through disasters across at least a decade, through production and camera crews that were actually there with him.
6. I have been told that you have raised questions about his health. I spent many weeks in his company. On many occasions he was struggling to stay conscious. On a good day, he could walk about twenty yards before needing a ten-minute rest. On more than one occasion we had to spend evenings outside because a single person had been smoking in the pub we were using as a base for talking. (For the record, he was entirely unable to consume alcohol.) A single waft of smoke, at a substantial distance, was enough to precipitate protracted and violent coughing fits – fits so bad that on one occasion I was genuinely convinced that he was about to die. Five minutes in an atmosphere where I couldn't even smell the smoke was sufficient to induce a coughing seizure that lasted the best part of twenty-four hours. I know what asthma sounds and looks like, from life-endangering attacks suffered by my son. This emphatically was not asthma. Mr Copp is lucky to be alive.
There is much more that I could tell you. I am sure that your journalistic ethics are unimpeachable, so I will doubtless be hearing from you shortly, and have confidence that you will use what I have to say responsibly and in context. In the meantime, I trust that the above information helps you understand that, at the very least, a story such as the one you apparently propose requires a far more intensive period of detailed and unbiased research than it has currently received. To make such extraordinary claims of fraud requires extraordinary proof – and, I am afraid, that there are many hundreds of witnesses worldwide who know Mr Copp well, and will gladly provide proof that your claims are false.
Yours faithfully,
Writing
2003 Writing 2nd novel, working title Redemption for Orion
------------------
1st novel, Frozen, published by Orion, Christmas 2003
------------------
TV and Writing
2002 Unlocking the Past for Readers Digest TV
Series Producer
------------------
FutureStorm for Discovery Europe
Producer / Director
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2000 - 2001 SPACE presented by movie star Sam Neill for BBC1 / TLC
Series Producer
------------------
Wrote 2nd draft of novel, Frozen
------------------
1999 TALKING WITH ALIENS for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
------------------
Wrote 1st draft of Frozen
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1998 EXTREME MACHINES, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE for TLC
Writer
------------------
Wrote 2nd draft of novel, The Signs of Life
(Now given a decent burial in a swamp at midnight)
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1995 - 1997 RAGING PLANET for Discovery USA (+ Channel 4 presale)
Series Producer
1995 DESIGNING DREAM MACHINES for Equinox, Channel 4
Producer / Director
------------------
AVALANCHE for Equinox, Channel 4
Writer
------------------
Wrote 1st draft of The Signs of Life
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1994 ELECTRIC SKIES for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
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1993 - 1994 Development Producer, TV6
1989 - 1993 AP, BBC Science - Tomorrow's World, and other delights
Awards
Several each for SPACE, RAGING PLANET, ELECTRIC SKIES
- RTS, New York, Banff, ICA
Pre-Television
Investment Banker for 2 years, Eng. Lit. at Oxford (scholar)
D.O.B. 31 August 1963
Rita Cosby, Host Fox News Doc:
Peter Donahue Affidavit:
October 4, 2004. New York City
Subject: My experiences with Doug Copp, a Hero of the American Rescue Team International, at the World Trade Center and My Personal Witnessing of the Appalling Behavior and Lies of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum, of the Albuquerque Journal, during the same period.
I, Peter Donahue, do hereby solemnly swear that the contents of the following affidavit are true and accurate to the best of my recollection. I am being very precise because I am aware of the importance of this document. I am swearing to it, in spite of, my continuing fear of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum. I know they have viciously destroyed Doug Copp in a false and malicious way. They published 5 front pages and 20 stories which were completely full of the most outrageous lies against Doug Copp. I was shocked, appalled and stunned. I wondered what they would do to me. I continue to fear these unscrupulous people.
Years ago, when I first contacted Doug Copp, it was after viewing Doug on a TV special, saving lives. I wanted to be involved in saving lives much like Doug was. I wanted to join ARTI. I believe the year was 1997. It was late summer or early fall when I finally reached Doug, on the telephone, He was gone to disasters all the time. At that point, Doug and I spoke, briefly. He was interested in the fact that I was from New York. Also, He was very interested because he stated he lived in Queens, NYC, for a while. Doug was happy that he might have found a person to represent ARTI in NYC. I joined ARTI.
During our conversation, Doug asked me about my rescue experience. I told him that I had been a NY Auxiliary Emergency Service Officer. (My ID number was # 413479). I was recognized by NYPD and Emergency Services. I served from 1985 to 1994. In my years as an Auxiliary Emergency Officer, I was assigned with the 94 precinct, in Brooklyn north. Our unit was a city wide unit.
I received training in Urban Heavy Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, basic first aid, advanced first aid for trauma, as well as other live saving courses. I was trained to use: air bags, Hurst tool and other equipment.
Doug sent me a video tape which contained video of a scientific test which ARTI conducted with the participation and co-operation of the City of Istanbul, the Turkish Federal Government and the University of Istanbul. This scientific test took survivability in collapsed buildings doing “duck and cover” from 0% to 100% doing what was described as the “Triangle of Life”. The tape contained a copy of the TV Program, ‘Real TV’, which broadcasted this ‘breakthrough’ in survival from building collapse, worldwide.
I took the tape and other ARTI material to Chief Ray Downey, who was the NYFD Chief of Special Operation Command. This elite unit controlled ‘specialized rescue’ for the NYFD. Chief Downey saw the tape and he said: “This is fantastic”. Chief Ray Downey wanted to meet with Doug, personally, to organize a repeat of this test in NYC. ARTI and NYFD would do this together. Doug was contacted and agreed to the cooperation but Doug was on his way to another foreign disaster and the project was delayed until 9/11 took Chief Downey’s life. Chief Ray Downey was killed while commanding the WTC rescue operations. Chief Downey was affectionately known as the “Master of Disaster”. His men thought of him in a God like-way, without being irreverent, his men called him by the nickname ‘God’. He was a hero’s hero that is why he wanted to meet with Doug. I believe, he felt they shared a ‘common heart’ and would be able to save a lot of lives, together, with this project.
Unfortunately, Chief Downey was killed, in the line of duty, and was replaced by Chief Norman. I believe that Chief Norman was misinformed by Tom Lang’s reporter, Leslie Lithicum. If the ’hate filled comments’ about Doug Copp were really said by Chief Norman; I believe, it is because Leslie Lithicum lied to him, just like she lied to me.
When I first met, Leslie Lithicum, it was just after picking up the team at Teteboro airport, NJ.
In the van, which I had arranged to be donated to the rescue team, along with a driver, Leslie Lithicum introduced herself to me as:’a rescue specialist’. In fact, Tom Lang also introduced himself to me as a ‘rescue specialist’. It was at least a week later that Randy Haverd informed me that Tom Lang was a newspaper publisher and that Leslie Lithicum was a reporter working for Tom Lang. I didn’t know what their game was but they were both lying to me.
Originally I had arranged for the team to stay at an inexpensive motel in Long Island City, Queens. I chose this motel because it was the closest and most convenient for ARTI to have as a command center. The choice of this place would make ARTI’s contribution to the WTC rescue most effective.
Doug said: “Let’s get to the motel. Drop off our equipment and get to work”. Upon finding out that the motel was not first class, and was not located near the tourist sites and entertainment center of Manhattan, both Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang said: “Let’s go to the Marriot Marquee”. At this time, (Mike Miller who I understood to be working with Tom Lang as liaison with ARTI, but I later found out he was actually working for Tom Lang) agreed with Tom Lang. I responded to Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum and Mike Miller:” Does it really matter where we stay?” They continued to insist that they wanted to stay in Manhattan.
Steve, the volunteer driver, pulled over to the side of the road and said: “Make your minds up”. Doug was irritated and wanted to get to work. At which time, Doug said:” Fuck it, Let them have what they want, I just want to get to work”. I agreed with Doug and wanted the same. We drove to the Marriot Marquee. Mike Miller went into the Marriot and arranged for the rooms to be donated while we waited outside. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang is quoted in his newspaper stating that Doug Copp was a “free loader” and that he (Tom Lang) ‘paid for his rooms’. I certainly know that Doug Copp was not a ‘free loader’. It cost ARTI and Doug thousands of dollars in worn out and destroyed equipment as well as other expenses. The Marriot Marquee needs to be checked to see if Tom Lang actually did pay for his room; because, Mike Miller had arranged for him to have his rooms for free. Tom Lang is a very rich man he shouldn’t have got his rooms for free. The Albuquerque Journal articles said that Doug ‘ripped of’ the Marriott. These were all lies.
En route to Ground Zero, Mike Miller took over and started arguing with Doug and me. I wanted to go to Roosevelt Island to meet with the Fire Department to arrange to work together. I knew they would be happy to know about the casualty locator and that we would allow them to work with it. Doug wanted to go directly to Ground Zero and meet them there. Mike Miller kept insisting that he wanted to meet with FEMA. Doug told him that FEMA was extremely political and would not want anybody or any rescue team from anywhere to be working at Ground Zero because they wanted all the newspapers focused on them and their careers. Doug said that they didn’t put the victim as the first priority like ARTI did. We are ALL volunteers. They are ALL highly paid Federal Employees most of whom are looking for promotion. We were willing to make personal sacrifices to help people, in need.
Mike Miller went to FEMA, in spite of Doug. Mike Miller failed. Doug was infuriated and angry and ‘almost needing to be tied down’, went over to the Police Command Post. Within ten minutes, Doug had arranged for us to have a police escort with emergency lights and siren to escort us directly to the Ground Zero checkpoint (which is as far as you can go in a vehicle, because the rest of the road was filled with rubble). Doug and Leslie Lithicum have told me that there is a video of the Police Escort. Doug appeared to be very irritated by the loss of time and frustrated by all these distractions. There appeared to be a ‘break’. Doug had ‘had enough’. Doug went his own way after that and wouldn’t let Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum or the rest of these people get in his way of doing his rescue mission.
I left Doug to take care of family business till the next day.
It was soon after, that I got in touch with Doug. We met at the Marriot Marquee. Doug had told me that he had already found a hole, in the rubble, which allowed him to crawl inside far enough to gain access to the collapsed and flooded Path Station, at the very bottom of the WTC rubble. Doug was already coughing and ‘slightly disoriented’. I did not know what to make of it. I later came to understand that Doug was having reactions to being poisoned. Doug told me that the casualty locator had already been used many times to find victims. Doug has video of the machine finding victims with the NYPD. Doug told me that the NY Police Dept was great and working with them was wonderful.
