http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=520879.htmlNEW YORK In the epic accounts of Sept. 11 provided this week by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his aides, the police and fire departments bravely worked together and no catastrophic failure to communicate doomed scores of firefighters inside the World Trade Center.
Instead, Giuliani testified, those firefighters heard an evacuation order, but still did not leave the building. They were "standing their ground" to make sure civilians got out, he said.
Giuliani's vision of the day, offered during his testimony before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, addressed the loss of many firefighters who appeared to have had ample opportunity to escape.
Along with his former commissioners of the police, fire and emergency management departments, Giuliani denied that the city's response suffered from the central problems identified by the panel and by earlier city investigations. The firefighters "were interpreting an evacuation order the way a brave rescue worker would interpret an evacuation order, which is to first get the civilians out and then get yourself out," Giuliani said.
For all the power of his voice and stature, however, Giuliani's account must compete with a substantial and diverse body of evidence that flatly contradicts much of what he and his aides say happened that day, particularly on matters that could be seen as reflecting on the performance of his administration.
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