9/11 families rail at Giuliani

2004-05-20 10:13

New York - Outraged relatives of World Trade Centre victims heckled former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as their hopes that he would be grilled by the September 11 commission faded in the face of gentle questioning and effusive praise from panel members.

"My son was murdered because of your incompetence!" shouted Sally Regenhard, whose fire-fighter son died in the trade centre.

Giuliani finished his testimony and abruptly left the auditorium minutes later, upsetting family members who said they received few answers. Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband, Richard, called it a "lost opportunity".

"This was not a time for Rudy Giuliani to talk about all the great things he did on 9/11," she said. "He can save that for his talking tours. He should have told us what went wrong and what we should do now."

The acrimonious hearing brought together the mayor, who became a symbol of heroism for his steady response to the attack, and the activist relatives who have become a voice of dissent over his administration's emergency planning and response.

Their complaints have been supported by a growing mass of critical findings on gaps in command, control and communications among New York's agencies in charge of emergency response.

The anger directed at Giuliani came on the second and final day of hearings in New York by the September 11 commission. The hearings resume in Washington on June 8-9 and the final report is due on July 26.

The commission released two reports that mark the most comprehensive probe to date of New York's response on September 11, 2001. The findings detailed a list of failings including poor communication, gulfs in co-operation between police and fire-fighters and grave deficiencies in the city's 911 emergency telephone network.

'Not worthy of the Boy Scouts'

The report led to an aggressive interrogation of Giuliani's top fire, police and emergency management officials on Tuesday, with Republican appointee John Lehman calling the failings "a scandal" and "not worthy of the Boy Scouts".

Ex-fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen later called Lehman's comments "outrageous" and "despicable".

The harsh questioning of Giuliani's former team was a sharp contrast to the universal praise that commission members heaped on the former mayor on Wednesday. His positive assessment of such hotly debated topics as the 911 phone system and gaps in fire and police communications went virtually unchallenged.

"New York City, on that terrible day, in a sense was blessed because it had you as leader," said commission chairman and former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean. "It had somebody who was a great, great leader to take charge of a terrible, terrible event. You also had, as you've told us, some of the best people in the country to call on who worked for you and worked for the city."

Family members called the Giuliani questioning weak.

"A lot of these questions that the public has may die with this commission," said Patricia Casazza, whose husband died as the offices of Cantor Fitzgerald filled with smoke.

Giuliani began his testimony with a call to focus on the nation's true enemies and not criticise each other.

"Our enemy is not each other but the terrorists who attacked us, murdered our loved ones and continue to offer a threat to our security, safety and survival," Giuliani said to applause.

- AP