At my suggestion, we went to Roosevelt Island, Special Operations Command,. I believe that Doug wanted to help the NYFD find their brothers. We wanted to help them. I went inside and saw some of the firefighters who I knew personally. I told them about the casualty locator. They wanted to see it. I went back to the van. I told Doug to bring the casualty locator inside to show to a retired Captain, who was a friend of mine and wanted to see it. Doug said:” Ok”.
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said:”Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave”. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:” Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?” Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back”. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Doug and I met with the firefighters. Doug took the lid off of a jar with rotten meat inside. The casualty locator started beeping and flashing. The Captain. and three firefighters from Rescue 3 were extremely impressed and they wanted to get the machine inside Ground Zero ASAP. Eric Wade, who was going to be involved in the manufacturing of the casualty locator, went with the firefighters to Ground Zero.
We returned to the van. Tom Lang and Mike Miller upon finding out that the casualty locator was going to be deployed by the NYFD at Ground Zero were happy. (Later, I was l told, by the NYFD that Eric Wade ‘froze’, jammed the machine, broke the machine and when seeing body parts, he ‘turned coward’. The Fire Department was mad at me because of the irrational, unprofessional behavior of Eric Wade, and the fact that I had suggested him, but they still wanted the machine. They wanted Doug to fix the machine and teach me how to use it effectively, so I could go with them. )
At the Van, Tom Lang still whined’ like a baby’, having a temper tantrum and insisted that he wanted Doug to get a badge for him. Then, Mike Miller said that if we can get a video of the casualty locator working at Ground Zero, we’ll make millions. I don’t remember his exact words, because I was arguing with Tom Lang. Doug never said anything about money or making money. At this point, Mike Miller offered me 10% of all sales of the casualty locator if I kept my mouth shut about the conversations and upset, in the van. Like me, Doug got very angry and starting yelling at both, Mike Miller and Tom Lang.
I left in disgust. All I cared about was finding my friends who were missing at this time. I know that Doug is a good humanitarian and he was between a ‘rock and a hard place’.
When I returned, later that night, several very bad things happened. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:” You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge”. Doug said:” No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge”. Tom Lang looked at me and said:” Get the fuck out!” I told Tom Lang:” Go fuck yourself”. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:” I’m not giving you a badge”. Tom Lang said:” We’re out of here!”
Mike Miller and Tom Lang left to return to New Mexico. Steve Lentz always had a glass of booze in his hands, was intoxicated and he attacked me. Doug pulled him off of me. Lentz took off with the rest of Tom Lang’s gang.
They had all left the room. I understood they were all going to leave for New Mexico.
Doug told me:” Peter, go with Randy Haverd (Rescue Chief who has worked with Doug many times) while I recover from being sick.” I continued to stay with Doug. We were alone. The door was left open.
It was appalling when they wrote that Doug only had asthma. It was obvious to everyone that Doug was sick. During my phone calls with Doug over the next 3 years Doug has always been very ill.
At this point, the Doctor entered the room, I didn’t know his name, at the time, but I understand that it was Dr. Elliot Pierce, He examined Doug. Doug’s nose was bleeding. He was throwing up in the toilet. He was coughing and he appeared to have a fever. Doug spoke with the Doctor. Doug asked him what to do. If he needed to take medicine or stay out of the rubble. The Doctor said: Don’t worry: “You’ll cough it all out, soon.”
.
I stopped working with Doug, for awhile. I know he was sick. I went to work with Randy Harverd. Randy is, also, very distressed about the articles Tom Lang published. Doug told me that he has video of Randy using the casualty locator, to recover victims at several disasters, with Doug. Doug told me that the films show Randy, the casualty locator and actual dead bodies being recovered with the machine.
Randy said he felt sorry for Doug because of the Albuquerque Journal articles knowing that Doug
has given most of his life to help people and that Doug was ‘being railroaded’. He said people don’t know what it is like ‘giving everything’, as a volunteer, and then getting nothing. Not even thanks, in return. Boy did Doug get ‘murdered’.
More important information:
Eric Wade, when he returned from Ground Zero with the NYFD went inside a refrigerated van (parked next to the Fire Station) with a corpse inside. The machine wouldn’t work because the body was refrigerated and the bacteria were dormant. Wade didn’t understand that the machine only works when the bacteria are active. I later learned that he had been seen by the vendor for an equipment supplier who was visiting the stationhouse. Everybody was talking about Eric Wade being seen screaming at the corpse. Doug, later, told me that he was appalled because he had actually seen Wade punch the corpse. Doug said he was afraid they would kill Wade. Eric Wade took off in a hurry and left for New Mexico immediately. The guys at the station house were ‘mad as hell.’
Doug told me that he found out that the Albuquerque Journal had published stories about Eric Wade a year before 911. Mentioning him by name for his involvement in a pre-WTC stock swindle and that he had been punished by the New York Stock Exchange. He told me that Leslie Lithicum told him that she knew about it but didn’t think it was important enough to mention in her articles because she described Wade, in glowing terms, as a person who was ‘also against Doug’.
Mike Holley, Tom Lang’s friend appeared to be a real slimy character. I understood that he was in hiding from FEMA because he had been ousted, from FEMA, for misconduct. He was constantly pleading with Doug to take him Below Ground Zero or to get him a badge. He was rubbing dirt on himself and pretending to be a ‘worker’ so he could get by the guards and get close enough to have his picture taken at Ground Zero. Tom Lang published two pictures of him with the WTC, in the background. Underneath he says that Doug Copp was a fake and that he (Holley) went to work, on his own, at Ground Zero. He is lying. He is a disgusting phony. Holley said:” I am going to take over Copp’s Casualty Locator.” These guys are manipulators they accused Doug for the things they did. Doug always acted like a good and decent hero.
Doug later told me that Doug and his wife had witnessed, Holley stealing ARTI equipment and taking off with it before Doug could stop him.
Randy Harverd and I got WTC Badges like Doug’s. Also, Doug’s credentials were used to get permission to fly to New York when all non-military flights were prohibited.
I was physically issued my numbered badge by a National Guardsman. They were doing the processing for the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. It was a very intensive screening. They recorded my signature on an Official Document. They recorded the entire document numbers of my New York State Driver’s License, my NYC Auxiliary Police Id number and other documents. Leslie Lithicum had written an entire article titled: “No Credentials”. She said that Doug had no WTC credentials. She is lying. She more than knew the truth; because, she had witnessed all the uproar because Doug had refused to give Lang and Holley Badges like Doug, Randy and I had. She is a liar.
Doug told me that Raynar Ramirez of Dateline NBC, told him of their filmed interview with Leslie Lithicum. When confronted about Doug’s Badge. Doug told me that she said:” Doug Copp found it in the street”. (This can be confirmed with the interview video). This is a lie and is utterly preposterous. The Mayor’s Office of Emergency Services (OEM) has Doug’s Badge number recorded. Do you think that Mr. Feinberg, of the Victim’s Compensation Fund who has been repeatedly criticized in the ‘New Yorker ‘and other media for being so cheap with the compensation for victims would actually pay someone who found their WTC ID in the street? This is stupid and an indication that Leslie Lithicum would do or say anything to screw Doug.
Steve Lentz appeared to be very intoxicated, during this conflict. In fact he had a glass of booze in his hand. He was drinking throughout the whole exchange. In the article he is quoted as saying he never had a drink He is a liar. I saw him drunk and he attacked me when intoxicated.
I tell people that Doug is famous throughout the world as the most experienced rescuer, in the world. I have seen him on many TV programs, saving lives. . Doug hates it when I call him a hero but Doug is a hero. Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang are disgusting liars.
I spoke with Leslie Lithicum before she wrote the articles for Tom Lang. I spoke with her at great length till the phone went dead. She never spoke with me again.
Our conversation was not reported in any of the 20 articles she wrote. She never mentioned me or any of the personal involvement she and Tom Lang had with Doug and me at the WTC. She never mentioned any of the arguments. She never mentioned their misconduct. She never wrote about the appalling and disgraceful behavior of any of them. Instead she wrote about them all as angels and Doug as the devil. I feel personally betrayed by these malicious and slanderous liars. They did not speak the truth they spoke with a’ forked tongue’. They are foul, evil people. They are disgusting! It was unethical for them to write any story about Doug. They slandered him.
It became obvious to me that she is mentally ill and a compulsive liar who would refuse to acknowledge the truth no matter what the facts were. She had a personal vendetta against Doug. The same way Tom Lang did and that she was not going to print the truth no matter what. She was out to destroy ARTI by destroying Doug and I was afraid that I was going to be her next victim.
She had already ‘gotten to’ Chief Norman. I am still afraid of the power that Tom Lang and the Albuquerque Journal have, of the ‘manipulation’ they can cause and have caused by hiding the truth of what I have disclosed in this affidavit. I am doing this affidavit to bring the truth out and to expose the hidden agenda of these people. I am exposing myself to danger because I cannot bear the burden, on my conscience, any longer for not standing up and bearing witness, by telling the truth.
It is incredible that Tom Lang has used his newspapers to destroy a good man like Doug for not ‘giving him his way’. I think it took courage for Doug to stand up to such a rich and powerful man like Tom Lang.
Doug was right when he refused Tom Lang. They are ‘evil bastards’ just like Doug told them at the WTC. I am afraid but feel relieved. I am praying that I will not be the next victim of these people.
Sworn to me on October 4, 2004 Witnessed:
. Valentine M. Jones, Notary Public,State of New York
Peter Donahue, No. 01-jo-24-4965974, King’s County
33 Ridge Road, Highland Mills, NY, 10930.
Lentz Affidavit:
Dear Interested Parties:
I include some affadavits. Please pay particular attention to Peter Donahue's affadavit against Tom Lang. You will then understand why the bastard is destroying an unpaid volunteer and a volunteer rescue team.The website at amerrescue.org has more than enough video, pictures, letters from Presidents, Prime Ministers and even a Maharajah to prove Tom Lang a liar but we are still in the process of putting up several hundred more docs, hundreds of pictures and a selection of videos from the 300 hours of footage I have.
The ARTI Book (43) pages on the homepage and the videos Below Ground Zero should be most interesting.
