It's The Terrorists, Stupid!

I've been reading and watching the 9/11 Commission, am I the only one getting really pissed off about this? The whole things smacks of finger pointing and grandstanding in an attempt to blame the NYC Fire Chief, Chief of Police, or former Mayor Giuliani.

The worst has been Sally Regenhard, who lost her son (a probationary fireman). When the Fire and Police Chiefs answered questions two days ago, she held up a prepared sign that said LIES. "My son was murdered because of your incompetence!" she shouted at Giuliani, pointing and holding up another prepared sign that said FICTION.

It's interesting to note that Sally Regenhard is also the founder and chairperson of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign. The four goals of this campaign are:

1. To have a Federal Comprehensive Investigation, with subpoena power, into the collapse of the WTC, including design, construction, evacuation procedures and fire fighting techniques.

2. To encourage better compliance with building and fire codes in NYC and nationwide, thereby safeguarding Firefighters, as well as persons who must live and work in skyscrapers.

3. To educate "codes groups" to allow the Fire Service to have more input into writing
Building Codes. We call for at least 50% of all codes groups to be composed of representatives of the Fire Service and the academic field of Fire Science Engineering.
(Existing groups are composed of builders, developers, financiers and bureaucrats who know little about Fire and Life Safety.)

4. To ensure that all future WTC development by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey will be characterized by quality, safety and security, and will be under the legal
jurisdiction of the NYC Building & Fire Department.

This all sounds very intelligent and well thought out. So why did this woman have a melt down in the commission? Is she looking for someone to blame? Is she angry at the system? Does she want to avenge her son's death by making public officials "pay"?

Were there problems with the WTC being not up to current code? Of course. Were there communication problems between Fire, Medical and Police? Yes. But who is going to spend the billions or trillions it would take to bring every building in NYC (and every other city, for that matter) up to current code? I'm willing to bet good money that the Empire State Building is not up to current code, but is instead "grandfathered" because of its age. And I'll also guarantee that the emergency organizations can now communicate with each other and have procedures in place for a catastrophic event...but these types of safeguards were inconceivable before 9/11. With the exception for Pearl Harbor, our cities had never been bombed, burned, or attacked by a foreign enemy in living memory.

The enemy is not the Fire Chief, the Police Chief, Mayor Giuliani, or anyone else who was involved that day. They all responded as best they could with what they had. Not one of those people flew a plane into a building, or intentionally and willingly caused the death of any of the civilian victims.

The enemy is of course the terrorists. Direct your anger at them, not at the heroes who prevented greater loss of life.

Sally Regenhard did not want a neutral inquiry into the events of that day, she wanted an opportunity to lash out at the people in authority that she blames for her sons death. She went in with her mind already made up, pre-printed signs in hand. Well congratulations Sally, you've got your pound of flesh. I hope the taste is as sweet as you imagined, because this was your one and only chance.