Still more bad news for America’s ex-husband
Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy is based largely on the supposed heroism he displayed in the days after 9/11. As this all-too-real Onion article put it, he is running for “president of 9/11.”
One of the biggest controversies about how the Giuliani’s office handled 9/11 involved its decision to place the city’s emergency-command center under the World Trade Center, despite earlier efforts by terrorists to strike this very spot. Giuliani has blamed this decision on others, but a recent article in the Village Voice demonstrates that it was, in fact, Giuliani’s decision:
Hauer says Denny Young, the mayor’s alter ego, who has worked at his side for nearly three decades, eventually “made it very clear” that Giuliani wanted “to be able to walk to this facility quickly.” That meant the bunker had to be in lower Manhattan. Since the City Hall area is below the floodplain, the command center—which was built with a hurricane-curtain wall—had to be above ground. The formal city document approving the site said that it “was selected due to its proximity to City Hall,” a standard set by Giuliani and Giuliani alone.
And, get this: the “emergency-command center” was stocked with cigars and Giuliani had his own elevator:
Giuliani’s office had a humidor for cigars and mementos from City Hall, including a fire horn, police hats and fire hats, as well as monogrammed towels in his bathroom. His suite was bulletproofed and he visited it often, even on weekends, bringing his girlfriend Judi Nathan there long before the relationship surfaced. He had his own elevator. Great concern was expressed in writing that the platform in the press room had to be high enough to make sure his head was above the cameras. It’s inconceivable that the hands-on mayor’s fantasy command center was shaped—or sited—by anyone other than him.
After six years of a president who vacations while Baghdad burns, this doesn’t sound like what the country needs, does it?
Guiliani used the anti-terrorist center/bunker as his own private love nest, financed with the taxpayer’s money.
Pretty much.
[...] able to relive September 11th and its aftermath and get it right, would he still have turned his Emergency Command Center into a walk-in humidor located directly below the World Trade Center? Would he still have ruined [...]