You wrote:
There are those that are observing this attack on Mr. Copp from afar. All parties concerned would be well-advised to "tred very carefully" because their research efforts so far are very wanting and in one case, completely false. Mr. Copp does not have the financial means to go against one Tom Lang in court, but be advised that certain others do and their financial resources match and exceed Mr. Lang's or Knight-Ridder. Should said investigation prove that Mr. Copp is wanting, then all legal energies will be directed towards one Mr. Copp. This attack on Mr. Copp will be allowed to continue, but we advise all to research ALL of their contributions exceedingly well.
Some affadavits:
"The world's most experienced rescue, disaster mitigation and disaster management organization with members in 59 countries." June 2002.
American Rescue Team International (ARTI)
www.amerrescue.org
501 ( C ) 3, non profit, All Volunteer Organization
Head email:[email protected]
Office Voice: 1-415-533-2231
Fighting the Monster
Think! Have you ever, in your life, seen, read or heard of a newspaper running 5 consecutive front pages with a total of 20 articles all of which focus on destroying a single individual. Not Hitler, not Saddam Hussein, not Stalin, no murderer, no assassin, no villain but a world famous rescuer? How about a full frontal picture, on the front page with this rescuer’s crotch ripped open and privates exposed?
Well, the world famous rescuer is Doug copp, rescue chief of the American Rescue Team International.
What did he do to warrant this attack? Well, let me tell you. Doug Copp stood up to the wealthy, powerful owner of this newspaper and maybe for the first time in this monster’s life he was refused. Doug Copp told Tom Lang: “No.”
Tom Lang had used his private jet and Copp’s credentials to get permission from the FAA to fly Copp to 911. Copp was to find out that Lang’s flight was not free, patriotic or humanitarian. Tom Lang was to be selfish, demanding and monstrously cold to the plight of the NYFD and the suffering of the victims of 911.
In a sworn affidavit, from Peter Donahue, an eyewitness, to the confrontation between Copp and Lang it all becomes clear.
An excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said: ”Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave”. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:” Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?” Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back”. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Another excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:” You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge”. Doug said:” No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge”. Tom Lang looked at me and said:” Get the fuck out!” I told Tom Lang:” Go fuck yourself”. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:” I’m not giving you a badge”. Tom Lang said:” We’re out of here!”
More about Tom Lang and his writer Leslie Lithicum:
. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang wanted me to give him a badge; he wanted to have his newspaper write about him being a hero. Who knows why? Cocktail parties?
There is only one requirement to join ARTI. You must be a good person who wants to do good as a volunteer. Tom Lang and his writer, Leslie Lithicum didn’t qualify. Copp refused them.
All members of ARTI are unpaid volunteers. Tom Lang’s monstrous attack has resulted in the cancellation of humanitarian projects around the world.
Lot’s of people will pay with their lives for Lang’s rage against Copp and ARTI. Will there be justice? Who will the monster eat next?
Testimony of Rod Gale:
June 22nd 2004
To Whom It May Concern:
Hello:
My name is Rod Gale and I’m an addictions and career counselor; but for your purposes I guess its best for you to just know me as Doug Copp’s neighbor.
I consider myself to be an “everyman” in that I don’t think of myself as anything special… and I like it that way.
Last October or there about I noticed a unique jeep in my neighborhood and I had to meet the person who drove it; and I soon would- it was Doug Copp. What a guy! What a spirit and what heart…without a doubt the most inspiring person I would ever meet.
The reason I am taking the time from my day and writing this letter is that I was horrified and dismayed to hear of the recent attacks on Mr. Copp, his character; his deeds and integrity.
It sickens me to here that anyone could doubt Mr. Copp; I know that he seems bigger to life and his deeds impossible…but one only has to walk inside his motor-home and see the numerous articles written about him; or watch the television shows that he’s been featured in….for god sakes the man has a written testimonials from presidents and kings on his walls. Such assertions that he’s a fraud are in short –ludicrous and false.
What bothered me the most was the suggestions that:
1) Doug had not taken part directly in the rescue and recovery effort immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York
2) That he was not ill and suffering directly because of it.
All right!
It really does take a lot to anger me, but for someone to suggest that this man is not sick and somehow faking it- angers me to no end. As the person who had to drive Mr. Copp to his treatments at 6 in the morning for three months because he was too ill to drive his own automobile I can testify if needed as to the severity of Mr. Copp’s injuries.
· Do you know on those long morning drives that I had to stop the car on a couple of occasions just to check to see if Mister Copp was dead.
· Do you know that the man at times had trouble remembering his own name and what he had said just a moment before.
· Do you know that he would get physically ill and vomit at the smell of cigarette smoke
· We’re you there to witness Mr Copp unable to rise from his bed because he was too sick to move?
Well I was there to witness all this and more! What do you need to see the man dead of his injuries. I mean really! To suggest that the man is not ill is inhumane and heartless and just without any merit what-so-ever.
Now!
It has come to my attention that it has been suggested that MR. Copp did not take part directly in the rescue and recovery attempt in New York. Obviously I wasn’t there; but for someone, anyone to say this about Mr. Copp to me is mere madness and that person is obviously in denial and living in some sort of altered reality. Mr. Copp’s experiences in New York have become the focus of his life, because he has been in a struggle for his life to survive every day. His motor-home is a shrine to this moment in time; this moment in his life- this moment in his life when everything changed. There is video tape evidence of Doug Copp’s journey below “Ground Zero”…come on how can you deny that he was there. How can you deny the man- to deny the man is to deny the horror, tragedy and reality of September 11th
I could go on and if needed and I will if requested. Doug Copp is the real deal and I am honored to know the man and call him my neighbor.
Yours Sincerely
Rod Gale
Richard Burke Ward Letter
17 June 2004
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Re: Doug Copp, American Rescue Team International
First, in the interests of clarity, let me make it clear that you have my permission to quote from this letter only in a context which makes clear my own precise intended meaning. You expressly do not have my permission to use my words in any other context.
Doug Copp has drawn my attention to your plans run an article concerning him in a New Mexico newspaper, asserting that he and his rescue team ARTI are fraudulent and that Mr Copp has not in fact been involved in rescue and retrieval after large-scale disasters. I, and hundreds of others, can testify that these assertions are absolutely untrue. I have included all possible contact details below so that you can discuss this further with me - i.e., someone who knows. I am a producer of high-prestige international science TV programmes, with a string of awards and high-profile hits to my name (my CV is attached).
I know, first-hand, that these assertions are utterly untrue. In fact, under other circumstances, the allegations would be laughable. I spent several months in close association with Mr Copp in the latter half of 2002. He was kind enough to advise me on the topic of disaster management and rescue for a TV programme called Future Storm for Discovery Europe. After that, I spent time with him developing the concept for an autobiographical project. I have travelled with him around the regions of Peru worst hit by El Niño, and around Britain. I have spent weeks poring over every detail of his life. I have viewed extensive quantities of video material (upwards of fifty hours)of Mr Copp and other ARTI members in rescue situations, in disasters ranging across the world.
Here are a few facts that you may wish to consider:
1. All the footage I have seen of Mr Copp and ARTI in action at disaster zones is, in my very expert opinion, genuine. I have worked extensively on programmes with a huge content of manipulated imagery and special effects: these are not altered pictures. Don't take my word for it: take the word of any expert producer. They will tell you the same thing. Whilst it is technically possible to fake a small number of such images, it is expensive, time-consuming, and requires a careful selection of brief and suggestive-but-not-definitive shots. Even then, some will fail to convince – and the expensive would be prohibitive on anything other than a full-blown movie budget. From assessing the type of shots and their quality (DV footage is hard to emulate in computers), and their sheer quantity, it absolutely certain that the images are not faked. I will be glad to explain in more detail when you contact me - as I trust you will. There is no doubt about this whatsoever.
2. When Mr Copp travelled with me to Peru for the TV documentary Future Storm, I met members of the rescue services from many of Peru's northern towns. They enthusiastically told me many accounts of rescues where they had worked alongside him, and where he had shown exceptional bravery. In addition I saw Peruvian footage of rescues in which he was involved. Unless you choose to believe that Peruvian state television is collaborating with Mr Copp in faking impossible-to-fake rescue footage, the only conclusion is that Mr Copp was really there.
3. In Peru, Mr Copp was given an official hero's welcome. He was greeted with open arms by the head of the Peruvian Fire and Rescue Service, and offered every facility, including free transport and a driver for the duration of his visit. In Trujillo, I lost a day's filming to the mayor's insistence on holding a special ceremony to welcome him. Simply because I was there with him, I too was given an honorary doctorate from Trujillo University. I subsequently lost another afternoon's filming to the fact that he was requested to give a lecture on rescue to several hundred people in Chiclayo. These events had not been organised in advance. They were spontaneous gestures of gratitude. The level of regard in which he is held is incontestable.
4. I found Mr Copp through an extensive process of research, during which he was repeatedly recommended to me by rescue experts around the world as the best-qualified person to talk to about coping with disasters. They recommended him. They know what they are talking about.
5. Mr Copp was involved in several live reports from the site of the 9/11 disaster on Fox News. No one can deny this. The footage is readily available. Fox has had a long relationship with Mr Copp, which has led them to trust him as a genuine and reliable source - through disasters across at least a decade, through production and camera crews that were actually there with him.
6. I have been told that you have raised questions about his health. I spent many weeks in his company. On many occasions he was struggling to stay conscious. On a good day, he could walk about twenty yards before needing a ten-minute rest. On more than one occasion we had to spend evenings outside because a single person had been smoking in the pub we were using as a base for talking. (For the record, he was entirely unable to consume alcohol.) A single waft of smoke, at a substantial distance, was enough to precipitate protracted and violent coughing fits – fits so bad that on one occasion I was genuinely convinced that he was about to die. Five minutes in an atmosphere where I couldn't even smell the smoke was sufficient to induce a coughing seizure that lasted the best part of twenty-four hours. I know what asthma sounds and looks like, from life-endangering attacks suffered by my son. This emphatically was not asthma. Mr Copp is lucky to be alive.
There is much more that I could tell you. I am sure that your journalistic ethics are unimpeachable, so I will doubtless be hearing from you shortly, and have confidence that you will use what I have to say responsibly and in context. In the meantime, I trust that the above information helps you understand that, at the very least, a story such as the one you apparently propose requires a far more intensive period of detailed and unbiased research than it has currently received. To make such extraordinary claims of fraud requires extraordinary proof – and, I am afraid, that there are many hundreds of witnesses worldwide who know Mr Copp well, and will gladly provide proof that your claims are false.
