Rick Rescorla - Blair's Excuses for not Honouring 9/11 Hero

BLAIR'S EXCUSES FOR NOT HONOURING 9/11 HERO

Relatives of Rick Rescorla yesterday accused Tony Blair of continuing "trying to find excuses" not to honour the West Twin Towers hero. Their response followed a letter from the Prime Minister to a West MP about the campaign to secure an award for the security man who saved more than 2,700 people in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre.The Prime Minister said he would try to see that the case for Mr Rescorla to receive a posthumous medal from President Bush is considered in the US.But yesterday Mr Rescorla's cousin, John Daniel, from Hayle in West Cornwall, said Mr Blair was "sitting on the fence". He said: "He's trying to make excuses not to honour him in this country when he could be setting President Bush a precedent."It's blatantly clear Rick regarded himself as Cornish and British." The British Government has refused to award Mr Rescorla a gallantry medal on the grounds he had only a "tenuous link" with the UK - having taken US citizenship in the 1960s - and because the majority of people he saved were non-UK citizens.In the letter to St Ives MP Andrew George, Mr Blair said: "You may be aware that there has been a campaign in the US to secure a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for Mr Rescorla. It appears that no medal has yet been awarded but we are trying to find out the current position from the US administration."If the award is to be made I believe this is the most appropriate way of recognising Mr Rescorla's bravery, however, I will certainly see that the matter continues to be considered." Mr Rescorla, who was born in Hayle, West Cornwall, was head of security for the bank of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter when the planes ploughed into the Twin Towers.He was doing a final search of the floor to make sure no-one was left behind when the building collapsed.Many he saved said he was singing Cornish songs to keep up morale.