Editing Rudy Giuliani (section)

==== Aftermath ====
[[File:Rudy Giuliani New York After 9-11.jpg|thumb|right|[[Thomas Von Essen]] and Giuliani at the New York Foreign Press Center Briefing on "New York City After September 11, 2001"]]

For his leadership on and after September 11, Giuliani was given an honorary [[knighthood]] ([[Order of the British Empire|KBE]]) by [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] on February 13, 2002.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/02/13/knighthoods/ |title=Giuliani joins a distinguished club |work=CNN |last1=Reynolds |first1=Dylan |date=February 13, 2002 |access-date=November 6, 2007 |archive-date=October 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008182559/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/02/13/knighthoods/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Giuliani initially downplayed the [[health effects arising from the September&nbsp;11 attacks]] in the [[Financial District, Manhattan|Financial District]] and lower Manhattan areas in the vicinity of the [[World Trade Center site]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Smith |title=Rudy's Black Cloud |work=New York Daily News |date=September 18, 2006 |page=14 |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/rudy-black-cloud-wtc-health-risks-hurt-prez-bid-article-1.618126 |access-date=May 23, 2023 |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626023055/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/rudy-black-cloud-wtc-health-risks-hurt-prez-bid-article-1.618126 |url-status=live }}</ref> He moved quickly to reopen [[Wall Street]], and it was reopened on September 17. In the first month after the attacks, he said "The air quality is safe and acceptable."<ref>{{cite news |first=Anita |last=Gates |title=Buildings Rise from Rubble while Health Crumbles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/arts/television/buildings-rise-from-rubble-while-health-crumbles.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 11, 2006 |access-date=May 23, 2023 |archive-date=June 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605011530/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/arts/television/buildings-rise-from-rubble-while-health-crumbles.html |url-status=live }}, reporting on the documentary "Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11"</ref>
[[File:Giuliani Powell.jpg|thumb|left|Giuliani and Secretary of State [[Colin Powell]] at the U.S. Delegation to OSCE's Anti-Semitism Meeting in Vienna, Austria, in 2003]]

Giuliani took control away from agencies such as the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]], the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] and the [[Occupational Safety and Health Administration]], leaving the "largely unknown" city Department of Design and Construction in charge of recovery and cleanup. Documents indicate that the Giuliani administration never enforced federal requirements requiring the wearing of [[respirators]]. Concurrently, the administration threatened companies with dismissal if cleanup work slowed.<ref name="DePalma-2007">{{cite news |first=Anthony |last=DePalma |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/14/nyregion/14giuliani.html |title=Ground Zero Illness Clouding Giuliani's Legacy |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 14, 2007 |access-date=February 12, 2017 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124022918/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/14/nyregion/14giuliani.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2007, [[Christie Todd Whitman]], former Republican governor of [[New Jersey]] and director of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA), reportedly said the EPA had pushed for workers at the WTC site to wear respirators but she had been blocked by Giuliani. She said she believed the subsequent [[lung disease]] and deaths suffered by WTC responders were a result of these actions.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/23/2007-06-23_christie_blasts_rudy_on_wtc_air-1.html |title=Christie blasts Rudy on WTC air |newspaper=New York Daily News |access-date=August 16, 2016 |archive-date=November 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119014816/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/23/2007-06-23_christie_blasts_rudy_on_wtc_air-1.html |date=June 23, 2007 |first=Adam |last=Nichols |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, former deputy mayor [[Joe Lhota]], then with the Giuliani campaign, replied, "All workers at Ground Zero were instructed repeatedly to wear their respirators."<ref>{{cite news |last=Murray |first=Mark |title=Pushing Back Against Whitman |date=June 25, 2007 |url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/06/25/234621.aspx |access-date=July 9, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071110133845/https://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/06/25/234621.aspx |archive-date=November 10, 2007 }}</ref>

Giuliani asked the city's Congressional delegation to limit the city's [[Legal liability|liability]] for Ground Zero illnesses to a total of $350{{spaces}}million. Two years after Giuliani finished his term, FEMA appropriated $1{{spaces}}billion to a special insurance fund, called the [[World Trade Center Captive Insurance Company]], to protect the city against 9/11 lawsuits.<ref name="DePalma-2007"/>

In February 2007, the [[International Association of Fire Fighters]] issued a letter asserting that Giuliani rushed to conclude the recovery effort once gold and silver had been recovered from World Trade Center vaults and thereby prevented the remains of many victims from being recovered: "Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no [[closure (psychology)|closure]] for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the [[Fresh Kills Landfill]]," it said, adding: "Hundreds remained entombed in Ground Zero when Giuliani gave up on them."<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/09/giuliani.firefighters.ap/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404003924/http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/09/giuliani.firefighters.ap/index.html |url-status=dead |title=Firefighters union assails Giuliani |website=[[CNN]] |archive-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> Lawyers for the International Association of Fire Fighters seek to interview Giuliani under oath as part of a federal legal action alleging that New York City negligently dumped body parts and other human remains in the Fresh Kills Landfill.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-giuliani8apr08,0,2321840,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines |title=Giuliani foes see another side to his 9/11 activities |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621112054/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-giuliani8apr08%2C0%2C2321840%2Cprint.story?coll=la-home-headlines |archive-date=June 21, 2007 |first=Peter |last=Wallsten |access-date=May 24, 2017}}</ref>