Richard Ben-Veniste Quotes

It’s very simple, if the Saudi Government had a role in 9-11, then they should be held accountable. And if they had nothing to do with it, they have nothing to fear.

Let us, rather, gather facts, all the facts, regardless of aesthetic appeal or theoretical social worth, and spread those facts before us not as the soothsayer spreads the innards of a turkey but as a newspaper spreads its columns. Let us be journalists, then. And like all good journalists, we shall present our facts in an order that will satisfy the famous five W's: wow, whoopee, wahoo, why-not and whew.

The truth is that there is no terror untempered by some great moral idea.

After Sept. 11, New York wasn't the same, and that's part of the reason why I left.

We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly.

The search for the truth for truth's sake is the mark of the historian.

The 9/11 strikes left an indelible impact on our minds, but in relative terms, the scale of casualties actually wasn't all that high.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon shook our nation to the core. Americans were deeply frightened, sad, and angry, and they rallied around a President who, at the time, showed impressive certitude and calm.

I do not fear truth. I welcome it. But I wish all of my facts to be in their proper context.

The fear of being deceived is the vulgar version of the quest for Truth.

I was in NYC during 9/11; it happened on a Tuesday, I was on stage Thursday. It was a small crowd, but it took about 10 days and comedy clubs were packed.

Look into the nature of things. Search out the grounds of your opinions, the for and against.

Before September 11, terrorism was viewed as something ugly but you lived with it.

I was in New York City on 9/11. Grief remains from that awful day, but not only grief. There is fear, too, a fear informed by the knowledge that whatever my worst nightmare is, there is someone out there embittered enough to carry it out.

We are not a paid bunch of bullies. Our job is to get the facts.

In the end, we journalists try - or should try - to be the first impartial witnesses of history. If we have any reason for our existence, the least must be our ability to report history as it happens so that no one can say: 'we didn't know - no one told us.'

As a historian, you can only go as far as the evidence will take you.

In everything we do, as long as I have anything to say about it, we're going to follow the facts independently, wherever they may lead, to whomever they may lead, no matter who likes it.

You approach the cases, not thinking that you have some obligation to win but that you actually have to evaluate the facts and make sure that you're doing the right thing.

When 9/11 happened, it affected everything. It affected me. I'm an American, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, this is evil. This is terrible.'

I think I'm a good fact finder.

What makes a good writer of history is a guy who is suspicious. Suspicion marks the real difference between the man who wants to write honest history and the one who'd rather write a good story.

What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards truth.

We're going to find out who did this and we're going after the bastards. [referring to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon]

There's a theory that nobody believes. That Robert Mueller is Mr. Honest and Mr. Integrity, has no preconceived notion and is really gonna look to find what happened in White House and whatever he finds is what he's gonna tell us. That's the thing that you would associate with Mr. Integrity, with Mr. Honesty, with Mr. Character, is the last thing anybody thinks is gonna happen.