Giuliani's 9/11 handling may fuel campaign debate

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070207/pl_nm/usa_politics_giuliani_dc

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York mayor and presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani gained fame for his performance after the September 11 attacks, but charges that he also made serious blunders could give ammunition to rival candidates.

Giuliani, a Republican, has all but formally declared his candidacy and polls show he is a strong contender, largely because of his steely and comforting leadership that day in 2001.

But Giuliani also made mistakes in handling the city's emergency services that may have cost lives, say the co-authors of the 2006 book "Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11." Of the 2,992 people killed in the hijacked plane attacks, 2,759 died at New York's World Trade Center

"Grand Illusion," written by two journalists, says that in the late 1990s Giuliani went against the advice of police and emergency management experts and placed the city's emergency command center in the World Trade Center complex, which had been bombed in 1993 and was a presumed future target.

The command center had to be abandoned on September 11, 2001, after hijacked planes slammed into two skyscrapers next door. In the chaos that ensued Giuliani allowed fire and police commanders to be separated in violation of the city's own protocols, co-authors Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins say.

[acmavm]

1. Rudy's opponents (of both parties) are gonna have plenty

of ammo to use against the guy. He's a moral bankrupt.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Now that the topic has been raised, St. Rudy has enjoyed abysmal

silence from his competitors in the republican party. This should be interesting whether 9-11 is so sacrosanct that it can't be used for criticism against Giuliani.

[CatWoman]

3. I think the thing is

that Bush's performance so completely sucked, that Rudy's performance appeared stellar at the time.

I remember after the media kept praising Rudy, it went to his head so much that he was refusing to step down as mayor.

[speedoo]

4. I can see it now.... "War Hero" McCain goes after "America's Mayor"...

I just hope McCain has enough cred left by the time he has to try to take down Rudy.

[WilliamPitt]

5. I'd be surprised if they deployed this stuff against him.

The media calls him a front-runner, but he's a big-city left-winger as far as the GOP base is concerned. Any GOP candidate with brain one in their head will avoid trying to knock down a cemented media myth, and concentrate instead on highlighting all the ways Rudy does not meet the evangelical standards of the base. That will serve better, and anyway, Ruday can fire off some "Were you there?!" outrage and deflate those attacks. "If that's how you feel," he can say, "why did you invite me to speak at your convention last year?" Etc.

Eek. I'm becoming a GOP strategist.

[Double T]

6. What did Giuliani do that ANY other politician (other than members of bushco).......

would NOT have done on 9/11??

[eleny]

7. Barret was just on Franken's program

I just ordered up the book from my library and it's available at one of the branches. I should have it by this weekend!

Franken's replacement host just interviewed Barret in the second hour of the program. What a heck of an interview. I hope this fueled your posting. If not, try to find it online if it's available. Maybe he's on tape delay in some markets. I'm going to look for it around the web so I can hear the parts I missed.

Rudy was no saint on 9/11 and probably caused much loss of life by his decisions.

[deminks]

9. Thanks, I will try to look for both the program and the book later.

I had not heard the program today , but I replied to a post with something similar yesterday. I was surprised to see this subject on Yahoo today.

[eleny]

8. Recommended

[hedgehog]

10. 3 words : Different radio frequencies - how many fire fighters

would have been spared if they had gotten the word to get out?

[eleny]

13. Rudy separated the command posts for the different departments

So since they weren't in the same place, the firefighters couldn't get the word that way either. This is according to Barret. Rudy made a number of bad decisions. And to think - he's running on security issues. What gall.

[shance]

14. And why weren't they given the word. And why did Guliani know the buildings were going to fall?

It is not a pretty picture.

[hedgehog]

16. Once the first tower came down, the fire fighters should have left

the second tower, but they could be be reached in time.

[Poiuyt]

11. Wasn't Giuliani behind the decision to keep the police and fire dept communications

separate? The police helicopters were not able to tell the firefighters not to send people to the roof, etc.

[DinahMoeHum]

12. Wait until the Skyscraper Safety Campaign ladies show up. . .

they'll be on Giuliani like shit on stink.

http://www.skyscrapersafety.org/

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12282006/news/regionalnews/rudys_9_11_snag_regionalnews_maggie_haberman.htm

They're associates of the "Jersey Girls". Don't mess with them.


:evilfrown:

[AlCzervik]

15. "what about the radios Rudy??!!!" you'll be hearing that alot.