Ailing 9/11 Workers Confront Giuliani In New Hampshire

Finishing a disappointing sixth in the Iowa caucus and staring down a similarly poor result in New Hampshire, Rudy Giuliani has yet another problem on his hand.

Before Saturday's GOP debate, several members of the 9/11 recovery effort will be stationed outside the forum petitioning the former New York City Mayor to discuss the mishandled health safety issues following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The protest coincides with and promotes a new short video by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films, which uses the testimony of these 9/11 workers to detail the dangerous conditions and serious illnesses encountered at the recovery site.

Still today, many suffer from violent coughs, severe asthma, and pulmonary and mental health issues. Giuliani, the workers note, is not responsible for their sicknesses, but he did not sufficiently warn about the hazards at the site and, more importantly, has done next to nothing to help the thousands who are suffering from recovery-related ailments.

"The hypocrisy of running a campaign on a 9/11 agenda and you have these people still dying and becoming much sicker then they were a year or two years prior is really insulting," Alex Sanchex, a janitorial worker, says in the film.

Greenwald told the Huffington Post: "These first responders are not blaming Rudy for being sick, they are asking why he has done nothing to help them since they got sick. They want to meet with him and ask what he is going to do to help them. They have tried to call and meet with him. Nothing. He who is Mr. 9.11 has abandoned the real heroes of 9/11."

More than 2,000 New York City firefighters have been treated for serious respiratory problems following their work at the World Trade Center recovery site. Toxic dust from that area has been directly linked to sarcoidosis, a debilitating disease that FDNY members now develop at five times the rate they had previous to working around the toxins.

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Following the Democrats takeover of Congress in 2006, hearings were held to determine what went wrong in exposing these firefighters to such porous conditions. Much blame was laid at the feat of the then-EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman. Subsequently, several investigations have called into question the extent of Giuliani's knowledge and handling of the hazardous 9/11 site.

According to the New York Times, in the aftermath of 9/11 Giuliani "seized control and largely limited the influence of experienced federal agencies" during the clean up effort, but "never meaningfully enforced federal requirements that those at the site wear respirators." Moreover, the paper added, Guiliani "warned companies working on the pile that they would face penalties or be fired if work slowed."

But what has drawn the ire of the recovery workers is not what Giuliani did in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11, but rather how he has seemingly forsaken their plight in favor of focusing on his business and political careers. Giuliani, Greenwald notes, has offered no assistance to other New York elected officials in efforts to lobby the federal government for funds for victim treatment. He won't even meet with the victims themselves.

"The fact of ignoring those who sacrificed the most while he profits and profiteers from 9/11 is a scandal and is disgusting," the filmmaker said.

The remarks echoed those made in the film by Mike McCormack, a USAF Auxiliary Civil Air Patrolman: "After he left office, you may have to turn in your key to the city. But I don't believe turning in your moral compass and responsibility to people who trust you. That shouldn't fall at the wayside."

This is the third Giuliani movie made by Greenwald and Brave New Films. The first looked at Giuliani's decision to put New York's terrorist response center in the World Trace Center complex - a known and obvious terrorist target. The second focused on Giulaini's failures to upgrade the faulty radios used by FDNY members on 9/11.

Comments

[Counterglow]

What I can't quite figure out is why Christie Todd Whitman hasn't been charged with manslaughter or reckless endangerment. I think there's a phrase that goes something like "depraved indifference to human life" that describes her statements and actions quite well.

I don't even want to think about what she must see when she looks in the mirror.

[Passenger57]

Ahhh,Ghouliani's in it up to his eyeballs.W­hen a building is torn down,they hose down the area to try to contain the dust-but you can still see it in the air as you breathe it in.When a building is imploded,you'd better not be downwind when that cloud billows over you.
On 9/11,two of the tallest buildings in the world - and WTC7-completely collapsed(­coughINSID­E JOBahem),sending tons of concrete and hazardous chemicals-NOT including the asbestos-into the air,creating a toxic cloud over MOST OF THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN,and the EPA told America that it was OK to wheeze that gunk down? And there's Fooliani,saying nothing? After the cameras were off,he and Whitman probably went their private doctors and got lung transplant­s.Stoolian­i needs to get in the Perp Walk line and wait for his shackles-like Bushatron,­Rumsoaked,­Boo-Ya Bruce,Rice­-A-Phony,a­nd the rest of the criminals.

[BillKen]

Rudy's sincerity is an inch deep, a mile wide and a toxic mess. This guy has lied to us all and he needs to get the boot. This is the kind of guy that makes you wonder who the enemy really is.
Down with scumbags and the crap they spew. Semper Fi

[Nova16]

The republican fascists have used the attack on 9/11 as their myth for fighting terrorism since its occurence. The republicans held the offices of mayor of NYC and "president" and were totally inept and incompetent ignoring the PDBs that announced an attack forthcoming a month before it happened and ignoring the elements of the breifing the dolt received on the al Qaida threat by the Clinton administration. Bush preferred to take a six months vacation rather than attend to his job after taking the oath of office. He should have been impeached on 9/12 for total negligence and dereliction of duty. That would be justice for the loss of almost 3,000 lives, the destruction of the Towers. Osama bin Laden and his cohorts are still at large to add to this incredulous crime and egregious error on the part of the Bush administration. Whether Guiliani was effective in dealing with the attack is a matter of serious consideration. He was the mayor of New York City on 9/ll and had the duty and responsibility to deal with the disaster and conduct the necessary effort of security, rescue and control. Assigning hero status to his work and subsequently using that for political gain may be a stretch of one's imagination. It is essential that those closest to the problem define it for the rest of us.

