起初，是伸出的双手。莎伦·普雷莫利记得一位陌生人的手，将她扶起，让她能在烟雾和废墟中继续前行。2001年9月11日上午，她正在世界贸易中心的一间办公室工作，客机撞碎了墙壁。当她冲下北塔近80层楼梯时，南塔倒塌了。一旦冲到外面，只有混乱。到处都是燃烧的废墟堆。她发现自己的腿部受了伤，而陌生的双手抓住她，试图提供帮助。
In the beginning, hands reached out. Sharon Premoli remembers those of a stranger who lifted her up so she could move forward through the smoke and debris. On the morning of September 11, 2001, she was working in an office in the World Trade Center when passenger planes shattered the walls. As she raced down nearly 80 flights of stairs in the North Tower, the South Tower collapsed. Once outside, there was only chaos. Burning piles everywhere. She noticed injuries on her legs, while unfamiliar hands grabbed her, trying to help.
随后，在接受《世界报》采访、纪念基地组织发动袭击25周年之际，普雷莫利列举了在随后二十多年里松开的那些手。这是一连串的背信弃义和背叛：“你必须理解……沙特阿拉伯对国会议员甚至总统的影响力。不仅是这届总统，而是从乔治·[W.]·布什开始的每一届总统。我必须在许多层面上让乔治·[W.]·布什承担责任。”贝拉克·奥巴马是她“最大的失望”：他曾试图但未能否决《反恐怖主义赞助商司法法案》，该2016年立法允许美国受害者起诉沙特阿拉伯及任何支持恐怖主义的政府。
Then, in an interview with Le Monde marking the 25th anniversary of the attack carried out by Al-Qaeda, Premoli listed the hands that let go over the more than two decades that followed. It was a litany of broken promises and betrayals: "You have to understand (...) the influence Saudi Arabia has on members of Congress and even the presidency. And not just this presidency, but every presidency beginning with George [W.] Bush. And I have to hold George [W.] Bush accountable on many levels." Barack Obama was her "greatest disappointment": He sought, unsuccessfully, to veto the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, the 2016 legislation allowing American victims to sue Saudi Arabia and any government supporting terrorism.
Sharon 回顾了 2019 年。当时，唐纳德·特朗普总统正在履行首个任期，并决定接见受害者或其家属，以兑现一项竞选承诺：解密为他们的诉求所需的文件。他代表了希望。“我们 22 人受邀前往白宫。（……）我和他的妻子在蓝厅会见了他。我们的律师也在场。（……）我的请求是：‘请解密这些文件。我们需要它们。我们在为正义而战。请帮帮我们。’所以他对每个人说——那些说失去了孩子、失去了配偶、失去了兄弟姐妹的人——‘别担心，这事成了。我会解密那些文件。’于是我们离开了华盛顿，大家各自回家。第二天（……）他的司法部长援引《国家机密法》，将那些文件封存起来，只留下了一份。而那一份我们早已拥有，只是删减得少一些而已。”
Sharon paused to reflect on the year 2019. At that time, President Donald Trump was serving his first term and decided to receive victims or their families in order to fulfill a campaign promise: to declassify the documents necessary for their cause. He embodied hope. "Twenty-two of us were invited to the White House. (...) I met with him with his wife in the Blue Room. And we were there with our lawyers. (...) My plea was, 'Please declassify these documents. We need them. We're fighting for justice. Please help us.' So what he told everybody, people who said they lost their children, they lost their spouse, they lost their sibling, was, 'Don't worry, it's a done deal. I'm going to declassify those documents.' So we left Washington, and everybody went home. And the next day (...) his attorney general invoked the State Secrets Act and buried the documents, except for one. And it was one we already had, but it was less redacted."