Letters to the Editor
Giuliani's No Hero of 9/11

To the Editor:

Rudy Giuliani is not a hero.

I am an active Battalion Chief who searched the rubble of the World Trade Center for nine months. I saw the bodies and what was left of them. I'll never forget the horrors of 9/11. No one will speak for me as a spokesman. Never forgive and never forget, not even when a politician needs to roll you out to help him recover from bad press.

Giuliani and his commissioners ran north to safety when they heard that another plane was missing. My son Firefighter Jimmy Riches' body was recovered from the WTC site on March 25, 2002. If Giuliani had his way, when he tried in November 2001 to end the recovery phase of WTC operations, my hero son's body would have been scooped up by machine and trucked to the Staten Island dump.

The heroes all died on 9/11. Giuliani also had my son working that day with a radio that didn't work at WTC (we know this from 1993), from Motorola, with whom his connections are suspicious. Giuliani also had the Office of Emergency Management command center built at 7 WTC against the wishes of Jerry Hauer, head of OEM. Rudy also had a room specially built in the Command Center so that he could smoke his cigars, all on the taxpayer's back. 7 WTC collapsed on 9/11 because it was located near a prime terrorist target, but Rudy could walk there from City Hall and he knew best. It's his way or you are gone, as was Bratton, Hauer, etc.

The whole Kerik fiasco, the FDNY radios and Giuliani's association with Motorola must be investigated more vigorously. Kerik probably learned from his boss how to take stocks from companies illegally, yet would fire the beat cop who took a cup of coffee. Safir had lunch at known mob hangouts and took an illegal trip to the Academy Awards. Rudy Giuliani's ability to appoint people in high places who do not possess the knowledge base and abilities to perform their assignments is definitely a shortcoming.

Politicians are now going to look for their 9/11 family puppets to show off to the media and America with the upcoming Presidential elections. Giuliani treated the dead heroes of 9/11 with disrespect and the IAFF is right to call a spade a spade. Tell America the truth.

As for Lee Ielpi being the unofficial spokesman for the 9/11 families, this is ridiculous. This is a typical Giuliani move.

I will "never forget."

JIM RICHES, Battalion Chief, FDNY