by Seth Michaels, Aug 10, 2007

Campaigning in Ohio on Thursday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani made a striking statement about the cleanup effort after the 9/11 attacks:

I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers….I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I’m one of them.

That may come a surprise to the workers, firefighters and police officers who really were there day in, day out and have suffered serious health complications as a result. For them, Giuliani’s claim isn’t just an exaggeration; it’s an outrage.

Paramedic Marvin Bethea is just one example:

I personally find that very, very insulting.…Standing there doing a photo-op and telling the men, ‘You’re doing a good job,’ I don’t consider that to be working.

Reacting even more strongly, Fire Captain James Riches, whose firefighter son lost his life in the attacks, called Giuliani “a liar” and said he was “living in a dreamland.”

See video of Giuliani’s claim he is “one of them” here.

According to Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice, misleading and exaggerated claims about Giuliani’s 9/11 performance are a common tactic of his presidential campaign.

The Fire Fighters (IAFF) have pushed back against Giuliani’s attempt to cast himself as the hero of 9/11. Earlier this year, they released “Rudy: Urban Legend,” a 13-minute video that takes a close look at Giuliani’s performance as mayor before, during and after the attacks.

It’s shocking to see Giuliani—who was mayor for only a few months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks—claiming his experience is equal to that of the hard-working rescue workers and cleanup crews, who for a year spent long days trying to recover the bodies of the victims under dangerous conditions.

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