Yours faithfully,
Writing
2003 Writing 2nd novel, working title Redemption for Orion
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1st novel, Frozen, published by Orion, Christmas 2003
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TV and Writing
2002 Unlocking the Past for Readers Digest TV
Series Producer
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FutureStorm for Discovery Europe
Producer / Director
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2000 - 2001 SPACE presented by movie star Sam Neill for BBC1 / TLC
Series Producer
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Wrote 2nd draft of novel, Frozen
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1999 TALKING WITH ALIENS for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
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Wrote 1st draft of Frozen
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1998 EXTREME MACHINES, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE for TLC
Writer
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Wrote 2nd draft of novel, The Signs of Life
(Now given a decent burial in a swamp at midnight)
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1995 - 1997 RAGING PLANET for Discovery USA (+ Channel 4 presale)
Series Producer
1995 DESIGNING DREAM MACHINES for Equinox, Channel 4
Producer / Director
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AVALANCHE for Equinox, Channel 4
Writer
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Wrote 1st draft of The Signs of Life
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1994 ELECTRIC SKIES for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
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1993 - 1994 Development Producer, TV6
1989 - 1993 AP, BBC Science - Tomorrow's World, and other delights
Awards
Several each for SPACE, RAGING PLANET, ELECTRIC SKIES
- RTS, New York, Banff, ICA
Pre-Television
Investment Banker for 2 years, Eng. Lit. at Oxford (scholar)
D.O.B. 31 August 1963
Rita Cosby, Host Fox News Doc:
Peter Donahue Affidavit:
October 4, 2004. New York City
Subject: My experiences with Doug Copp, a Hero of the American Rescue Team International, at the World Trade Center and My Personal Witnessing of the Appalling Behavior and Lies of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum, of the Albuquerque Journal, during the same period.
I, Peter Donahue, do hereby solemnly swear that the contents of the following affidavit are true and accurate to the best of my recollection. I am being very precise because I am aware of the importance of this document. I am swearing to it, in spite of, my continuing fear of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum. I know they have viciously destroyed Doug Copp in a false and malicious way. They published 5 front pages and 20 stories which were completely full of the most outrageous lies against Doug Copp. I was shocked, appalled and stunned. I wondered what they would do to me. I continue to fear these unscrupulous people.
Years ago, when I first contacted Doug Copp, it was after viewing Doug on a TV special, saving lives. I wanted to be involved in saving lives much like Doug was. I wanted to join ARTI. I believe the year was 1997. It was late summer or early fall when I finally reached Doug, on the telephone, He was gone to disasters all the time. At that point, Doug and I spoke, briefly. He was interested in the fact that I was from New York. Also, He was very interested because he stated he lived in Queens, NYC, for a while. Doug was happy that he might have found a person to represent ARTI in NYC. I joined ARTI.
During our conversation, Doug asked me about my rescue experience. I told him that I had been a NY Auxiliary Emergency Service Officer. (My ID number was # 413479). I was recognized by NYPD and Emergency Services. I served from 1985 to 1994. In my years as an Auxiliary Emergency Officer, I was assigned with the 94 precinct, in Brooklyn north. Our unit was a city wide unit.
I received training in Urban Heavy Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, basic first aid, advanced first aid for trauma, as well as other live saving courses. I was trained to use: air bags, Hurst tool and other equipment.
Doug sent me a video tape which contained video of a scientific test which ARTI conducted with the participation and co-operation of the City of Istanbul, the Turkish Federal Government and the University of Istanbul. This scientific test took survivability in collapsed buildings doing “duck and cover” from 0% to 100% doing what was described as the “Triangle of Life”. The tape contained a copy of the TV Program, ‘Real TV’, which broadcasted this ‘breakthrough’ in survival from building collapse, worldwide.
I took the tape and other ARTI material to Chief Ray Downey, who was the NYFD Chief of Special Operation Command. This elite unit controlled ‘specialized rescue’ for the NYFD. Chief Downey saw the tape and he said: “This is fantastic”. Chief Ray Downey wanted to meet with Doug, personally, to organize a repeat of this test in NYC. ARTI and NYFD would do this together. Doug was contacted and agreed to the cooperation but Doug was on his way to another foreign disaster and the project was delayed until 9/11 took Chief Downey’s life. Chief Ray Downey was killed while commanding the WTC rescue operations. Chief Downey was affectionately known as the “Master of Disaster”. His men thought of him in a God like-way, without being irreverent, his men called him by the nickname ‘God’. He was a hero’s hero that is why he wanted to meet with Doug. I believe, he felt they shared a ‘common heart’ and would be able to save a lot of lives, together, with this project.
Unfortunately, Chief Downey was killed, in the line of duty, and was replaced by Chief Norman. I believe that Chief Norman was misinformed by Tom Lang’s reporter, Leslie Lithicum. If the ’hate filled comments’ about Doug Copp were really said by Chief Norman; I believe, it is because Leslie Lithicum lied to him, just like she lied to me.
When I first met, Leslie Lithicum, it was just after picking up the team at Teteboro airport, NJ.
In the van, which I had arranged to be donated to the rescue team, along with a driver, Leslie Lithicum introduced herself to me as:’a rescue specialist’. In fact, Tom Lang also introduced himself to me as a ‘rescue specialist’. It was at least a week later that Randy Haverd informed me that Tom Lang was a newspaper publisher and that Leslie Lithicum was a reporter working for Tom Lang. I didn’t know what their game was but they were both lying to me.
Originally I had arranged for the team to stay at an inexpensive motel in Long Island City, Queens. I chose this motel because it was the closest and most convenient for ARTI to have as a command center. The choice of this place would make ARTI’s contribution to the WTC rescue most effective.
Doug said: “Let’s get to the motel. Drop off our equipment and get to work”. Upon finding out that the motel was not first class, and was not located near the tourist sites and entertainment center of Manhattan, both Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang said: “Let’s go to the Marriot Marquee”. At this time, (Mike Miller who I understood to be working with Tom Lang as liaison with ARTI, but I later found out he was actually working for Tom Lang) agreed with Tom Lang. I responded to Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum and Mike Miller:” Does it really matter where we stay?” They continued to insist that they wanted to stay in Manhattan.
Steve, the volunteer driver, pulled over to the side of the road and said: “Make your minds up”. Doug was irritated and wanted to get to work. At which time, Doug said:” Fuck it, Let them have what they want, I just want to get to work”. I agreed with Doug and wanted the same. We drove to the Marriot Marquee. Mike Miller went into the Marriot and arranged for the rooms to be donated while we waited outside. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang is quoted in his newspaper stating that Doug Copp was a “free loader” and that he (Tom Lang) ‘paid for his rooms’. I certainly know that Doug Copp was not a ‘free loader’. It cost ARTI and Doug thousands of dollars in worn out and destroyed equipment as well as other expenses. The Marriot Marquee needs to be checked to see if Tom Lang actually did pay for his room; because, Mike Miller had arranged for him to have his rooms for free. Tom Lang is a very rich man he shouldn’t have got his rooms for free. The Albuquerque Journal articles said that Doug ‘ripped of’ the Marriott. These were all lies.
En route to Ground Zero, Mike Miller took over and started arguing with Doug and me. I wanted to go to Roosevelt Island to meet with the Fire Department to arrange to work together. I knew they would be happy to know about the casualty locator and that we would allow them to work with it. Doug wanted to go directly to Ground Zero and meet them there. Mike Miller kept insisting that he wanted to meet with FEMA. Doug told him that FEMA was extremely political and would not want anybody or any rescue team from anywhere to be working at Ground Zero because they wanted all the newspapers focused on them and their careers. Doug said that they didn’t put the victim as the first priority like ARTI did. We are ALL volunteers. They are ALL highly paid Federal Employees most of whom are looking for promotion. We were willing to make personal sacrifices to help people, in need.
Mike Miller went to FEMA, in spite of Doug. Mike Miller failed. Doug was infuriated and angry and ‘almost needing to be tied down’, went over to the Police Command Post. Within ten minutes, Doug had arranged for us to have a police escort with emergency lights and siren to escort us directly to the Ground Zero checkpoint (which is as far as you can go in a vehicle, because the rest of the road was filled with rubble). Doug and Leslie Lithicum have told me that there is a video of the Police Escort. Doug appeared to be very irritated by the loss of time and frustrated by all these distractions. There appeared to be a ‘break’. Doug had ‘had enough’. Doug went his own way after that and wouldn’t let Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum or the rest of these people get in his way of doing his rescue mission.
I left Doug to take care of family business till the next day.
It was soon after, that I got in touch with Doug. We met at the Marriot Marquee. Doug had told me that he had already found a hole, in the rubble, which allowed him to crawl inside far enough to gain access to the collapsed and flooded Path Station, at the very bottom of the WTC rubble. Doug was already coughing and ‘slightly disoriented’. I did not know what to make of it. I later came to understand that Doug was having reactions to being poisoned. Doug told me that the casualty locator had already been used many times to find victims. Doug has video of the machine finding victims with the NYPD. Doug told me that the NY Police Dept was great and working with them was wonderful.
At my suggestion, we went to Roosevelt Island, Special Operations Command,. I believe that Doug wanted to help the NYFD find their brothers. We wanted to help them. I went inside and saw some of the firefighters who I knew personally. I told them about the casualty locator. They wanted to see it. I went back to the van. I told Doug to bring the casualty locator inside to show to a retired Captain, who was a friend of mine and wanted to see it. Doug said:” Ok”.
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said:”Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave”. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:” Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?” Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back”. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Doug and I met with the firefighters. Doug took the lid off of a jar with rotten meat inside. The casualty locator started beeping and flashing. The Captain. and three firefighters from Rescue 3 were extremely impressed and they wanted to get the machine inside Ground Zero ASAP. Eric Wade, who was going to be involved in the manufacturing of the casualty locator, went with the firefighters to Ground Zero.
