Firefighters undercut Giuliani's 'urban legend' Nick Juliano

Published: Wednesday July 11, 2007 Print This Email This Nearly everyone has seen the footage of Rudy Giuliani on 9/11 and in the days immediately afterwards, acting decisive, examining the wreckage, calming a city and a nation. Giuliani has done everything in his power to brandish his reputation as "America's Mayor," and he's cashed in on the persona, politically and financially. New York firefighters who were at the World Trade Center when it collapsed and family members of those who didn't make it out released a video aimed at shattering what they're calling Giuliani's "urban legend." "He's running on his 9/11 leadership, and it was lacking and there was none," FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches says in the video, which was released Wednesday by the International Association of Firefighters' political action committee. The firefighters blame Giuliani for buying the department radios that were known to malfunction. When department commanders gave an order to evacuate the north tower of the World Trade Center, but firefighters were unable to hear the order because of the faulty radios and died in the building, the video alleges. Firefighters had nearly an hour to get out of the building after the first call came through at 9:32 a.m., at the same time New York police officers were evacuating the building. "Not a single cop was lost in that building. Why was that?" asked retired Chief of Safety Alexander Santora. "Because they had gotten the word to get out. Our radios weren't working." The firefighters say Giuliani was disgraceful in telling the 9/11 Commission that firefighters died in the building because they ignored the evacuation order. The video also attacks the former mayor for putting his emergency command center at Building 7 of the World Trade Center, which was known to be a terrorist target since it was first attacked in 1993. In the aftermath of the terror attacks, firefighters set to recovering those who had been lost, but the video implies that Giuliani was concerned only with recovering $200 million worth of gold. He ordered recovery efforts to stop as soon as the gold was recovered, while 242 firefighters and countless other civilians remained buried in the rubble, according to the video. Giuliani's campaign issued a response to the firefighters' video before it even was posted online, releasing a statement from retired New York firefighter Lee Ielpi, who said the firefighters "have once again taken the low road in a move clearly out of step with their membership." The campaign accuses the firefighters' union of engaging in purely partisan attacks. But one of the unions whose members appear in the video, Local 94, endorsed President Bush in 2004. Since rocketing to international prominence after 9/11, Giuliani has raked in more than $11 million through book and speaking fees related to the terror attacks. The firefighters say his portrait of leadership is ill founded. "We did need radios that worked; we didn't have them. We did need proper respiratory protection; he didn't give it to us," said Steve Cassidy, president of a New York firefighters union Local 94. "The things that we needed to do our job even better, we didn't have, because of his administration." This video was posted Wednesday at www.Rudy-UrbanLegend.com.



