When the terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Rudy Giuliani had a reputation built on his reputed effectiveness in lowering New York City crime. The truth Giuliani had little to do with the reduced crime rate made little difference to many New Yorkers, or to the rest of the nation.
Giuliani, who served as mayor of NYC from 1994-2001, was the beneficiary of a significant shift in demographics that engulfed the entire country. As the adjacent chart (incidents per 100,000 people)on violent crime in major U.S. cities shows, crime was declining everywhere after peaking in 1991 and 1992.
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and the great loss of life, including that of the emergency responders, it was difficult to raise troubling questions. Our nation was at war and it seemed almost unpatriotic to ask if lives might have been saved with a better communication system. A little unknown failure of good olg Rudy! But that was the case ! Giuliani was a **** poor Mayor. And one day the truth will come out. He had help of the white media. They love to make white heros! A better communication system would have allow the Police and Fire officials to attack the building with greater organization and would allow them to use their professional training to its maximum.
While the pictures of a soot-covered Giuliani making his way through the streets became very much a part of his personal mythology, they were also a symbol of one of his greatest failures. The mayor's performance, though marked by personal courage and grace under fire, followed two terms in office pursuing an utterly wrongheaded approach to the city's security against terrorism. Turning the mythology on its head, Grand Illusion reveals how Giuliani has revised his own history, casting himself as prescient terror hawk when in fact he ran his administration as if terrorist threats simply did not exist, too distracted by pet projects and turf wars to attend to vital precautions.
Those who defend Giuliani says he did a 'wonderful job under the circumstances.' Bull! But he had seven years to change the circumstances, many of which were of his own making.
No administrative leadership in city hall, no review of the mission of the Police and Fire Departments. No review of the mission, no examination of the equipment and training needed to complete the mission. No examination, no priorities set. No priorities, no purchase of equipment and training. No equipment and training, the tragedy was compounded.