[BigBagel]

Your the mayor of New York and you need a new police commissioner. You look at approximately two dozen top NYPD executives. They have advanced degrees including law degrees,and attendance at the Kennedy School at Harvard, decades of managerial experience and dedication. Do you pick one of them? No. You pick a detective, a non supervisory rank, where your outranked by every supervisor in the department from the lowest rookie sergeant on up. The detective's education: high school dropout. Fire commissioner: Same thing. You pick the head of the fireman's union. Another person with no supervisory experience. But you know what? It doesn't matter because on the big day all you do is hold Rudy's jock strap. Anyone can do that. I'm retired NYPD. I'm worked at Ground Zero and have had no side effects to this point beyond my intense dislike of Rudy. If you vote for him shame on you.

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

"These first responders are not blaming Rudy for being sick, they are asking why he has done nothing to help them since they got sick. They want to meet with him and ask what he is going to do to help them. They have tried to call and meet with him. Nothing. He who is Mr. 9.11 has abandoned the real heroes of 9/11."

The men & women first responsers & those who worked at ground zero don't have the political connections or big bucks that Quatar (for example) have... so Rudy does not give a damn about them.

Wake up, folks. The repug agenda is to overturn every last vestige of the New Deal and all of the programs that helped the middle class to keep its money & power, which made us the superpower that we once were. Take a look at what the AWOL-in-Chief and his focus on tax cuts for the richest 1% and think about it. No money for healthcare for poor kids, but billions in corporate welfare for defense contractors. No money for college loans, but plenty of room in the Army.

[Jared137]

We all need to be watchful of the Benzman v. Whitman suit. New Yorkers are living in an asbestos filled city to this day. Both towers were insulated with asbestos and were slated for a 600 million dollar clean up. The courts ruled in early 2001 that the port authority could not collect the 600 million from their insurers for the asbestos abatement. A few months later, they didn't need to worry anymore. Fortunately for Larry Silverstein, a good buddy of Giuliani, he purchased the WTC complex six months prior to 9/11, then hired Marvin Bush's security company (Georges little brother) to secure the buildings, then took out a 7 billion dollar insurance policy on the two towers that were only worth 3.2 billion. What a lucky man...it rained money instead of asbestos on his head.

Six years after 9/11 the schools, offices, etc. are still testing for asbestos. Imagine sending your child to school every day only to find out years later that the levels of asbestos are toxic, and the EPA knows about it. That is what this case is about. Whitman without a doubt knew that the air was loaded with it on the days after 9/11 but told the public the air was "safe" to breathe. New Yorkers still need our help and our support. The judges cannot grant immunity to Whitman in a case where she clearly LIED to the public about their safety. If anything, she should have warned them that the air may be toxic. But instead she used the word "safe" while in her hands she held a report showing the air was anything but safe.

It is doubtful that the moderators will post this, since it is filled with facts that the public does not need to see. However, in the spirit of change I will keep my fingers crossed.

[StillAmused]

"I grabbed the arm of then-Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and I said to him, "Bernie, thank God George Bush is our president.­"

"... and thank God that Dick Cheney, a man with his experience and his knowledge and his strength and his background, is our vice president.­..

"... President George W. Bush already has earned a place in history as a great American president.­" -- Rudy at the RNC Convention, 8/30/04

"Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said yesterday he has "no reason to distrust" information the city received about the air quality near Ground Zero right after Sept. 11, 2001... the first time he has spoken publicly about a report by the EPA's inspector general that said the agency gave overly rosy statements about the air." -- NY Daily News, 9/11/03

"... an exhaustively detailed account from his mayoral archive, revised after the events to account for last-minute changes on scheduled stops, does exist for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001. It shows he was there for a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts." — New York Times, 8/17/07

Rudy abandoned the Ground Zero responders and local residents of his "beloved city" to the lies of the EPA and Bush administration, rushing off to market himself as a high-priced "security consultant" -- the same assclown who cleverly located the city's Emergency Operations Center ABOVE GROUND in a high-rise -- at the WTC site, ALREADY TARGETED IN '93! -- which COLLAPSED in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

Then, there's the no-bid scandal concerning the radios that didn't work, costing the lives of countless responders­...

Rudy won't just get blown out of the primary -- he's gonna be bundled off into the ignominy and oblivion he so richly deserves.

Prepare for life as a late-night punchline, traitor.

[JMarcusCampbell]

Sam,

Mr Rudy "9/11" Guiliani finished in 6th place not 5th. He recieved 4% of the vote. He could not even beat Ron Paul who got more than twice Mr 9/11's votes, with a 10% total.
It is time to stick a fork in Rudy, he is done. The only thing left is for some farewell speech with a noun, a verb and 9/11. Oh, he already said that finishing 6th in Iowa was not as scary as 9/11......­.

[ripples]

Lets not forget that this is a guy who publicly humiliated his wife and children..­the people who support this cockroach should be ashamed of themselves

[eastearll]

Why aren't' they protesting out side the Arab embassies and Islamic mosques where the savages responsible are?

[KingGeorgetheShrub]

Republican Response:

It is there fault that these Heroes do not have the proper healthcare. If these Heroes were so foolhearty to rush to the scene on 911 and not take into the consideration the hazards at the scene then they should be held accountable for such an action and pay for the medical needs required. We are not in the business of having a Nanny State, how dare these Heroes speak out and ask the taxpayer to pay for their medical needs. John and Jane Millionaire should not have to lose a dime to pay for the Heroes.