NEW YORK — An investigative panel's glowing praise and light questioning of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday enraged family members of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks, causing a chaotic scene of screams and accusations.
At a hearing of the commission investigating the terrorist strikes, Giuliani was loudly heckled by at least a dozen members of the audience who expressed anger at what they said was a lack of probing questions.
Family members and others in the audience briefly stopped the proceedings, screaming, "those are lies," "let's ask the real questions" and "talk about the radios," referring to problems with radio transmissions that hampered emergency communications on the day of attacks. At least one man was escorted outside, where angry family members vented their frustrations to dozens of reporters.
"The ugly truth is that these firefighters didn't have a chance, they were lambs sent to the slaughter," said a visibly shaken Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son Christian died in the attacks. "They had radios that did not work. . . . The public has to know that the firefighters can't communicate."
Giuliani, who was lavishly praised repeatedly by commission members for his actions on Sept. 11, 2001, said that local officials saved thousands of lives and acted with inspiring heroism that day.
"Our anger and the blame should clearly be directed at one source, and one source only — the terrorists that killed our loved ones," he said at the beginning of his testimony, before the interruptions.
The former mayor also said that new radios had been tested by firefighters before Sept. 11 but did not prove practical to use.
Giuliani also said that he had not received information in the summer of 2001 that threatening chatter had spiked, or that an Aug. 6, 2001, presidential memo, discussed in previous commission hearings, had mentioned the World Trade Center as a possible target of Osama bin Laden.
But he also said that such knowledge would not have changed the city's actions.
Giuliani's testimony came on the second day of a two-day hearing that also included staff reports on communication failures on the day of the attacks, including a lack of information provided to fire chiefs inside the South Tower of the World Trade Center and given by 9-1-1 emergency operators to people inside the buildings.
Wednesday's staff report said that New York Fire Department officials did not have good information about which systems were operating in the building, something firefighters inside should have provided. It also faulted the Port Authority for failing to immediately communicate an evacuation order for the South Tower given by the Fire Department. "A vital few minutes may have been lost," the report said.
In a joint statement released after the hearing, Chairman Thomas Kean, a Republican former governor of New Jersey, and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic Congressman from Indiana, said that poor communication and a lack of knowledge about evacuation procedures proved costly on Sept. 11.
"Fire Chiefs did not know what the NYPD knew, and knew less than what TV viewers knew," they said.
Despite the criticisms, the 10-member panel, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, did not grill Giuliani, who received wide praise in the aftermath of the attacks for his efforts to restore order and calm to the city, bring back tourism and get locals to dine out again.
Family members of victims speculated that the kind treatment was a reaction to harsh criticism the commission received on Tuesday for strongly questioning New York City police and fire officials about communication failures on Sept. 11.
The anger was represented by a New York Post headline Wednesday that read, "Insult," with a picture of a fire fighter kneeling at Ground Zero. "Memo to 9/11 Commission: This man is a New York Hero," it said.
Beverly Eckert, whose husband Sean Rooney perished in the World Trade Center, said that the heroism of Sept. 11 is not in dispute, nor is Giuliani's leadership.
"I do admire the man, he has done a lot for the families ... but that's not what this commission is about," she said. "I am so sick of hearing about what went right."
Terry McGovern, whose mother Ann was killed in the World Trade Center, agreed.
"What we got today was, once again, a recitation of the bravery of the rescue workers. That's not at issue. Of course they were totally brave," she said. "What is at issue is that radios didn't work. That my mother was told not to evacuate. ... Now my mother is dead and she was as valuable as any rescue worker."
Family members said they had many unanswered questions, including why 9-1-1 emergency operators were not equipped to handle a higher volume of calls or to receive important information, why debris with potential evidence from the attacks was carted out of New York, and why airport officials in Newark didn't tell city officials that another plane was possibly en route.
A few of the several dozen family members at the hearing, however, did not support the angry outbursts.
"I'm very disappointed with their behavior. I don't think it's constructive," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother was killed on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Instead of trying to blame city officials, the nation should focus on the threat at hand, she added.
"The terrorists are not taking time to have committee meetings and discuss things. They are working 24/7 to kill us."
Current New York mayor Michael Bloomberg also testified before the commission, but did not take any questions.
Bloomberg complained that New York was not getting enough federal homeland security dollars despite being a top target.
Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge told the commission that he was working to change the formula so that high-target urban areas get a larger share of the money.