Is Giuliani worthy of praise?

Question

I’m so pissed with constantly hearing about Giuliani and 9/11that I don’t even know how to word this question.
Just what the heck did Rudolph Giuliani do on 9/11 that he and others is giving him so much praise for?
2603 people died in the World Trade Center fire.
I still can’t understand why when the plane was crashed into the building, why weren’t the people immediately evacuated.
I heard reports of firefighters; police and others doing their jobs to save lives and other hero citizens that risked their lives to save others; but just what did Giuliani do?
Did he go into the building and carry someone out? Did he lead others to safety?
Please enlighten me.

Answer 1

He is no hero. He was just on camera a lot which helped make him appear heroic.
When there had been the first bombing of the WTC in 1993, recommendations had been made to him on how to improve security, response by first responders etc. At the time of the second bombing and ultimate destruction of the twin towers MOST of the recommendations were NOT implemented, yet he was heralded as this great mayor. Don't believe the hype.
Also listen to how he treated the fire fighters after 9/11, especially from the President of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
People have that memorable image-Rudy among the ruins- this hides a multitude of sins: in the event of a terrorist attack, Giuliani should have been directing police, fire and emergency services from the city's high-tech underground emergency management center; unfortunately, Giuliani had insisted that that secure center be located at the World Trade Center along with a diesel fuel truck which was against the advise of FDNY.
During the attacks, because the command center was rendered inoperable, NYC had no clear chain of command and no physical command structure in place to coordinate the emergency response. Frankly, the whole reason Giuliani was on television all day and available for interviews was because he was scrambling around the streets trying to set up a command post since the one he had designed and located was paralyzed during the attacks.
Political infighting between police and fire departments went unchecked, preventing coordination between first responders, and Giuliani's rush to return New York to business as usual (fearing that Wall Street might relocate) may have seriously impaired the health of returning workers and residents. The New York City government now estimates that 43,000 people have significant 9/11-related health problems
How can we continue to treat this man as a hero when firefighters were looking for their brethren and he said no and took some of the debris which contained bodies and/or body parts to fix holes in the streets of New York. He was more concerned about getting the gold and silver bullion for the Corporations than he was about getting the bodies of the real heroes of 9/11, the firefighters and police officers that went into those buildings. Giuliani also made a conscious decision to institute a “scoop-and-dump” operation to expedite the clean-up of Ground Zero in lieu of the more time-consuming, but respectful, process of carefully removing debris in hope of uncovering more remains
Excerpt from a letter from the IAFF President
"The real reason was that the Bank of Nova Scotia's assets were buried in that rubble, the day they got those assets out of that pile, Rudy shut the pile down, said 'everybody off, we're going to full scoop and dump'... It was gold, it was silver, it was other assets, I've seen a lot of numbers too, I don't have an exact one so I don't wanna give it to you... Our firefighters were on the pile helping excavate the gold as well, our problem is that all Rudy cared about at the end of the day was the gold bricks, not the lives and the memories of those that were the true heroes that day."
At the time, in November 2001, it was reported that $200 million in gold bullion has been recovered from the site. One day later around 50% of firefighters were removed from the job and totally denied access.
Mayor Giuliani’s actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like so much garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill"
So before anyone claims these are untruths, I have provided proof.

Answer 2

Yes, he's worthy of praise.

Guiliani was the mayor of New York City, the capital of the world, at the time of 9/11, so naturally, the world's eyes were on him as he "stepped up to the plate." And that's what he did.

But he was impressive prior to the acts of cowardice by the Muslim fundamentalist bacillus. This is now forgotten, but prior to 9/11, he took the city of New York, unsafe and rank, and began to hammer it back into being a civil society.

He went after the city's horrible image by having a near 0 tolerance of the gratuitous "soft crime" that made the city such an ordeal to interact with if you weren't "from there." He cleaned the streets up and made much of the city's infrastructure more accountable and reliable. Where all this is 10 years later, I don't know.

What he did was no small feat.

*Edit
Momblessedxs4-interesting that you could ask "what Clinton and his security team did about it." Apparently whatever they did was enough to postpone it until after 1/20/01. It was Bush and his security team who dropped the ball while simultaneously being caught in the headlights. His election honeymoon may have been scarcely over but he still had the job of monitoring America's threats, which he didn't.
Frankly, I'd give anything for the Bill Clinton era, again, fellatio in the Oval Office and all. Compared to what my country has been like and doing to the world in the last 7 years, it's clearly the lesser of two evils.

