Steve
Cassidy, the flinty president of the United Firemen�s Association, UFA local
94, appeared July 11 on NYI TV to express the will of his constituency with the
stinging precision of a sharp right jab: �We could never support Rudy for
president.� The left hook follows . . .
Cassidy�s
appearance coincided with the showing of an International Association of
Firefighters (IAFF) video called Rudy Giuliani � Urban Legend.
It states, along with many damning facts, that �The Urban Legend of �America�s
Mayor� needs to be balanced by the truth.� Please take the time to view the
13-minute video and hear firefighters and victims' family members speak out.
The
truths they speak, a number of which I have previously reported, are that the
location of Giuliani�s Emergency Control Center was mistakenly put on the 23rd
floor of Tower 7, directly next the World Trade Center, the world�s number one
target. Giuliani refused the advice of his top advisers to locate it in nearby
Brooklyn where it now resides.
As
a result, at 9:15 AM on 9/11/01 Rudy was out on the street, telling us he�d
heard that Tower 7 was going down. Huh? Who told him? He consequently was
frantically looking for a new bunker. Ironically, Tower 7 was �pulled� eight
hours later at the request of its owner Larry Silverstein, who made a killing
of $500 million on insurance for that building alone. Silverstein decided to
take Tower 7 down by internal demolition, something that needed months to be
planned, not eight hours.
Moreover,
Giuliani�s depriving the FDNY, NYPD and EMS of a clear central command post
created additional confusion and casualties in what was already a catastrophe.
Even more damning, is that the firefighters were using the same radios that
were non-functional in the first World Trade Center attack in 1993. The order
for new ones was on Rudy�s desk from day one of his tenure, shortly after the first
attack.
Eight
years later, after ordering Motorola radios that were non-functioning, and were
not functional until well past 9/11/01, 141 firefighters perished in the North
Tower. They could not be reached and be told to evacuate. They were among the 343
fallen firefighters on that unholy day.
The
report warned that the radios didn�t function in high buildings or down in the
subways. Yet, Giuliani claimed to the 9/11 Commission that some �firefighters
were killed because they ignored the order to evacuate.� NYPD Detective
Sergeant Al Regenhard (ret.), who spoke in the video, called that �despicable.�
There were no orders to follow. The radios didn�t work.
Also,
Jack McDonnell, president of UFOA Local 854, FDNY, said that with Giuliani
�effective leadership never existed.� Eddie Brown, trustee of 854 said, �It
makes me upset to hear him [Rudy]) called a hero.� Rosaleen Tallon, sister of
Sean Patrick Tallon, lost with Ladder 10, FDNY, commented that, �he [Rudy]
didn�t do what was needed.� Pete Gorman, also of local 854, summed it up by
saying �Rudy Giuliani is no friend of firefighters.�
Secondly,
prior to November 2001, 101 bodies or remains of firefighters had been
recovered, less than a third of the fallen. Those firefighters working on �the
pile� at Ground Zero continued the painful task of looking for their lost
brothers as well as thousands of innocent citizens who had been killed. Few of
those had been recovered at that point.
Nevertheless,
when some $200 million in gold, silver and other assets of the Bank of Nova
Scotia had been discovered and removed, Giuliani, with the full support of his
fire commissioner, Thomas Von Essen, swiftly decided to switch to a �scoop and
dump� operation, siding with the developers who opposed a lengthy recovery search.
This so that redevelopment could proceed quickly. It was met with loud protests
from firefighters and the public.
This
in essence denied the opportunity and hope for many victims� families of
uncovering remains in a more respectful process. It seems that Rudy was easily
willing to accept those remains remaining buried at Ground Zero forever -- with
no closure for families. Also, he could accept that the remains would be
removed like garbage in a �scoop and dump� and deposited at Fresh Kills
landfill for the seagulls to scavenge. When local residents tried to meet with
Giuliani, he refused to face them. The scoop-and-dump went on.
When
hundreds of family members of the fallen joined with affiliate leadership and
FDNY members to publicly protest Hizzoner�s decision, he ordered senior
officers of the NYPD to arrest 15 of the New York firefighters, including a
number of local elected IAFF leaders. Imagine that, pitting heroes against
heroes in a disgraceful show of authority and woeful lack of conscience.
When
public outcry rose again, Giuliani modified his position, but only somewhat.
He
put firefighters back on the pile, but he went from a 300-member crew to a
25-member crew, in spite of the fact that more bodies had been recovered and
those families were given a chance for respectful burial. Cynically, Giuliani
said he had removed those men for their own safety. Yet they had been there
from minutes after the attacks and for several months, with little
encouragement to wear protective gear.
What�s
more, in a mere eight months, the recovery and cleanup operation that was
scheduled to take 30 months was over. So the protection argument rings hollow
considering the frantic Giuliani push to get it done. That injudicious effort
has left thousands of first responders now facing serious respiratory and other
illnesses, even death. It was also criminal to remove all evidence from the
site before sufficient investigation and testing of materials could be
performed.
The
one positive thing that issues from Rudy�s errors and the victims' families�
pain is this united effort of the firefighters to speak up in order to warn not
just New York, but America that this is not a man fit to be president. Let me
repeat, not a man fit to be president.
Giuliani
has failed us now as he failed us then, claiming bragging rights for the
heroism of others, collecting six figure fees for speaking all over the
country, building up his private fortune and campaign fund to run for the
presidency. This callous money fest was gathered at the cost of the dead heroes
and firefighter survivors, intact or wounded.
In
fact, 9/11 firefighter families and others were so irate that they followed
Giuliani to Bay Ridge Manor in Brooklyn where Hizzoner was toasting his
birthday with a bit of bubbly and slices of birthday cake. The linked article
from the Kings Courier
describes the confrontation. Please read it to get the full flavor of the
story.
For
instance �it was a vastly different scene outside
[the birthday party]. Penned beyond metal barricades, across the street from
the catering hall, which is located at 476 76th Street, protesters holding
signs were making it crystal clear that they had little truck with �Hizzoner,�
who currently is running for the Republican presidential nomination and whose
fundraiser was in full swing beyond the building�s brick fa�ade.�
No doubt if Rudy had it his way, the protestors would have been
penned out of sight.
In
fact, a signal of Giuliani�s own guilt is that when he was invited by the IAFF
to appear on the first-partisan presidential forum of the 2008 election cycle,
held on March 14, 2007, he initially accepted the invitation. He canceled five
days later, after many schedules had been changed to accommodate his presence.
Perhaps, he still can�t look those families in the eye, or face their
questions. One wonders how he faces himself in the mirror.
Just
make sure you look at the video and get the truth behind this Urban Legend.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance
writer living in New York. Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.