Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

image via New York Magazine

‘Mr. 9/11 is in trouble. He’s built his campaign around a lie. A long article today
in the Washington Post takes Rudy out.

Giuliani expressed confidence that Islamic extremism could be contained through vigorous investigation by law enforcement agencies and prosecution in the court system — the same approach he now condemns. His public warnings about the threat were infrequent. To the extent that he mentioned terrorism in his aborted run for the Senate in 2000, for example, it was to call for more spending on intelligence. Even in the weeks after Sept. 11, he framed the attacks in the language of crime, describing the hijackers as “insane murderers” and calling for restoration of the “rule of law.” As mayor, Giuliani made decisions that seemed to discount the gravity of the terrorist threat, such as placing his emergency command center at the World Trade Center a few years after the 1993 bombing attack there, against the wishes of top advisers. By his own account, it was after Sept. 11 that he started reading up on al-Qaeda, devouring a book that his then-girlfriend Judith Nathan bought for him. Giuliani’s Rhetoric on Terror Contrasts With His Record

It’s not
swiftboating when you’re telling the truth.

But the 1993 attack also receded on City Hall’s radar screen. During Giuliani’s search for a police commissioner, terrorism did not come up, according to four candidates and three members of the hiring panel interviewed by Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, authors of the 2006 book “Grand Illusion.” Giuliani never asked his successor as U.S. attorney about the cases against the attackers or about other terrorism cases, said a source familiar with the office who was not authorized to speak publicly. Securing the World Trade Center against another attack also got little attention from City Hall. The buildings’ owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, made some safety upgrades, but the city set aside a task force’s findings on building-code flaws revealed by the attack, as well as findings by fire chiefs. The city held several terrorism drills during Giuliani’s tenure, but they focused on biological or chemical attacks, not high-rise evacuations. (snip) In 1997, the city decided to place an emergency command center for the agency on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, across from the twin towers. Several top officials argued for a lower-profile site, such as an office complex across the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn. But Giuliani was adamant about having a site within walking distance of City Hall, recalled Jerome Hauer, then the emergency management commissioner. Hauer left City Hall in 2000 and had a falling-out with Giuliani after Sept. 11 over Hauer’s endorsement of a Democrat to replace the mayor. On Sept. 11, the $13 million center was quickly evacuated, and 7 World Trade Center collapsed later in the day. Giuliani and his advisers have rejected criticism of the site selection, saying no one could have predicted the collapse of the towers. But Louis Anemone, a top-ranking police officer who has since retired, disagrees. The World Trade Center “was number one on our list of the most vulnerable and critical and symbolic locations in the city. The place had been attacked once before, and they had been threatening to bring those towers down again,” Anemone said. “For those of us who lived and breathed this stuff day in and day out, it boggled the imagination.” … ..

Rudy is leading the pack right now. Republicans don’t care about details, truth
or the facts, because more than most voters, wingnuts vote on image, marketing and the
facade. They can fill in the details from their fantasty pack, happily provided by wingnut radio.

There’s a reason
9/11 families and firefighters are dogging Rudy’s presidential campaign. They
saw Rudy in action, know the truth and don’t want the country to be his next
victim.