We returned to the van. Tom Lang and Mike Miller upon finding out that the casualty locator was going to be deployed by the NYFD at Ground Zero were happy. (Later, I was l told, by the NYFD that Eric Wade ‘froze’, jammed the machine, broke the machine and when seeing body parts, he ‘turned coward’. The Fire Department was mad at me because of the irrational, unprofessional behavior of Eric Wade, and the fact that I had suggested him, but they still wanted the machine. They wanted Doug to fix the machine and teach me how to use it effectively, so I could go with them. )
At the Van, Tom Lang still whined’ like a baby’, having a temper tantrum and insisted that he wanted Doug to get a badge for him. Then, Mike Miller said that if we can get a video of the casualty locator working at Ground Zero, we’ll make millions. I don’t remember his exact words, because I was arguing with Tom Lang. Doug never said anything about money or making money. At this point, Mike Miller offered me 10% of all sales of the casualty locator if I kept my mouth shut about the conversations and upset, in the van. Like me, Doug got very angry and starting yelling at both, Mike Miller and Tom Lang.
I left in disgust. All I cared about was finding my friends who were missing at this time. I know that Doug is a good humanitarian and he was between a ‘rock and a hard place’.
When I returned, later that night, several very bad things happened. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:” You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge”. Doug said:” No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge”. Tom Lang looked at me and said:” Get the fuck out!” I told Tom Lang:” Go fuck yourself”. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:” I’m not giving you a badge”. Tom Lang said:” We’re out of here!”
Mike Miller and Tom Lang left to return to New Mexico. Steve Lentz always had a glass of booze in his hands, was intoxicated and he attacked me. Doug pulled him off of me. Lentz took off with the rest of Tom Lang’s gang.
They had all left the room. I understood they were all going to leave for New Mexico.
Doug told me:” Peter, go with Randy Haverd (Rescue Chief who has worked with Doug many times) while I recover from being sick.” I continued to stay with Doug. We were alone. The door was left open.
It was appalling when they wrote that Doug only had asthma. It was obvious to everyone that Doug was sick. During my phone calls with Doug over the next 3 years Doug has always been very ill.
At this point, the Doctor entered the room, I didn’t know his name, at the time, but I understand that it was Dr. Elliot Pierce, He examined Doug. Doug’s nose was bleeding. He was throwing up in the toilet. He was coughing and he appeared to have a fever. Doug spoke with the Doctor. Doug asked him what to do. If he needed to take medicine or stay out of the rubble. The Doctor said: Don’t worry: “You’ll cough it all out, soon.”
.
I stopped working with Doug, for awhile. I know he was sick. I went to work with Randy Harverd. Randy is, also, very distressed about the articles Tom Lang published. Doug told me that he has video of Randy using the casualty locator, to recover victims at several disasters, with Doug. Doug told me that the films show Randy, the casualty locator and actual dead bodies being recovered with the machine.
Randy said he felt sorry for Doug because of the Albuquerque Journal articles knowing that Doug
has given most of his life to help people and that Doug was ‘being railroaded’. He said people don’t know what it is like ‘giving everything’, as a volunteer, and then getting nothing. Not even thanks, in return. Boy did Doug get ‘murdered’.
More important information:
Eric Wade, when he returned from Ground Zero with the NYFD went inside a refrigerated van (parked next to the Fire Station) with a corpse inside. The machine wouldn’t work because the body was refrigerated and the bacteria were dormant. Wade didn’t understand that the machine only works when the bacteria are active. I later learned that he had been seen by the vendor for an equipment supplier who was visiting the stationhouse. Everybody was talking about Eric Wade being seen screaming at the corpse. Doug, later, told me that he was appalled because he had actually seen Wade punch the corpse. Doug said he was afraid they would kill Wade. Eric Wade took off in a hurry and left for New Mexico immediately. The guys at the station house were ‘mad as hell.’
Doug told me that he found out that the Albuquerque Journal had published stories about Eric Wade a year before 911. Mentioning him by name for his involvement in a pre-WTC stock swindle and that he had been punished by the New York Stock Exchange. He told me that Leslie Lithicum told him that she knew about it but didn’t think it was important enough to mention in her articles because she described Wade, in glowing terms, as a person who was ‘also against Doug’.
Mike Holley, Tom Lang’s friend appeared to be a real slimy character. I understood that he was in hiding from FEMA because he had been ousted, from FEMA, for misconduct. He was constantly pleading with Doug to take him Below Ground Zero or to get him a badge. He was rubbing dirt on himself and pretending to be a ‘worker’ so he could get by the guards and get close enough to have his picture taken at Ground Zero. Tom Lang published two pictures of him with the WTC, in the background. Underneath he says that Doug Copp was a fake and that he (Holley) went to work, on his own, at Ground Zero. He is lying. He is a disgusting phony. Holley said:” I am going to take over Copp’s Casualty Locator.” These guys are manipulators they accused Doug for the things they did. Doug always acted like a good and decent hero.
Doug later told me that Doug and his wife had witnessed, Holley stealing ARTI equipment and taking off with it before Doug could stop him.
Randy Harverd and I got WTC Badges like Doug’s. Also, Doug’s credentials were used to get permission to fly to New York when all non-military flights were prohibited.
I was physically issued my numbered badge by a National Guardsman. They were doing the processing for the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. It was a very intensive screening. They recorded my signature on an Official Document. They recorded the entire document numbers of my New York State Driver’s License, my NYC Auxiliary Police Id number and other documents. Leslie Lithicum had written an entire article titled: “No Credentials”. She said that Doug had no WTC credentials. She is lying. She more than knew the truth; because, she had witnessed all the uproar because Doug had refused to give Lang and Holley Badges like Doug, Randy and I had. She is a liar.
Doug told me that Raynar Ramirez of Dateline NBC, told him of their filmed interview with Leslie Lithicum. When confronted about Doug’s Badge. Doug told me that she said:” Doug Copp found it in the street”. (This can be confirmed with the interview video). This is a lie and is utterly preposterous. The Mayor’s Office of Emergency Services (OEM) has Doug’s Badge number recorded. Do you think that Mr. Feinberg, of the Victim’s Compensation Fund who has been repeatedly criticized in the ‘New Yorker ‘and other media for being so cheap with the compensation for victims would actually pay someone who found their WTC ID in the street? This is stupid and an indication that Leslie Lithicum would do or say anything to screw Doug.
Steve Lentz appeared to be very intoxicated, during this conflict. In fact he had a glass of booze in his hand. He was drinking throughout the whole exchange. In the article he is quoted as saying he never had a drink He is a liar. I saw him drunk and he attacked me when intoxicated.
I tell people that Doug is famous throughout the world as the most experienced rescuer, in the world. I have seen him on many TV programs, saving lives. . Doug hates it when I call him a hero but Doug is a hero. Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang are disgusting liars.
I spoke with Leslie Lithicum before she wrote the articles for Tom Lang. I spoke with her at great length till the phone went dead. She never spoke with me again.
Our conversation was not reported in any of the 20 articles she wrote. She never mentioned me or any of the personal involvement she and Tom Lang had with Doug and me at the WTC. She never mentioned any of the arguments. She never mentioned their misconduct. She never wrote about the appalling and disgraceful behavior of any of them. Instead she wrote about them all as angels and Doug as the devil. I feel personally betrayed by these malicious and slanderous liars. They did not speak the truth they spoke with a’ forked tongue’. They are foul, evil people. They are disgusting! It was unethical for them to write any story about Doug. They slandered him.
It became obvious to me that she is mentally ill and a compulsive liar who would refuse to acknowledge the truth no matter what the facts were. She had a personal vendetta against Doug. The same way Tom Lang did and that she was not going to print the truth no matter what. She was out to destroy ARTI by destroying Doug and I was afraid that I was going to be her next victim.
She had already ‘gotten to’ Chief Norman. I am still afraid of the power that Tom Lang and the Albuquerque Journal have, of the ‘manipulation’ they can cause and have caused by hiding the truth of what I have disclosed in this affidavit. I am doing this affidavit to bring the truth out and to expose the hidden agenda of these people. I am exposing myself to danger because I cannot bear the burden, on my conscience, any longer for not standing up and bearing witness, by telling the truth.
It is incredible that Tom Lang has used his newspapers to destroy a good man like Doug for not ‘giving him his way’. I think it took courage for Doug to stand up to such a rich and powerful man like Tom Lang.
Doug was right when he refused Tom Lang. They are ‘evil bastards’ just like Doug told them at the WTC. I am afraid but feel relieved. I am praying that I will not be the next victim of these people.
Sworn to me on October 4, 2004 Witnessed:
. Valentine M. Jones, Notary Public,State of New York
Peter Donahue, No. 01-jo-24-4965974, King’s County
33 Ridge Road, Highland Mills, NY, 10930.
Lentz Affidavit:
some of the articles are finished with analysis.: and lots more stuff. am fighting for my life against this villain. Triangle of life has spread to many more countries and throughout the USA..even though Tom Lang's articles are used to destroy it..still saving lives
doug
Sunday, July 11, 2004
New Mexican’s Claims of Ground Zero Rescue
Work Called Info Question
Doug Copp’s work was only called into question by Tom Lang, Leslie Linthicum, who both had a personal involvement and public confrontation with Doug Copp at the WTC.
Editors of other newspapers have informed me that this is considered to be unethical to write defamatory stories concerning someone with who you have a personal conflict. Media experts have informed us that something is obviously wrong that is unprecedented to write 5 front pages, 22 articles and 53 pages concerning anyone. Neither Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussain nor Osama Bin Laden have warranted or experienced a newspaper with such an extreme attack in concentration of newspaper space. These articles are biased unprecedented, unethical and the result of anger and a vendetta on the part of Tom Lang and his assistant. These articles are filled with malicious libel, lies, exaggerations, misleading statements, misquotes, inflammatory exaggerations and lies, and omissions of truth and fact. What is missing is any of the interviews, submissions statements, and reports that were produced and delivered to the Albuquerque Journal, which put Doug Copp in a positive light.
Tom Lang and Leslie Linthicum were given 27 pounds of documents, affidavits, letters of support, letters of gratitude for saving lives and 6 cd’s composed of a complete ARTI book and a dozen videos of major network TV programs describing Doug in various ways as “one of the leading search and rescue experts in the world.” These video’s included footage of Doug Copp crawling below ground zero with members of the New York Police dept. and searching above ground zero with members of the New York Fire Dept. and Police Dept. Other footage included Doug and his team actually extricating victims trapped under rubble and a copy of a personal, unrequested video in which his Highness Maharao Shri Pragmulji Sawai Bahadur of Kutch (King) from Ranjit Villa Palace Bhuj, Kutch, who wrote “Your immense expertise and experience were invaluable-for which we have so much to be grateful to the Almighty God…” “ Once again with deep thanks, for all that you have selflessly done.” (Although 100 thousand people died in this earthquake the disaster management/mitigation expertise of Doug reduced the Governmental Ministry of Health estimate of 120 thousand to 250 thousand collateral deaths from disease was reduced to practically none.)
