Giuliani defends 9/11 response

Giuliani praised the heroism of the emergency services

New York's ex-mayor Rudolph Giuliani has defended efforts to protect the city before 9/11, in testimony to the panel investigating the attacks.

He said warnings of a possible attack on New York made a month before did not reach his office, but were not likely to have changed their security plans.

"We were doing at the time everything we could think of... to protect the city," Mr Giuliani told the hearing.

He was interrupted and heckled several times by victims' families.

Relatives' protest

An August 2001 White House intelligence memo referred to evidence that buildings in New York were possible terrorist targets - and mentioned New York or the World Trade Center three times.

"If that information had been given to us, or more warnings had been given in the summer of 2001, I can't honestly tell you we'd do anything differently," Mr Giuliani said.

The briefings he received from federal officials indicated that New York's bridges, tunnels and subways were more likely targets, he said.

New York's emergency services came under the spotlight

At one point, Mr Giuliani was shouted down by relatives of the New York victims.

"My son was murdered!" screamed a woman who lost her firefighter son in the attack.

Another shouted "talk about the radios" - a reference to communications problems on the day of the attacks.

Another man was removed from the room after he demanded time to question the mayor, screaming: "Three thousand people murdered does not mean leadership... Let me ask the real questions."

'Felt like earthquake'

In earlier comments, Mr Giuliani said too many people died, but the initial heroism of firefighters and police "thwarted the terrorist's objectives" to kill even more.

The former mayor described his actions and feelings on the day.

"It first felt like an earthquake, and then it looked like a nuclear cloud," Mr Giuliani said of the scene when the first tower collapsed.

The panel also heard from Mr Giuliani's successor, Michael Bloomberg, and US Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge during Wednesday's session.

Mr Ridge outlined a series of steps taken to enhance coordination, intelligence sharing, aviation and other areas of domestic security.

"In every imaginable way possible, we have made a real difference in securing our people and our homeland, and there are more changes ahead," he said.

Final report

On Tuesday - the first day of the two-day hearing being held not far from the Ground Zero site - there was praise for the bravery of firefighters and police officers.

But panel members highlighted how the work of the emergency services was hampered by poor planning, inadequate equipment, and rivalry between different agencies.

The US Congress established the bipartisan commission to establish what led to the attacks and what can be done to prevent future attacks.

It is due to deliver its final report on 26 July.