Third message from ITT Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lou Giuliano to all employees- Re. Sept.11 Events-Update#2
25/09/2001
September 14, 2001
To:All ITT Industries Employees
From: Lou Giuliano, ITT Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
RE: Sept. 11 Events- Update #2
Today is a day that many people in the United States and around the world are attending memorial services to commemorate the victims of Tuesday's tragedies. I hope that we will find these observances beneficial in beginning the healing process. I ask that you also remember the brave people who are still hard at work in the pouring rain today, looking for people who may have survived.
Thankfully, we have resisted the urge to rush to judgment in the aftermath of the tragedy. It is important that we allow federal authorities to carry out their task of finding and punishing the terrorists and their supporters. Investigators seem to be making rapid progress, and I have confidence in the process they are following.
I think it is the appropriate time to lend our support to the cause of tolerance. In the heat of the emotion we all feel in witnessing recent events, it would be easy to make assumptions about people based on their ethnic origins or religious beliefs. But that would be wrong.
We can best express our pride and resolve as civilized nations by demonstrating the patience and tolerance that are cornerstones of the freedom we want to protect. I feel very strongly about this, and would like to share the attached letter we received from one of our ITT Industries colleagues that underscores the need for tolerance. I share it with the author's permission.
Being a Pakistani on a work visa in United States, I represent the minority
community within ITT (though I must admit that I have never felt this way in
my two years with ITT because of the immense open-heartedness and welcoming
attitude of people within the company and the communities I have lived in), I
would want to share these thoughts with my peers.
In the last two days, I have spoken with friends, family and Pakistanis in
United States, back home in Pakistan and around the world. In this hour of
crisis and grief, the people of Pakistan express their full sympathy for the
people of United States. Themselves often victims of terrorism in various
forms, they know what it means to suffer shock and trauma at the hands of
maniacs. They fully endorse what President Musharraf said in his message to
President Bush: "We share the grief of the American people in this grave
national tragedy. We strongly condemn this most brutal and horrible act of
terror and violence."
Receiving messages and words from everywhere, I am getting a sense of the
feelings of Muslim community around the world too. We are saddened by the
catastrophe of thousands of Americans that perished in the disaster of WTC and
the plane crashes. New York is a City of multi-cultures. Among those who died
would be Mothers, Fathers, Daughters and Sons; Blacks, Whites, Arabs and
Asians; Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Jews; and above all humans and
innocent civilians.
If indeed the individuals who carried out these dreadful acts call themselves
Muslims, then our message to these cold blooded murderers is clear, "You are
not only hijackers of a plane and killers of innocent people, but you have
aimed at hijacking and killing a religion - Islam - which like all other
religions prohibits and condemns killing of innocent people and such barbaric
acts of terrorism. May Allah be your judge."
ITT-Lowara (www.lowara.com), headquarters of "Residential and Commercial Water - EMEA" part of the ITT Corporation and located in Montecchio Maggiore, Vicenza - Italy, is a leader in the manufacture of hydraulic pumps and water handling and control systems. It has 1.348 employees in Europe, 771 operating in Italy. In 2007 its consolidated sales totalled about 284 million euro, or over 390 million dollars.
ITT Corporation (www.itt.com) is a diversified high-technology engineering and manufacturing company dedicated to creating more livable environments, enabling communications and providing protection and safety. The company plays an important role in vital markets including water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. ITT employs approximately 40,000 people serving customers in more than 50 countries. Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., the company generated $9 billion in 2007 sales.