A 9/11 Phony- part one in a four-day series
This is a lie. There is nothing phony about crawling below millions of tons of rubble as an unpaid volunteer and ingesting so much poison into your body that the descriptive list of the toxins that the laboratories found is 35v pages long and you must spend the rest of your life in constant pain and misery with multiple sickness and illness. Copp’s life has been made a living hell.
Quoting the sworn affidavit of Steve Lentz which he submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Justice: ‘During the duration of ARTI’s rescue operations, numerous casualties, including the NYC firemen, rescue workers, EMT’s and policemen were located as a direct result of Doug Copp’s efforts and his equipment. Since returning from 9/11, Mr. Copp has sustained debilitating health problems. It is my strong opinion that the Nation has a strong responsibility to provide medical compensation to a man who selflessly volunteered to put himself in harms way with the sole purpose of rendering assistance.’
Self-proclaimed rescue guru
(This is obviously inflammatorily, provocative and biased. Copp has never claimed to be a rescue guru or any other kind of guru. Copp’s humanitarian work speaks for itself. Copp has never looked for thank you’s, he just wants the medical treatment detailed by his doctors to stabilize his medical condition and remains beyond his financial reach.)
Doug Copp’s mission to ground zero was considered so important that he had clearance to be flown to New York even though all civilian air traffic in the United States had been grounded.
(Copp did not arrange or submit documents for clearance to go to ground zero. Mike Miller primarily using documents from the ARTI web site contacted Congresswoman Heather Wilson who subsequently contacted the director of the Federal Aviation Administration. Based upon Copp’s experience and track record at disasters they made all arrangements for Copp to be given clearance for Tom Lang’s jet to take Copp to New York City even though all non-military air traffic in North America had been grounded except for the flights evacuating the Bin Laden family. Copp made no presentations, no declarations, and no claims to anyone. Copp’s track record spoke for itself.)
Once there, he says he assumed a pivotal role
(Leslie Linthicum is lying and is making a false and inflammatory statement. Obviously intended to give the reader the impression is Bombast. This is outside of Copp’s character and intended by Leslie Linthicum to paint a picture of someone who is the exact opposite of Copp’s selfless and humanitarian character. Copp does not use the word pivotal in his vocabulary. In Kip Purcell’s (attorney for Copp, statement to special master Feinberg of the victims compensation Fund, Purcell wrote that Copp played a pivotal role. Although it is true that Copp was by far the most experienced rescuer, disaster mitigation/management “expert” at the WTC Copp prefers to let his 700 letters of gratitude from world leaders speak for him. Copp does not need to make Bombast statements. Leslie Linthicum is preparing to paint a picture and create a theme, which she repeats throughout her articles to assassinate Copp’s character with false representation. )
and sustained devastating injuries
(Copp has been treated to date by a total of 25 doctors, medical specialists, and medical experts for a litany of injuries and medical problems. He continues to be treated by several specialists even after 3 years. Doctor Tim Smith of Berkley California, a best selling author, medical researcher and specialist in the immune system continues to be Copp’s primary doctor. Dr. Smith’s outline of Copp’s extensive medical problems is 20 pages long.)
while wading through the “toxic soup”
(Scientists have identified thousands of toxins becoming airborne at the WTC. The scientists who monitored the air at the WTC are the same scientists who monitored the air at the Iraqi oil fires during the first Gulf war. They’re published scientific reports have stated that the air at the WTC was 100 times more toxic than the air at the Iraqi oil fires. Dr. Vojdani, of Beverly Hills, world famous specialist in Toxicology has informed Dr. Tim Smith that he estimates there are thousands of different chemicals, compounds, metals and particulates that were absorbed into Copp’s body during Copp’s multiple trips below ground zero to the areas of the highest concentration of toxins at the still smoldering fires. Dr Tim Smith is quoted in his submission and sworn under oath testimony to Special Master Feinberg; during this time he was exposed to a toxic array of chemicals of unprecedented proportions. Consider that Copp ingested into his body through his skin, his lungs and his eyes solvents and chemicals from the H-VAC systems in the buildings, hazardous material from all the sewage lines in the building, which was raining down on him in the collapsed subways. The laboratory tests found that Copp’s lungs had become populated with 10 types of fungus and 2 types of yeast from the flooded subways which Dr, Tim Smith describes as being a ”mushroom farm.” Copp has video of Steve Lentz on six different occasions of Steve Lentz, covered in soot and grease, proclaiming how “dirty and sooty” below ground zero is/was. This is in spite of the fact that Leslie Linthicum quotes Steve Lentz as saying the air was “clean.” The videotape shows the air so dirty and foul that Copp’s respirator became clogged. The digital camera with digital tape and the very lowest level of “lumens of light” required to operate this colored camera could only produce extremely dark, black and white images. The light from our flashlights would disappear into the black void after only 4 or 5 feet. Copp’s body ingested the particulates in this air which was partly composed of the material from all the carpet, furnishings, desks, chairs, paintings, office equipment, photocopiers, 50 thousand plus computers and even human bodies that were incinerated and put into the air, ingested by Copp and put into his blood stream. Many doctors have told Copp that his unprecedented and a miracle that Copp is still alive and there was a testimony to Copp’s athletic physical condition prior to 9/11 and his determination to fight for life that helped him to survive the first 2 years of this intensive poisoning.
in search of survivors and victims,
Copp has video and testimony of his work at the WTC, which includes his work with NYPD, NYFD, and other ARTI members. Prior to leaving New Mexico Copp was contacted by Edie Callahan of Fox News New York. She contacted Copp within a few minutes of the collapse to find out what Copp, as a world famous rescuer, when he would be coming and what he would be doing. Copp told her a flight has already been arranged and that he would be doing many things to fulfill his responsibilities as rescuer chief disaster mitigation/management expert. Copp told her that he had the experience of destroyed skyscrapers from Mexico City to Kobe, Japan and his number one priority would be to go to the huge subterranean voids which would exist next to the outside perimeter walls of the subterranean areas adjacent to bedrock. Copp explained that skyscrapers have a different collapse scenario, a different survivable void location and methodology than other types of structures. Copp explained that the above ground collapse would have the force going downward due to gravitational force due to the mass of the collapse above. There would also be on each and every floor an outward or lateral transference of force until ground level was reached. Above ground there would be no survivable voids or they would be minimal sue to the terrific forces involved. Below ground is a whole different world. Below Ground the lateral force component is transferred back inward by bedrock. This means that the center core below ground zero would be completely pulverized where as the outside perimeter areas would remain completely undamaged. They would stay exactly the same prior to the collapse. Copp knew then and was later proved correct that this area could potentially contain thousands of survivors unharmed. So Copp told Edie Callahan that his number on e priority was to gain access through the pile of rubble to these areas. When Copp arrived in New York City he put his equipment in the” staging area” or “the command center” which was to be Copp’s hotel room. After stowing unnecessary equipment and making final preparations Copp went to the WTC and within a few hours gained access to the entire subterranean area. Even after Copp visibly showed the signs of poisoning and was falsely told by an incompetent doctor, Dr. Elliott Pierce, a friend of Tom Lang’s, that the air was safe and he would be OK (See Peter Donahue’s sworn affidavit containing information relating to Dr. Elliott Pierces examination of Copp) Copp continued to risk his life by searching the sub terrain area a total of 6 times. Copp was correct; this huge area on 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th levels below ground zero all contained huge voids. Thank god that the time delay for the WTC buildings to collapse from point of impact till the fire caused the simultaneous collapse of multiple floors consequently followed by the domino like effect which we all remember was sufficient to prevent the deaths of thousands who would have normally been trapped in the voids that Copp had predicted, searched for and found. As an unpaid volunteer Copp has been paying for his bravery, dedication and humanity not only with constant illness and pain but the scourging hatred of Tom Lang and Leslie Linthicum towards a good man.
and was awarded nearly $650,000 for his injuries.
The reality is that Copp went bankrupt. The agreement of the victims compensation fund required that Copp sign away all rights to sue. Every government agency, Private Corporation involved in both the 9/11 disaster and any subsuquencial negligence that impacted Copp. The money was not an outright gift or grant. It required for example that Copp give up his rights to sue the environmental protection agency for their fault in actually lying to the general public including Copp when they said the air was not harmful. They did not want to cause a panic and tell the truth about the toxic air so they lied. Copp and anyone else who signed an agreement with the Victims Compensation Fund have no recourse against them even though it has been proven that they willingly and knowingly lied and that people’s health was damaged as a consequence of their lie. Before when Copp was deciding weather to sign his rights away and trust to the decency and fairness of the victims compensation fund instead of the law courts, Copp’s lawyer informed Copp that he had been informed by the Victims Compensation Fund that the fund would be generous and the treatment of the ‘heroes’; that the nation would be grateful, that Copp would get money for medical treatment within a month, that Copp would be compensated for all of his medical expenses, that Copp would be paid for lost income for the rest of his life and that Copp would have no financial worries at all. Nothing could have been a bigger lie or farther from the truth. Copp went 21/2 years struggling with medical bills, trying to get medical treatment on credit, trying to get prescribed medicine, which costs thousands per week, trying to keep a roof over his head. Can you imagine being so sick that you spend 10 to 12 hours per day with medical treatment with 400 pills, drops, capsules of medicine per day and you have no income what so ever for 21/2 years, the stress was incredible. Many times friend told me that the fund was hoping that Copp would die before time came to issue a cheque to him. After 21/2 years Copp’s attorney received $649000. He took out his fees, he took out the fees for a previous attorney, he paid for all the experts’ the fund required; to economists an accountant, a bookkeeper, a rehabilitation specialist, a psych neurologist, several expert doctors, numerous laboratories, numerous other specialists. After deducting payment for all the other outstanding bills for 21/2 years Copp is left with nothing. Consider that Dr. Tim Smith’s accounting for future medical expenses to stabilize Copp’s medical condition is one million nine hundred and sixty thousand dollars. This amount is agreed to by the leading medical expert in the world who in this field of medicine Dr.Rheas of Dallas Texas has written “It appears that Mr. Copp is slowly deter rating and as Dr Smith has intimated, may die without prompt treatment. The costs that Dr Smith has indicated appear to be appropriate and within the range of normality.” According to the agreement that Copp signed with Victims Compensation Fund Copp expected to receive $5 1/2 million. The victims compensation fund rules state that in exchange for signing your legal rights away victims will be compensated for lost income for the rest of their working life, all medical expenses and compensation for pain and suffering. There has been a litany of magazine articles, newspaper stories and TV coverage stating how the victims’ compensation fund has been paying the victims paltry sums. Congress, who allocated the money to the fund, expected that 40 billion dollars would be paid. Feinberg was issued an initial amount of 6 billion dollars. Congress expected to issue him another 34 billion dollars. At the termination of compensation by the fund not only did Feinberg request the issuance of the 34 billion dollars; he returned 2 billion dollars from the initial amount. When everything is said and done Feinberg issued one tenth as much money as congress had mandated. Feinberg gave 8 ½ million dollars to a woman of his own community, who had an injured leg, which is now fully recovered, and non-life threatening. Copp understands that she has full use of her leg with no permanent damage done. Copp has no animosity; he applauds the woman for being compensated for her relatively minor injuries compared to Copp. I am sure the fact that she has connections with Feinberg had no influence on his decision to compensate her, but consider this, the New Yorker magazine quoted a married man with children who’s wife had been killed as stating “Feinberg spit on the grave of my wife.” The fact that Tom Lang, because he owns the 2 major papers in New Mexico has put the political pressure on Congressman Tom Udall to demand that the Victims Compensation Fund/Justice Department investigate Copp to take away any compensation from him is unpatriotic, immoral, evil, disgusting, inhumane, un-American, Scand less and foul. Leslie Linthicum, when she informed Copp that she was going to have his compensation taken away and even use their newspapers to put Copp in jail laughed with glee. Satan would be happy with them.
