Put focus on true enemy, Giuliani says

The ex-mayor said mistakes were because of the unprecedented situation.
NEW YORK (AP) -- One day after his police and fire chiefs were grilled over their Sept. 11 response, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told members of a national commission today that their priority should be preventing a new attack, not assigning blame.
"Our enemy is not each other, but the terrorists who attacked us," Giuliani said in his opening statement to the panel. The mayor acknowledged there were "terrible mistakes" made Sept. 11 but attributed that to the unprecedented circumstances.
Giuliani's testimony came on the second day of hearings in New York by the Sept. 11 commission, created by Congress to examine what led to the attacks and advise ways the country can avoid future attacks.
Giuliani appeared to be trying to deflect criticism from his former police and fire chiefs, who were widely hailed after the attacks but harshly criticized Tuesday for failing to communicate effectively Sept. 11. Commissioner John Lehman called the lapses a scandal "not worthy of the Boy Scouts, let alone this great city."
Called comments 'despicable'
Ex-fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen called Lehman's comments "despicable."
"I couldn't disagree with you more strongly," Von Essen replied. "I think it's outrageous that you make a statement like that."
"The blame should clearly be directed at one source and one source alone, the terrorists who killed our loved ones," Giuliani said as family members of the victims broke into applause.
Giuliani went on to describe his actions and his feelings Sept. 11, recounting a morning that began at breakfast with two friends and quickly turned into unimaginable horror. He recalled his final meetings with several victims, and he described the scene when the first tower collapsed.
"It first felt like than earthquake, and then it looked like a nuclear cloud," Giuliani said. As Giuliani remembered watching a man leap from around the 102nd floor, family members began to cry, clearly disturbed by the account.
Flaws in phone system
Earlier today, the commission issued a report that said flaws in New York's 911 phone system deprived people in the twin towers of potentially lifesaving information. The findings were the second part of the most comprehensive probe to date of New York's response to the attacks.
The 911 phone system's operators and dispatchers did not know that fire chiefs had made decisions to evacuate the burning towers because the city did not have a way of relaying that information, the commission staff concluded.
With the buildings' public address systems out of service, workers inside the buildings called 911 for help but were not told to evacuate, according to report.
An unknown number of victims in the south tower might have had a better chance of survival if 911 operators had instructed them not to flee upward, where some found locked roof doors and no hope of escape, the report concluded.
"In several ways, the 911 system was not ready to cope with a major disaster," the report found.
Tuesday's testimony focused largely on how fire and police officials worked, sometimes separately and sometimes together, and areas where information was not shared.
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