Rudy Giuliani, Bernard Kerik and 9/11 “Heroism”

By Brigitte L. Nacos
After his indictment for multiple counts of corruption, Bernard Kerik told the press, “My life has been marked by challenge. Whether it was growing up, being a cop, Rikers Island, the New York City Police Department, or the worst challenge, until this time, my challenges during and after 9/11…”  Like his long-time benefactor Rudy Giuliani, New York’s former Correction and Police Commissioner invoked the terrorist attacks in an obvious effort to win the sympathies of people who can be fooled by these self-proclaimed heroes. Since tough cop Kerik drove Rudy Giuliani during his 1993 mayoral campaign, his career blossomed under Rudy’s tutelage. No wonder that they both used 9/11 as spring board to join forces in a lucrative consulting business that was built on their carefully cultivated 9/11 hero status. What was lost in all of this was, of course, that any mayor and any police commissioner of a large city would be expected to manage major crises competently. 

Like his patron Rudy, Kerik sells himself and is sold as a hero and distinguished public servant. On the Kerik Legal Defense Trust web site one of the pages lists all his accomplishments under the header “Heroism & Distinguished Service.” The defense trust was established to “allow Mr. Kerik’s friends and supporters to assist him in defending himself against possible charges that may be brought against him by the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.” The site continues to show Kerik and Giuliani in one of the pictures (see below excerpt from web site).

                                         

Earlier this week, Giuliani said that the successes of Kerik outweighted his problems. “If I have the same degree of success and failure as president of the United States, this country will be in great shape.” This assessment alone--along with his recommendation of Kerik as Secretary of Homeland Security disqualifies Giuliani from the office he now seeks. Giuliani (like Kerik) considers himself a hero based on his 9/11 crisis management. According to the Washington Post, Giuliani was surprised that John McCain “questioned his judgment regarding Kerik” following yesterday’s indictment saying that even after Kerik’s problems became known in 2004, “John has described me as a hero ... as someone he has tremendous respect for, as someone whose leadership after Sept. 11 was unparalleled."

Obviously, Giuliani believes that his overblown 9/11 role outweighs all of his problems.

Comments

[Brigitte]

Tony, thanks. By providing a precise definition of hero and discussing it in the context of Giuliani and Kerik, you magnify the contrast between a real hero and the pseudo version.

[Tony]

This fine blog post has lured me out into the open, again. I live near enough to Ft Drum to see vehicles every day painted with slogans saying "welcome back Daddy (Mommy), you're my hero." Which is unqualifiedly true. The fighting men and women have given of themselves much much more than we stay-at-homes were ever led to believe several years ago. The children of these soldiers have also paid a huge price in terms of growth, trust, fear, and uncertainty; and if their lives are smooth from now on, the cost is still too high.
So when Kerik, Guiliani, Bush, and whomever else spouts the "hero" reference along with self-referential language, it's time to back off and remind ourselves that the people who own the terminology own the propaganda. Remember the NIKE ad in which Michael Jordan said "if there were no sports, would I still be your hero?" (source on request).
Let us consider the dictionary definition of the word ( http://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hero)

"1 a: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability b: an illustrious warrior c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities d: one that shows great courage
2 a: the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work b: the central figure in an event, period, or movement"

Are these people of divine descent? Not hardly.
Are they illustrious warriors? Again, no.
Do they exhibit noble qualities? That depends on your definition of "noble,"
which we won't examine here.
Have they shown great courage? See previous answer.

Are they the principal characters in a literary or dramatic work?
Now we're getting somewhere. Are we talking about works of fiction, such as Kerik's tax returns, and testimony to the group that held hearings for his DHS position?
Are we referring to Giuliani's redacted accounts of his 9/11 history?

My point is that unless the reader or listener is in charge of the definitions, which had better stick to generally accepted usages, we're in the linguistic gumbo with the "torture" crowd, Mukasey included. Thank you Brigitte, for another intelligent post.