Is 'The Real Rudy' For Real?

New York City Councilman Eric Gioia says he will support an investigation into Rudy Giuliani's failure to provide firefighters with adequate radios, and the consequences of that failure on 9/11. Gioia was responding to a 20,000 signature petition submitted by documentarian Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films. The issue is detailed in Brave New Fims' "The Real Rudy": Radios. The short film, embedded below, is the latest in a series of "Real Rudy" videos aimed at deflating what some call "The Myth of Saint Rudy of 9/11".

Does Rudy deserve this type of scorn, and does "The Real Rudy" check out?

While the man once known as "America's Mayor" is seen by people across the country as a figure of strength who helped to hold New York City, and even the country, together in the immediate aftermath of those devastating attacks, a growing number of Giuliani critics have surfaced to refute that image.

It's well-known by now that the International Association of Firefighters savaged Rudy in a letter to it's members in March of 2007. They took exception to Giuliani's handling of the search for the remains of fallen firefighters, among other things. The opposition by the firefighter's union was the first note in a growing crescendo of anti-Rudy sentiment.

I watched "The Real Rudy: Radios", and read the accompanying fact sheet, and I decided to check it out. Now, I haven't seen any documentation to refute any of the factual elements of the film, but in the process, I began to wonder if the film was being fair to Rudy. I watched the other "Real Rudy" films, "Command Center" and "Mistakes in 30 Seconds", and once again, while the facts seem to be accurate, I began to feel that these films did little to acknoledge the fact that what happened that day was so unprecedented, lacked any frame of reference or comparison, that mistakes which would seem unremarkable under normal circumstances were magnified out of all proportion.

I began to wonder how any other Mayor would have fared under those circumstances. I recalled Newark, New Jersey's $250,000.00 purchase of brand new garbage trucks with a Homeland Security grant, and wondered how current mayor Corey Booker would look trying to explain that in the wake of a terrorist attack. There are weaknesses in the infrastructure of every city, and thankfully, most are never dragged into the sunlight by a terrorist attack.

As a reasonable person, I can see how many of the "sins" of Rudy Giuliani on 9/11 could be forgiven, allowing for the magnitude of the event and his symbolic value to public morale afterwards. I don't think an investigation into the radios should be undertaken as a means to heap more blame on Giuliani. If the objective is to correct the problem and avoid similar ones, I am all for it.

Conversely, I wish Mr. Giuliani would realize that these failures, writ large by the most horrific event in our Nation's memory, would be more easily forgiven if he did not instead seek credit for his actions, and the actions of the brave people who were lost that day. It's harder to forgive when forgiveness isn't sought.