Answer 3

Just because he is a mayor, it does not mean he can stop terrorism, it does not mean that he should be in a building saving lives, that is not his job. Is job was to be mayor.

He sat in a command post, and basicly took charge of a city establishment which was basicly demolished, no communications, lack of water, hundreds of rescuers dead, thousands of victims, dead, tens of thousands injured, maybe more attacks incoming, loss of power, basic necessities,, Most of the rescue-command staff from the fire department dead. It was a no-win situation for anybody...

What he did was, get the command structure re-established or re-assigned, so commands and information can flow both up and down the chain of command, he was able show a calming influence to the media that help slow down the looting and rioting that was happening, he was putting in 20+ hour days in the office trying to work with logistics officers to establish some sort of response, and to be able to support that response thru the long term. While he was doing this, he was having to have breifings from the field almost by the minute, push himself so hard he had family problems, slept in his office right off the new command center so he could be there to help make decisions if needed. He also took the time out to shmooze the politicians that wanted to come down for photo ops to get as much federal and international assistances as possible. He is one of the ones that started to get massive amounts of breathing protection to protect rescuers at ground zero from the dust and lung problems that would be much worse if he had not lead the charge (did he discover the problem, no, that was OSHA and Safety people, however he was told what needed to be done, and he got the money set aside to do it.. which was his job.), the little free time he did have was spent going to firefighter and police funerals for the hundreds that died.


So is he worth of praise? sure, he stepped up to the plate and took his swings. Were all of his decisions right? of course not, that could not be realisticly expected.

Did he go in and carry someone out, probably not, did he lead others to safety, yeah, he lead the city to safety.

As far as the evacuations, it was not his job to evacuate people, that was the fire departments and building officials and police jobs.. and yes, people were being evacuated as soon as the planes hit, there were 10s of thousands of people in those buildings, now try to fit those down stairs, in the dark, filled with choking, deadly smoke, and see how many you can get down 50-100 floors. Not many, and surely not quickly. Plus remember where the planes hit? not near the top, when they hit about 1/3 the way down, it disabled most of the stairs and elevators trapping hundreds above the crash site. heck probably several hundred died the seconds of the crash. in each tower.

High rises and fires suck... look at Rhode Island, the Great white concert where a couple of hundred died, no plane crash, no terrorism, no thousands of stairs to climb down, no building collapse.. Should the mayor of that small town be held accountable, no.. why should Giuliani be held to a different standard.

Answer 4

He did just like you said, had some nice photo ops, To his credit, he held the city together after the tragedy but the real story is before 9 11. Prior to 9 11 the people were ready to throw Giuliani out on his ear. His messy divorce, shady politics and union favoritism had his office in turmoil. His police chief Bernard Karick was initially offered the director of homeland security job but had to be withdrawn when his connections to organized crime started to surface. I don't know if it was Giuliani's mud on Karick or Karicks mud on Rudy but who was the boss? Enough said. Giuliani will never receive the repubs nomination, he's too checkered.

Answer 5

Let me tell you what Guiliani did on 9-11 and many many days afterward. He was in the Armory where they took the bodies that could be identified. One of them was my nephew. Rudy-dressed in very casual clothes took my family and went to identify my nephew's remains. He put his arms around them and offered them all the support they needed. What did he do? I'll bet a lot more than anyone else did.

Answer 6

I have yet to hear the man answer a single question honestly without using his tried and true political slogans recalling 911 or comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. He just says the same sh*t over and over, each time the words are in a slightly different order. He's bunk.

Answer 7

9/11 seems to be his only worthwhile accomplishment. I don't think he's going to make it. It's a shame because I don't want McCain, Hillary, or Barack Osama either!

Answer 8

He isn't a one hit wonder.

He's a two hit wonder.

One hit for each tower.

Mayor Giuliani, a contrived folklore hero for our times.

9/11 fell right in his lap and he has been cashing in on it ever since.

For him, 9/11 is the gift that keeps on giving.

Answer 9

Yes.
I hope he's our next President.
He's obviously the best of all the options.
Go Rudy!

Answer 10

He did what you could NEVER do. Don't embarrass yourself further.