Joe Conason: Giuliani’s Secret 9/11 Testimony

[laststeamtrain]

Giuliani’s Secret 9/11 Testimony
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071101_giulianis_secret_9_11_testimony/
Posted on Nov 1, 2007

By Joe Conason

In Rudolph Giuliani’s narrative of his own life, as confided to rapt Republican voters along the presidential primary trail, he has been fighting the lonely twilight struggle against “Islamic terrorism” since sometime in the 1970s. Both the former mayor and his supporters often suggest that his understanding of the terror threat is visceral and almost mystical. Only he, among all the candidates of both parties, truly grasps the issue and possesses the fortitude to confront the threat.

As part of the same spiel touting his 30 years of experience battling terrorism, Giuliani often attacks the Clinton administration for failing to comprehend the nature of the problem following the first major attack on New York, which occurred shortly after he became mayor.

“Islamic terrorists killed Americans. Slaughtered Americans. Bombed the World Trade Center. Bombed it,” he said in a typical speech last summer. “You know what the reaction of the Clinton administration at the time was? It was a crime. It was another group of murders. . . . Well, it wasn’t just another group of murders.”

While that description of President Clinton’s response to the February 1993 bombing is hardly fair or accurate, the tone of curt disdain serves a specific partisan purpose, by warning that a Clinton restoration in the White House will endanger America. His unrelenting attacks are aimed at portraying Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, as too weak to serve as commander in chief. But his biting words also invite closer scrutiny of Giuliani’s claims about himself.

Unfortunately, few mainstream media outlets will take up that invitation. Although cable channels devote endless amounts of airtime to consider the authenticity of Mrs. Clinton’s laughter, they seem unable to cover an extraordinary scoop that raises questions about Giuliani’s authenticity.

Published in the Oct. 23 issue of The Village Voice—the New York alternative weekly that has excelled in covering the former mayor for many years—that scoop revealed the contents of his private testimony before the 9/11 Commission. The previously sealed memoranda summarizing Giuliani’s testimony, obtained by reporter Wayne Barrett, show profound contradictions between his stump speech and what he admitted to the commission behind closed doors.

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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071101_giulianis_secret_9_11_testimony/

[ixion]

1. the selective reluctance of the MSM

should be no shock. They've long had a penchant for going after celebs consistently, or individual politicians selectively. Think election 2000, where the MSM fabricated lies about Gore, and hounded him endlessly, all-the-while giving the chimp a pass on his failed businesses, his contradictions and lies, his family's past and his apparent cluelessness.

So, yeah, Conason is right. The MSM will ignore Ghouliani's hypocrisy and simply report his talking points.

It's what they do best. :grr: