Posted on 05/28/2004 2:04:04 AM PDT by kattracks
He's sorry - sort of.A week after saying that communication failures between the Police and Fire departments on 9/11 were "not worthy of the boy scouts," 9/11 commission member John Lehman apologized in person to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani this week.
At least, that's the version offered yesterday by Giuliani, who said Lehman came to his Giuliani Partners office on Wednesday to meet with him and two top aides, former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former Office of Emergency Management Chief Richard Sheirer.
"He said, 'I am sorry if it was looked at as a criticism of the three of you, because it wasn't intended that way,'" Giuliani said of Lehman's mea culpa during an exclusive interview with the Daily News.
But Lehman offered a slightly different version yesterday. After first saying the meeting was "a private, off-the-record lunch," he added, "I don't know that I would use the word apology. But I certainly did express regret."
In any case, the apology - or whatever it was - was accepted. "I told him that I thought it takes a very big man to do that," Giuliani recounted.
In the interview, Giuliani also said that while Mayor Bloomberg has done a "terrific job" safeguarding the city, his new emergency command protocols are "ambiguous."
The new protocols have been criticized by some for not clearly granting to the city's Office of Emergency Management the power to settle disputes that may arise between the NYPD and the FDNY at disasters.
"The big difference," Giuliani said, "is that our ... protocol said that OEM had the authority to make the decision if there is any confusion. And they don't have that in it. And I think that should be in it."
Bloomberg has said that under his model, police and fire chiefs will be required to stand next to each other at emergency command posts, reducing the chance of any mixup. But OEM officials can only "participate in" - not lead - any rescue efforts under the arrangement.
"The OEM is responsible for the protocol and responsible for making sure the protocol is followed," was all Bloomberg spokesman Ed Skyler would say yesterday.
Originally published on May 28, 2004
"This apology is drivel!"
-- Sydney Blumenthal regarding Matt Drudge.
[Mike Reagan]
• On Tuesday, commission member John Lehman said the failure of city agencies to communicate effectively on 9/11 was a scandal "not worthy of the Boy Scouts, let alone this great city." Former fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen shot back that Lehman's comments were "despicable," which they were.
[down a few paragraphs...]
This whole charade is sickening. Don’t these grandstanding has-beens know that on 9/11 between 30,000 and 50,000 body bags were ordered because that’s what they thought the death toll would be? They needed fewer than 3,000 thanks to Von Essen and Kerik’s courageous men and women. And 346 of the body bags were for their people who died saving others...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1141701/posts
9/11 Commission Hacks Demean 9/11's Heroes
A fool on the panel of fools.
Now he's wiggling his toes. Most people have the brains to stop after inserting both feet.
Garbage - Lehman spews out his charges in front of millions and makes a private expression of regret. He is just one more of despicable operatives of the 9/11 Commission who are working to weaken America.
Lehman's comment was insensitive, disgraceful and downright absurd.
This uh "apology" even though private is one reason I don't trust the polls coming out. Lehman felt the heat and you better believe it was a lot of heat to make this pompous fool to utter the "private regret". If the despised left (Kerry supporters) were truly in the majority - Lehman would have basked in the glory.
What's really sad is that John Lehman is an honorable and decent man who was, up to the New York questioning, one of the few reasonable members of the panel (especially compared to party hacks like Ben-Veniste). Maybe he felt that he had to keep up with the other members of the panel in confrontational questioning.
I believe that this whole episode illustrates the biggest weakness of the 9-11 hearings: that they were televised. Closed hearings would have much better served an honest search for truth instead of the grandstanding-for-the-cameras we ended up with.
He would never have "retracted" (kinda) if he hadn't got so much flack. Like I've said, the commissioners made it pretty easy to see what the commission was all about....Bashing this administration.
Why are they still working the 9/11 farce?
There's that non-apology apology again. Weak. Very small of this little man. I had testicular cancer 5 years ago, and I have more than he does.
You know, if Rudy ever runs for President...this Freeper is voting for him!
Very Clintonesque,"It depends on what your definition of apology is". Lehman, you were wrong and you should be embarrassed and ashamed. Rudy was too much a man to chastise you in public.
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