But there is little evidence Copp performed real rescue work,
Thank God that Copp has video tape and some witnesses of his work at the WTC who have not been frightened, intimidated, manipulated, or forced to run away and hide by Tom Lang. Copp believes that if he didn’t have the video of him actually working at ground zero and below ground zero, then Tom Lang and his gang would be telling everybody that Copp spent his time at a gambling casino in Atlantic City and never even went to WTC.
and it is doubtful that he deserves compensation.
See above
By Leslie Linthicum
Journal Staff Writer
Doug Copp made his case to the September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund
At the hearing with Special Master Feinberg, which lasted 2 or 3 hours, Copp spoke with Feinberg no more than 5 minutes. Kip Purcell, attorney for Doug Copp, led the neeting. Dr Tim Smith testified for about 20 minutes, Dr Gerry Ross testified for 30 minutes, Paulina Copp spoke with Feinberg for 5 Minutes. Feinberg and the Fund have been given 27 pounds of documentation concerning Doug Copp’s work, his expertise and his illness. In addition Feinberg had been given many videos of Copp saving lives and his work below ground zero, which Feinberg told us he had not watched. So when Leslie Linthicum says that Doug Copp “Made his case” this is misleading, false and inflammatory. She is writing in this tone only to manipulate the readers of the newspapers into having a false impression of Copp’s character.
last fall with a story that stood out even among the incredible tales of bravery
This is inflammatory and misleading. Documents were presented; testimony was given, just as in a court case. Copp gave no tails or stories of anything. Copp answered questions for a very brief time, which Feinberg asked him. At the end of the hearing Feinberg stated, “your presentation was the most complete and thorough of any I have heard.” He got up from his chair and approached Doug Copp, he embraced Copp and stated, “You are an American Hero.”
and loss that are the daily bread of a board assigned to compensate victims of the nation’s worst terrorist attack.
As the most experienced rescuer in the world,
Note that Doug Copp is not just a “rescuer.” His role with ARTI
Is as executive director, rescue chief. Disaster manager, disaster mitigation expert. In these capacities ARTI has documentation from all over the world for saving lives, managing disasters, directing and consulting with the Presidents and Generals and other leaders of many countries. ARTI has trained hundreds of organizations in rescue, disaster management, disaster mitigation, through out the world. These organizations trained by Copp include the Red Cross (Many countries), the Military (Navy and Army in many countries), Embassies (USA, Canadian, British, Turkish), Ministries of Civil Defense (South America, Central America, Asia), Fire Departments (Asia, North America, Central America, South America). Copp’s training videos have been used and South America, Central America and North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. ARTI and Copp have delivered donated rescue equipment, medical equipment and fire fighting equipment amounting to millions of dollars.
Copp is noted as ‘the most experienced rescuer in the world.’ Copp prefers to say that he is the rescue chief of the most experienced team in the world. There is a specific reason for this. If Copp was to say ‘best,’ ‘most professional,’ ‘most beautiful,’’ most ugly.’ These would all be subjective claims. Copp uses the term ‘most experienced’ because he has the evidence to prove it. Consider this fact from 1988 until 1999 the only team with any united states connection what so ever; private or governmental that worked outside of US territory was ARTI. No fire Department in the US nor FEMA, nor Military or Private went to a disaster in a foreign country except Doug Copp and ARTI. On six occasions such as the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, FEMA formally offered assistance through the US government to the foreign government and were refused. Copp and ARTI were not only accepted but also received written documents of gratitude from the leaders of those countries. For example, in the earthquake in Kobe, Japan the US government ‘formally’ offered assistance through the American Ambassador in Japan to the Prime Minister of Japan. The Ambassador was told ‘no thank you.’
Copp and ARTI received a letter from
Kazutoshi Sasayama, Mayor of Kobe. The letter states; “ …Your professional training and experience helped alleviate the pain and suffering of the Kobe earthquake victims.
On behalf of the citizens of Kobe, I would like to thank you for you quick response to our tragic disaster. The experience you brought with you was a great service to the people of Kobe.”
Graham Fry, Far Eastern And Pacific Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Great Britain, states: “We on our side were impressed by the professionalism of the American Rescue Team…”
This scenario has been repeated many times all over the world. Time and time again ARTI is either the only American organization at a disaster or the only rescue team from anywhere at the disaster. Many times Copp was put in charge of all the resources of the stricken country. This is all documented and factual.
equipped with the only device that could detect the scent of decaying flesh,
Copp has a 1-hour video called the Copp Casualty Locator. This video contains actual footage of the Casualty Locator being used by team s from many countries in the actual act of locating victims. This device invented by Copp is in the process of being patented. Patrick Kelley, Patented attorney and engineer has spent $15000 of his own money from his own pocket in ‘costs’ as well as hundreds of hours of legal time to acquire these patents. This is the measure of his faith in the patent ability of the device that he has put his own money and time on the line for a small percentage of ownership.
This device was used at the WTC and there is actual footage of the machine finding human remains. Steve Lentz told Copp that he had personally located many victims with the causality locator on the occasions that he took the machine and went with it to work with NYFD and NYPD to locate victims.
Steve Lentz is quoted in a sworn affidavit notarized by Karin Atkinson, Notary Public, presented to the Victims Compensation Fund, US Justice Department: “During the duration of ARTI’s rescue operations, numerous causalities including NYC firemen, rescue workers, EMT’s and policemen were located as a direct result of Doug Copp’s efforts and equipment.”
The casualty locator does not detect the scent of decaying flesh. The causality locator detects the specific and unique combination of gases given off as a by-product of the digestive system of bacteria as they devour human remains.
Copp said, he mobilized a search and rescue team from his home in the East Mountains after the World Trade Center buildings were hit.
This is misleading. Copp did not mobilize a search and rescue team from New Mexico, Copp did not mobilize anybody. Mike Miller who Copp had met a couple of weeks before, when Copp had taken video to Mike Millers friend and partner, John Grace, to have transcribed for a documentary for the Discovery channel was making about Doug Copp. Mike Miller had contacted Copp and said that he wanted to go with Copp to film him using the Causality Locator. He also told Copp that he could arrange transpiration for Copp to get him to New York as quickly as possible because he knew ‘everybody’ of importance in New Mexico. Mike Miller contacted Congresswoman Wilson. Mike Miller contacted Tom Lang. Mike Miller contacted everyone who went to New York City from New Mexico. Mike Miller contacted the White House. Mike Miller contacted the TV stations in New Mexico. Copp needed to get to New York City as quickly as possible and was perfectly happy for this person who knew ‘everybody’ to arrange it. Copp had just moved to New Mexico from San Fresco and practically knew no one.
Copp had contacted members of ARTI in other countries. The ‘politics’ of ‘hidden agendas’ and ‘turf wars’ prevented the most experienced rescue workers in the world from coming to New York City. Copp contacted team members in New York City who made logistical and tactical arrangements prior to Copps arrival. Copp also contacted team ARTI members in Peru who arrived in New York City after planes were allowed to fly again. The used the Casualty locator up until the beginning of December when the killers’ fields landfill was closed.
He said he flew to New York the next day
Copp does not know whom Leslie Linthicum is referring to when she quotes him as telling somebody he flew to New York the next day. She omits this information; however,
Steve Lentz is quoted in a sworn affidavit notarized by Karin Atkinson, Notary Public, presented to the Victims Compensation Fund, US Justice Department:
“ On September 12th, 2001, I along with Doug Copp, founder of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), and other team members, undertook rescue operations at the WTC site, A.K.A. “Ground Zero,” beginning September 12th, 2001, with the intention of locating potential survivors.”
and undertook the most dangerous work---searching the deepest underground cavities of the rubble.
Doug Copp has a long, documented and videotaped history of doing the most dangerous work himself. It is an Osha statistic that each and every tunneler who is involved in a confined space rescue has a 60 % probability of being killed the first time he does this kind of work. Consider that of the nearly 400 firefighters killed 95% of them had never experienced confined space rescue prior to being killed. It would be easy to verify that the most experienced American member of any US Fire Department has only survived crawling inside of 5 collapsed buildings. Memo Tans ever of Akute, Turkey (a team which Doug Copp founded in 1994 and in which Doug has his ID for Akute which describes him as ‘Rescue Chief’) is probably the next most experienced person in the world. Copp estimates that Memo has probably survived 30 collapsed buildings. The WTC is the 894th pile of rubble that Copp had crawled into to save lives and recover victims. Copp has videotape and pictures of him inside collapsed building at disasters all over the world. Copp had compiled some of this video into a 1-hour training film called Urban Heavy Rescue that has been used to train governmental and private rescue teams, fire dept. And military in the Philippines, Tajikistan, Peru, Australia, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, Turkey, and other countries. Copp has saved the lives of many tunnelers who would otherwise be killed. Actual video footage of real life action such as the video inside the WTC has been used to teach people how to defy the 60% death rate of rescuers who have not been taught by Copp.
