On Rudy's Loyalty; to Rudy.

I've noticed it before, but the N.Y. Times has some perverse need to avoid the jugular. When Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, the report of the event was in the Thursday Style Section and was headlined "French Girl Gets Hot!"

Today's piece on Rudi Giuliani is entitled "Loyal to Kerik, Giuliani Missed Warning Signs." It should be a devastating article but the prissiness of the Times means it's more of a slap on the wrist than a punch in the face.  Poor Rudi - whose only flaw is his loyalty to others  - is not an accurate description of our former mayor. 

Seven years of Bush's excessive loyalty to incompetence should be enough to make anyone suspicious of those who blame their failures on their loyalty, but in Rudi's case it's also preposterous.  Giuliani's lack of loyalty to his wives, mistresses, and children, is legendary.   

Rudi was a prosecutor - he could recognize a mobbed up guy a mile away. It was not a question of "missing signs." Rudi's own investigator told him of Kerik's mob connections. Rudy hired and promoted Kerik again and again not out of loyalty, but because Kerik was entirely his creation - he could depend on Kerik to do whatever he was told to do.  Kerik's weak resume and history of impropriety only made Kerik more dependent. Rudi tended to fire strong professionals with independence. People like Bill Bratton, Ray Kelly, and Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew did not last long with Rudi Giuliani.(Crew, who went on to head up the Miami-Dade school system,  said of his former boss: There's something very deeply pathological about Rudy's humanity," . "He was barren, completely emotionally barren, on the issue of race.")

The Rudi/Bernie relationship is identical to the one that gave us Alberto Gonzales, with his torture memos and destruction of the office of the Attorney General. The oath taken was not to the Constitution, just as it was not to the City of New York, but to an individual - W, or Rudi. On 9/11, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York was not in a command center working with other members of the Department.  He was acting as Rudi's personal body guard as they ran uptown, away from the Towers. If Kerik had made it to the head of the Department of Homeland Security, there can be no question but that hundreds of millions of dollars would have coursed into the coffers of Giuliani Inc.

Read the article in the Times.  It makes it clear that Rudi knew just how compromised his friend Bernie was. For some reason it fails to analyze why Rudi did nothing about it.

(memeorandum)

Comments

[SISTERBLOG]

Exactly, bustard. And Rudy has a stable full of little Albertos who have been with him since the beginning who are just waiting to do his bidding when they get to Washington. Rudy surrounds himself with followers, not leaders, another sign that he is a true demagogue.

[rick]

Now you see why we did not venture to Pakistan. We had been, more or less, expecting this since August.
On the matter of Blackwater

To characterize Blackwater as soldiers from Peru or South Africa is either to re-spew the garbage from FDL or Koz, or simply not to fully understand what they are. I will assume the latter of you as I hold you in far higher regard than the former.

It is true that Blackwater operates across the planet and as result employees many former foreign soldiers. When protecting a Kuwaiti Prince one will have some former Kuwaiti marines on staff.

But Blackwater, as it functions in Iraq, (and that is the whole point of this brew haw-haw) consists, typically, of former Navy Seals, former Army S F and Rangers and other folks cut from this demographic. I have never met a Seal or S F operator who I would not trust with my life. These are the best of the best of us. I have known and worked with many of these characters over the years. If you are an innocent caught up in a firefight, you will have a far better chance of surviving if Seals are involved. The typical Blackwater engagement is an ambush. A lead vehicle is targeted by IEDs or RPGs and when the column stops to aid, the remainder of vehicles are taken under fire with whatever variety of weaponry is available to the enemy. This volley typically comes from a mob, comprised mostly of innocents with cowardly bad folks hiding amongst them. Fire is returned and when the dust clears more bad guys, hopefully, are dead than good guys. The mob secrets away any remaining weapons and evidence and begins shrieking that these dead folks are innocent civilians and the media picks it up and immediately extends the presumption of innocence to the dead insurgents and the presumption of guilt to our fellow citizens risking their live to protect diplomats who are unworthy of folding their boxers. Thirty eight Blackwater employees have lost their lives in such fights, with out losing a single ‘diplomat’, and they are denigrated in their own country for pure political purposes. It is beyond sad and embarrassing.

Prince was a long time Navy Seal who recognized a hole in a market place. Civilian diplomats were being gunned down around the planet by evil doers because there are no forces to protect them. That is the genesis of Blackwater. Are they paid a lot? Yes. Are they worth it? Ask those who purchase the service.

So then Prince is dutifully dragged before the Congress and the left side of the aisle wastes everyone’s time by trying to paint him as a Republican or conservative. What a stunning revelation? An American entrepreneur is conservative. I, for one, am stupefied.

My very best to Mesdames. How is she doing these days?

[bbbustard]

Thanks for the comment - and I could see how this was not the greatest time to take the night time tour bus through Karachi.
I totally agree with you about how good most Blackwater guys would be in protecting you.
I cracked up at your definition of whether or not something is equitably priced: whether or not the government, especially the U.,S. State Deptmnt, is willing to pay for it. And here it is not the purchaser who pays for it - we taxpayers do. Prince is a war profiteer.
It is premature for me to say this, but my guess is that he is also a beneficiary of corporate welfare in that he profits off of the training that the U.S. military paid for. But again, I am not sure of this - you probably could educate me on this one.
Thanks for asking about Mme - she is feeling pretty good, but we haven't gotten any good news for a very long time. There is a blood marker, CA125 for her type of cancer, that has been going up and up

[rick]

If you recall the Congressional hearings, Prince was asked about such matters as profitability and clients and margins and he, rightfully, refused to answer. Congress can call me before them and ask me questions about my company and I will refuse and they can hold me in contempt and I will wear it like the distinguished flying cross. Blackwater is a private company and those matters are none of Congresses business. I fear that your disdain for Prince is because you perceive him to be on the wrong side of a political line in the sand. Protecting 'high value' targets in Iraq is a very small sliver of what they do and the Department of State is not a particularly large customer and state would not hire an outside contractor if there were government (military protection for example) options and there are not. Blackwater is a global operation and they train police forces and special operators from around the country and around the world. They were rolling in cash before Iraq and they will be doing the same long after we leave that cursed sand trap. You and I would be stunned if we could read a list of everyone around the planet that Blackwater is escorting this evening.

How would Prince differ from the Naval flight officer who leaves the service after 16 years to fly someone's Gulfstream 5? The Army and Navy have trained pilots for private and commercial business for 70 years. My first pilot flew several tours in Vietnam as an F4 Phantom driver. There are many, many examples of this. Prince is a former Navy Seal and that says more about his character than anything. Those Senators, on both sides of the aisle, are mostly scoundrels and are not really worthy to be in his presence. They, likewise, are not worthy enough to fold his boxers.

[bbbustard]

As I admitted, I am not terribly well informed about Mr. Prince and his company; but I do have huge respect for Navy SEALs. I certainly don't have what it takes to be one.
It is my guess that the cost of training a SEAL would be very different than that of a pilot. I don't know how long Blackwater's SEALs served in the military either.
I also don't know what percentage of the force in Iraq is made up of SEALs. For example, the International herald Tribune reported regarding the shooting of Sept 16: "Most of the men who fired are former Marine infantrymen still in their 20s, said one Blackwater contractor with a military background."
In Waxman's hearing there were figures of about close to 10% of Blackwater employees being fired - sent home from Iraq because of alcohol problems, misuse of firearms- do you have any idea if this number is valid?

I don't like war profiteers of either political party. I also don't like people who have made tens of millions off of HMO's, Health Plans, etc - people who make fortunes by manipulating our dysfunctional health care "system" - and a lot of them are democrats.