Give 'Em Hell, Rudy

[Timber Loftis]

I didn't like Giulian much when I lived in VT and got NYC nightly news. He cleaned up New York by jailing the homeless and giving police officers carte blanche to shoot too many young black men. However, I really appreciate the fact that New Yorkers -- the fire/police marshalls yesterday, and Rudy today -- have been the ones to stand up and tell the 9/11 commission where they can stick it. The commission that was meant to provide an understanding for future planning has instead turned into a finger-pointing session typical of anything Congress touches. Okay, enough lecture, here's a bit about Rudy's testimony.
____________________________________________

NY Times:
May 19, 2004
Giuliani Mounts Spirited Defense of City's Response to 9/11
By TERENCE NEILAN

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani mounted a calm but spirited defense today of the role played by firefighters, the police, and their leaders after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

A day after criticism of New York City's fire and police commissioners by members of the independent commission investigating the attacks, Mr. Giuliani said that rather than seeing uniformed officers fleeing as civilians were left behind, "we got a story of heroism, we got a story of pride, and we got a story of support that helped get us through."

In riveting testimony and an unscripted opening statement, he told of a "a superb command structure" that "was beyond any expectation that anyone could possibly have had."

Repeatedly pressed by John Lehman, a former Navy secretary, about why the city did not have what he called an "unambiguous command system," rather than what he said were competing agencies, Mr. Giuliani replied:

"The mayor is in charge. All of these agencies are mayoral agencies. The mayor is in charge. That's why people elect the mayor. Then the deputy mayor. Then a line of succession after that."

Mr. Lehman came back: "Why shouldn't there be a formula so that before that can be arbitrated, there's an automatic system for who's going to be in charge?"

"That's why I created O.E.M.," Mr. Guiliani responded, referring to the Office of Emergency Management. "Most emergencies have a department that's in charge. For criminal, the police are in charge; for a fire, the fire department is in charge."

He added: "New Yorkers handle big things brilliantly. There was not a problem of coordination on Sept. 11. because it was bigger than everyone. Everyone sublimates their egos.

"Where problems occur, it's in the smaller situations, where they have time to debate who's better."

Before Mr. Giuliani's testimony, the commission's staff issued a report noting the many shortcomings of the 911 emergency telephone and official radio systems on Sept. 11 and faulting trade center authorities for failing to anticipate and plan adequately for a catastrophe of such magnitude, like making sure workers knew what to do — and not do.

It followed on a 26-page report issued Tuesday that offered a chronicle of events on the day of the attack, embellished with details from witnesses and archival sources, and summarized the flaws its investigators had found in the command and communications systems employed by the authorities that day.

But today, Mr. Giuliani declared in his opening statement that although mistakes had been made, "Our enemy is not each other, but the terrorists who attacked us."

He added, to applause from the audience, "The blame should be put on one source alone, the terrorists who killed our loved ones."

Later, members of the audience shouted protests as Mr. Giuliani and panel members spoke, with some demanding that "real questions" about the catastophe be asked.

But throughout his testimony, the former mayor, who was widely hailed at home and overseas for his take-charge attitude after 9/11, was addressed with respect by panel members.

Mr. Giuliani gave a detailed account of his actions the day of the catastrophe, explaining how he went to the area of the Twin Towers accompanied by top officials.

"I said to the police commissioner that we're in uncharted territory," he said, "we've never been through anything like this before and we're going to have to do the best that we can to keep everybody together, to keep them focused."

Asked by Timothy J. Roemer if the city would have benefited from more information from the F.B.I. about an increase in suspected terrorist activity, Mr. Giuliani said: "If more warnings had been given to us in the summer of 2001 I can't tell you we would have done anything different.

"We were doing everything we could think of. For some time we had been heavily criticized for doing too much."

The former mayor said it would have been better if more human intelligence was available, "and we didn't just rely on interception."

"I think we fell in love with our technology," he added. "We moved away from tough dirty work of humans infiltrating organizations."

After the 9/11 attacks, Mayor Giuliani became the central figure in rallying New Yorkers and instilling a sense that even a catastrophe of such magnitude could be faced and overcome. Day after day, his calm explanation of complicated, tragic news was credited with helping to convince a traumatized city that it would pull through.

He attended funerals, comforted survivors, urged New Yorkers to continue to dine out and tentative tourists to visit. The man whose political career had seemed over just a few weeks before was now being greeted with cheers wherever he went.

While much of questioning of the former mayor and others at yesterday's and today's hearings focused on how city workers, especially police officers, firefighters and their leaders, the written report issued by the commission staff today also addressed preparations and responses by managers and workers at the World Trade Center.

It cited testimony from a fire warden who complained that some office workers had been "very uncooperative" in refusing to participate in pre-9/11 disaster drills.

But the lion's share of responsibility, the commission staff said, lay with the trade center authorities, who "did not conduct a full evacuation training exercise," and the businesses that occupied the twin towers.

"Individual companies had practiced drills isolated to their floors," the report said. "In no case, to our knowledge, did any tenant in the W.T.C. practice a drill where the employees walked down the stairs and exited the building. They did not know that the rooftop doors were kept locked, and that there was no plan for rooftop evacuation. They did not know they should not evacuate up, and so some people began climbing stairs instead of trying to find clear paths of descent."

The commission staff said private businesses needed to assume a share of responsibility in planning for terror attacks and other catasptrophes, something it indicated had not been done in the more than two years since 9/11.

Mark J. Prendergast contributed reporting for this article.

[Davros]

Good on him - he and his departments (police and fire) were shining lights in those dark days. Rudy for President [img]smile.gif[/img] .

[True_Moose]

I can't speak for everyone, but I personally was not happy when they went and attacked the FDNY and NYPD's involvement. It seems to me like they were in a quandary, especially since they really had no prior experience in such situations (pretty sure no one did.) I loved it when the former Fire commissioner went after the committee for it. They certainly could've done much worse, and their employees were incredibly courageous. It seems to me that unless there was some unbelievable immaturity, any divisions between the two departments would be put on hold, at least during the time of 9/11.

What more can you say about Rudy? I mean, he was great throughout the crisis. I can honestly say, his speeches were amazing, especially considering that he must have been going through hell too. Definitely thumbs up. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[DBear]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: I didn't like Giulian much when I lived in VT and got NYC nightly news. He cleaned up New York by jailing the homeless and giving police officers carte blanche to shoot too many young black men. However, I really appreciate the fact that New Yorkers -- the fire/police marshalls yesterday, and Rudy today -- have been the ones to stand up and tell the 9/11 commission where they can stick it. The commission that was meant to provide an understanding for future planning has instead turned into a finger-pointing session typical of anything Congress touches. Okay, enough lecture, here's a bit about Rudy's testimony. .

I agree. It's a partisan witch hunt of monday-morning fourth-string quarterbacks. Can you imagine if the Republicans had tried this shit after Pearl Harbor? [img]graemlins/idontagreeatall.gif[/img]

[Timber Loftis]

Hind sight is always 20/20 and Monday morning quarterbacks will always be the best, obviously.