This is a sensitive subject, but I am getting a little tired of seeing the 9/11 victims' families on network news shows whining about who did or didn't do what leading up to the attack and during the immediate aftermath. Everyone of these "victims" have been turned into rich people by the sympathy driven giveaways following the attack. Now they have money and free time so they spend days b*itching about everything from Bush to the NY Port Authority. They need to STFU and get on with their lives.
I don't know how I feel about the situation. I posted elsewhere on this board that I wrote a column for The Dallas Morning News last September that featured a man killed in the WTC and that his widow found my column and contacted me via e-mail. We exchanged over six pages of correspondence, and her nightmare was real and vivid to me. She delivered the couples first child eleven days after her husband died, and she feels robbed of much of her joy in life. Her pain was fresh and horrific. I don't know if the 9/11 families will ever get over the deaths of their loved ones, but I, too, cringe at the blame game.
I saw on the news last night where members of the victim's families were yelling and screaming at Gulianni during his 9/11 testimony blaming him. I very much feel for these families, and I will not once say I know anything about the pain they have experienced. I will say that it was not Gulianni, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Clinton, Gore, or Albright that flew those planes into the WTC buildings, it was terrorist who hate America. It pains me to see them yelling at Gulianni because they must forget he too was downtown near the WTC buildings when the attack happened and was briefly trapped in a subway area. That man did everything he could for the people of New York in those times, and in my opinion is a true American hero and icon.
We must be sympathetic to the families and I would not criticise them publically, but I tend to agree with Sabanfan, deep down. I do recognize that they may have a need to vent some frustration so I can just not let it bother me. But they miss the target, sometimes. It is unfortunate that Giulianni was hit by their anger. Most of us think nobody in his position could have done better.
What they were complaining about was a new radio system that did not work so many of the firefighters did not hear the call to get out of the building before it collapsed. One lady was blaming Gulianni(sp) for having a faulty radio system. In part she may have a point but it is also easier to blame someone sitting right there in front of you than some mystery figure hiding in the mountains of the middle east.
9/11 was the FAULT of no one in American government. No one in the government wanted that to happen. Period. It was the fault of the 19 (20?) evil men who used our jets as weapons of mass destruction. How soon we forget...
Rudy's remarks on the anger displayed yesterday at the hearings. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5012645/
I read your column and thought it was excellent. These people have every right to grieve but it's not like they are the only ones to have ever lost a loved one. My issue is with those who climb on the soapbox and act like they have some special right to speak out about things they know absolutely nothing about. What about the OKC victims? I would listen to stories about their lost family members but I don't give a crap about their political views. Thank God Barbra Streisand didn't lose her husband at the WTC.
Gulianni and the police commissioner were in a building very near the towers when they collapsed and were lucky to escape with their own lives. Gulianni handled the aftermath of 9/11 better than anybody could be expected to and is a true hero. I would vote for him for president if he ever decided to run. I can feel for those who lost loved ones but there is nobody who is responsible for their deaths who is likely to be forced to pay a legal judgement in a lawsuit. Al Quiada is not like Microsoft or Enron who can be forced to disgorge illicit profits through the judicial system. I hope that not a cent of the money I personally donated toward 9/11 victims went to any of the ones who are whining now.
i would be voting for him with you. i love the guy. he is smart, speaks well, is right about most issues and is a brave and strong leader. i saw this guy yelling at rudy on c-span replay of the hearing today. i thought the security was way too slow to remove that guy. but giuliani, he takes it all in stride. for all i know this guy's best friend and brother died in the wtc, so i wont hope he gets beaten up, just that he learns that hindsight is infinitely more clear than the info rudy had.
