The Freedom Tower

The largest firefighter’s union in America will launch a video tomorrow attacking former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s reputation as a strong leader before and after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Television and print reports covering this 13-minute video – say it is set for distribution to firefighters and the general public by the International Association of Fire Fighters. It uses interviews with New York City firefighters and families of 9/11 victims to argue that Giuliani has exaggerated his record as mayor.
“He’s running on his 9/11 leadership and it was lacking — and there was none,” Jim Riches, a deputy chief in the New York Fire Department and a father of one of the 9/11 victims, says on the video, according to a transcript obtained by ABC News. “I blame Giuliani. He was the leader that day. And he was the leader for the eight years leading up to that.”Newsweek recently reported, “As Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign rolls along, there are more and more voices protesting that he’s not the 9/11 hero America considers him to be. First among them: some firefighters.”
That’s an understatement, say writers of a blog called The Carpetbagger Report. “First, it’s not just “some”; it’s the nation’s largest firefighters’ union. Second, they’re doing more than just protesting.
The documentary-style video — titled “Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend” — specifically criticizes Giuliani for failing to ensure “interoperability” of communications devices; placing the city emergency command center in the World Trade Center even after the 1993 terrorist attack at the Twin Towers; and Giuliani’s decision to abandon efforts to recover remains of dead firefighters as he sought a quick clean-up of Ground Zero.