These videotapes of Copp below ground zero were used at the time to give instructions for the people with Copp so they would not be killed as they entered a new dangerous area below ground zero. These videotapes have been instrumental in teaching rescuers so that they would not be killed and instrumental in proving the work that Copp did at the WTC. Leslie Linthicum and Tom Lang would have people not believe their own eyes. Well, they can’t get away with it.
“For six days, Mr. Copp waded in a toxic soup,
Dr. Tim Smith, of Berkley California, primary care doctor for Doug Copp is the person being quoted. The reason why he states six days that Mr. Copp waded in this toxic soup is because Copp went down into the Path Tunnels one hundred feet below the surface level on six occasions. The reason why Copp continued to go into this area on six occasions was because although Copp had checked the area thoroughly he continued to feel compelled to search the area because of his rescuers intuition. This intuition has saved Copp’s life on several occasions in the past. Copp has a picture of himself inside of a collapsed gold mine in the Peruvian Andes. Copp who is also a Fire Captain with the National Fire Department of Peru and his team mates had crawled one hundred feet into the partially excavated area of the mine as close as they could get to the completely collapsed area in which they expected survivors to be trapped on the other side. At the instant the photograph was taken, Copp had an overwhelming feeling, gut instinct, survival instinct revelation. Copp said to the team, ‘We need to get out of here now or we are going to be dead.’ Copp jumped up and everyone fled getting out of the place as quickly as they could. As they came within eighty feet of the entrance which was open high enough for them to run they ran as fast as their legs could take them. An aftershock had caused the entire area to collapse. The rubble was falling on their backs as they ran out the entrance. The mine completely collapsed. Copp had had no warning except for his instincts; however, if they had been a split second later they would have been dead. Throughout Latin America rescue people are given names. The one that was given to Copp and which hundreds of newspapers published was Lacucaracha, the survivor. Copp became famous as he later went through 100’s of collapsed buildings without getting killed as Lacucaracha, because nothing can kill Lacucaracha.
Copp continued to go back to the area which Gary Suson, Honorary Battalion Chief, NYFD and official photographer for the Uniformed Officers Association of NYFD is quoted at septembereleven.net as saying;
“ I was kind of shut off emotionally down there, a little too much for the senses – being all underneath the worst disaster area in the country. This was one of many trips I would take exploring and documenting in this structurally unstable area. On this particular night, I lowered myself down onto the train tracks and waded in this toxic green water over to an adjacent platform where the train had rested since 9-11. I hoisted myself up onto the platform and walked into the subway car, which would later be nicknamed the GHOST TRAIN.”
After the ruble was removed enough to extricate the damaged part of the Path Train a dead womans body was found, although this area had been searched continuously and open to people after being structureally supported to make the area safe this woman’s body was not recovered until 7 months later. Copp had continued to return to this hellish area six times virtually standing on top of her every time coming within a foot or two feet of her without being able to see her. Copp could not use his Casualty Locator because the air was so contaminated and foul with particulates and soot that the machine’s filters would clog in seconds. This is why Copp continued to go to the area; he just couldn’t be satisfied inside. He continued to feel unsettled that the area was clear and that no one was left behind.
breathed toxic air, and had toxins smeared on his body
The toxins were not smeared on his body. The video shows quite clearly that Copp and Steve Lentz had this greasy soot from the burning jet fuel covering not only their bodies and clothing but as Steve Lentz says in the video, it permeated everything inside of and covering every object and everything, it was everywhere.
surface, “a report by one of his doctors said. “ It is unlikely
that anyone has ever in human history been exposed to as
concentrated or complex a mixture of dangerous
chemicals.”
There are a multitude of scientific documents and scientific tests and air samplings to prove that this “mini city” of 50 thousand people when it became vaporized and released into the air it became the most toxic atmosphere ever tested. This was above ground zero, below ground zero was a thousand times worse because this was the source of the smoldering fire and the area where all the airborne particulates were concentrated. In addition this area was flooded with chemicals from all the cooling systems, all the cleaning products, sewage and all the other toxic liquid products from this mini city. Gary Suson describes it as: “Toxic Green Water.” Additionally, Copp came to learn from Dr. Tim Smith and the Chief laboratory technician of Great Smokey Laboratories as not a subway or train station but considered it to be a “mushroom farm.”
When Dr. Smith sent the blood and urine samples to the head scientist at Smokey Laboratories without giving him any background information he asked him, “What can you tell me about this guy?” The head scientist responded, “He’s been living in a sewer for thirty years.” Afterwards Dr Smith had told him where Copp had been and the head scientist responded, “I got that one right.”
Copp’s claim to the victim compensation fund
Considering the word ‘Claim’: as explained above, Copp had to sign away his rights to sue the environmental protection agency for lying about the air quality, the Republican Party, members of the Administration, and other various Government agencies for negligence in preventing the attack and other governmental entities who would be liable. A better word than claim would be settlement or agreement. If Copp had known that it would be 2 ½ years instead of one month before he got money for medical treatment and instead of ‘generosity’ he would not even receive enough to cover the doctors calculations for the money to stabilize his medical condition. Copp never would have signed any agreement with the Victims Compensation Fund. Copp would have relied on justice from a jury rather than generosity.
said he returned to New Mexico two weeks
later and was never the same.
Truer words have never been spoken or printed. There are a multitude of witnesses, sworn affidavits, doctors sworn testimony, and documentation to prove this.
Over the next months, Copp said, his health
deteriorated until he could walk no more
than a block without resting , His list
of 41 medical problems included chest pain, coughing,
blurred vision, dementia and a fractured spine.
This is what the Doctors have testified under oath. Leslie Linthicum knows this very well; she is substituting and reducing the Doctors sworn testimony for mere statements from Copp so that she can manipulate the reader. She does this in a deceitful continued, calculating way in all her dealings both in her written libel and her manipulating of people on the phone. She never stops deceiving people. She is habitual.
Regarding, Leslie Linthicum writing: “ 41 medical problems, included chest pain, coughing, blurred vision, dementia and a fractured spine,” this is part of Dr. Tim Smith’s 20 page summation of Doug Copp’s medical problems which is all true except for the statement that he has a fractured spine. The Doctors have concluded that his spine is not ‘fractured’ but ‘fragmented.’ He has 3 pieces of bone broken from his spine, which frequently causes extreme pain and has caused permanent partial paralysis.
Kenneth Feinberg, the special master of the fund, heard
Copp’s case for two hours in Washington, DC.
As stated above, Copp only spoke for 5 minutes. Experts gave the rest of the time testimony.
Then he sent Copp a cheque for $649,885, tax-free.
Leslie Linthicum is being provocative again and inflammatory with inaccurate statements. Copp did not receive a cheque from the Victims Compensation Fund. Kip Purcell, attorney for Copp received a cheque. Before Copp got a cent, Kip Purcell deposited the money in the Law Firms trust account and withdrew their fees. Next they withdrew the fees for a previous attorney, followed by expenses for Doctors, laboratories, economists, and rehabilitation specialists. Accountant, Psych-Neurologist, 30 intervenes treatments, other medical specialists, other experts, other fees. After all these expenses Copp was issued a cheque from which to pay the expenses of 2 ½ years without income, half a dozen hospitals, various other doctors, including an operation on Copp’s spine and a list of accumulated expenses several pages long. The reality is Copp is permanently disabled, he need almost 2 million dollars in medical treatment, he has no income and he is suffering from disease, injuries every minute of every day with a future so bleak that Dr. Boucher has told Copp of conversations that he has had with doctor friends about Copp looking towards a “hard time.” Considering these facts the actions of Tom Lang and Leslie Linthicum are foul and evil that Copp who is a ‘practicing Christian” can see no other possibility than the cravings of these two people other than “a satanic lust.” As Peter Donahue testifies by quoting Tom Lang it is obvious to anyone that Tom Lang is a wealthy and powerful man, became extremely angry with Copp because Copp refused to give him the badge and vehicle by which Leslie Linthicum could write stories about Tom Lang’s heroism. Doug has spoken to a psycharitrist about Tom Lang and the psycharitrist told Copp that Tom Lang, by his actions, obviously had a deep seated sense of inadequately and inferiority. This is common among extremely wealthy and powerful people who did not earn it themselves, but everything was given to them on a silver plate by their parents. Tom Lang’s extreme condescending and aggressively rude and violent behavior towards people is part of the problem. Tom Lang had sexual overtones at the WTC. Whenever Copp thinks of Tom Lang he remembers him wearing a rope belt with tassels on the end. Copp had only seen this twice before. Both times teenage girls were wearing them with their dresses. When Lang walked he ‘swung his ass’ in a very provocative way. This was extremely bizarre. The very first article Tom Lang wrote had a front-page picture of Copp sitting down with the crotch of his jumpsuit ripped open and Copp being exposed. This obviously has provocative sexual overtones. Copp has spent much time thinking ‘why?’ Why does Tom Lang want Copp dead, driven to the grave, putting pressure on politicians through his newspapers not only to have Copp’s money taken away (which he has already spent) but he wants Copp put in jail. There is no doubt in Copp’s mind that Lang would even go to the point of digging up Copp’s grave and defiling his body. Copp believes that Tom Lang’s behavior can only be completely explained by ‘true evil.’
That might have been the end of the story except
for two things.
Copp is not satisfied with the amount of money.
Yes this is true.
Doug Copp
He says he will die if he doesn’t get at least $1 Click Image for story photographs
million more for medical treatments.
See the quotation of Dr. Rheas, the leading medical expert in the world, in the treatment of this medical condition. This is what Dr. Rheas has written.
And there is substantial evidence that Copp’s claims of heroism and life threatening injuries regarding 9/11 are not true.
This is pure fabrication on the part of Leslie Linthicum and Tom Lang.
continuing
Posted by: doug copp | Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 10:15 PM
Wow ... for a reported christian who's out to help others, Copp and the "Interested Parties" sure do try to bully people. And what's with the "sexual" implications against Lang? Now there's a libel suit in the making.
Ah, that Doug Copp ... so full of sound and fury.
Posted by: Saint Nate | Thursday, November 18, 2004 at 09:02 AM