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Grand Illusion
Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 | Wayne Barrett, Dan Collins
21 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
Rudy Giuliani emerged from the smoke of 9/11 as the unquestioned hero of the day: America's Mayor, the father figure we could all rely on to be tough, to be wise, to do the right thing. In that uncertain time, it was a comfort to know that he was on the scene and in control, making the best of a dire situation. But was he really? Grand Illusion is the definitive report on Rudy Giuliani's role in 9/11the true story of what happened that day and the first clear-eyed evaluation of Giuliani's role before, during, and after the disaster. 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. Authors Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins also provide the first authoritative view of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, recounting the triumphs and missteps of the city's efforts to heal itself. With surprising new reporting about the victims, the villains, and the heroes, this is an eye-opening reassessment of one of the pivotal eventsand politiciansof our time.
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keithmalek

Once the 3500s were pulled, all the firefighters had to pick up their Saber VHF radios again, estimated by the department and Motorola to be between 15 and 18 years old. In a war on 9/11 between terrorists armed with box cutters and fire chiefs who had to rely on runners for messages, bin Laden ended up with the low-tech edge.

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keithmalek
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(Continued)... decided at the outset that all the department could do was a search and rescue operation.

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keithmalek
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(Continued)... instincts. So some firefighters diverted people who were slowing down the evacuation of others to waiting areas. As many as 40 to 60 people were sequestered between the 12th and 20th floors of the North Tower. Some stayed there until they died.

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keithmalek
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Suet624 I had no idea. 5y
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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This was in 1996. Keep in mind that after 9/11, Giuliani pushed forth the bullshit narrative that he became obsessed with terrorism after the '93 bombing. He did no such thing.

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keithmalek
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keithmalek

There were 188 people in Windows on the World on September 11 and a few more in the Observation Deck area. Under the city's own code, neither should have been allowed to reopen after 1993 without a fourth stairway, which, National Institute of Standards and Technology found, could have saved lives.

CouronneDhiver Sad 🙁 6y
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keithmalek

Even though the top chiefs had determined that the fires could not be extinguished, most firefighters went up in full firefighting gear, carrying over a hundred pounds, making themselves slower than many of the overweight and handicapped people they were sent to aid.

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keithmalek

(Regarding the city's emergency command center being located, at Giuliani's stubborn insistence, inside the World Trade Center):

They also might have figured out a way to tell people above the fires not to head for the inaccessible roof, and to try instead to go down--a life saving option for the 18 people who were lucky enough to find the only open passageway, Stairway A in the South Tower.

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keithmalek

A functioning command center could have also tackled the redundancy of so many units, police and fire, checking the same floors again and again, lessening the need for all those firefighters on the stairs. Delgrosso put it succinctly: "If anybody kept a record of which floors were searched, they wouldn't have needed half those firefighters."

(Note: The emergency command center was located, per Giuliani's foolish insistence, in the WTC.)