There is something particularly ugly about using the anniversary of a national tragedy to score political points. Twenty-five years ago, nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered on September 11, 2001. Families were shattered. Firefighters and police officers ran into buildings while everyone else was running out. Ordinary Americans watched their television screens in horror as the Twin Towers fell and smoke covered lower Manhattan. Now, days before the twenty-fifth anniversary of that terrible day, New York City has released more than 170,000 pages of government records dealing with the aftermath of the attack, particularly the toxic air surrounding Ground Zero.
Predictably, the whole thing has already become a polarizing political theater. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has presented the release as a reckoning with previous city leadership, and the timing could hardly be more politically useful. Rudy Giuliani, the Republican mayor whose public image became inseparably connected to his leadership after September 11, now finds his administration under renewed scrutiny just as the nation prepares to remember the attack. Those on the political Right have questioned the timing and accused Mamdani of turning the release into a political stunt. Those on the Left have emphasized the alleged concealment, the sickness and death that followed, and the failures of Giuliani-era officials.
That is the unfortunate nature of modern American politics. Everything becomes a circus. Even the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history cannot simply be a day to remember the dead and honor the heroes. Now the release of these records has inevitably been folded into the same wicked game, with the twenty-fifth anniversary providing the perfect stage for settling old political scores.
Normally, that would cheapen what we are hearing. It would make me suspicious of the entire spectacle, and it should. When politicians suddenly discover a passion for transparency at the exact moment that transparency damages their opponents, we have every right to question their motives. But there is an important distinction that must be made here. The fact that information is being used politically does not mean the information itself is false.
That is what makes these revelations so troubling. We can recognize the political theater without pretending the documents do not exist. Mamdani and his political allies may benefit enormously from their release, but that does not change what is contained in them. The question is not whether Socialist Democrats benefit politically from these revelations. The question is what government officials knew, what concerns were being discussed privately, what the public was being told, and whether those things line up.
The records concern what our government knew about health risks and air quality after September 11. They include the Harding Memo and records from 68 boxes that were not located until 2025 despite previous Freedom of Information Law requests. They also contain discussions about the city’s potential liability arising from toxic exposure. That matters because while the public was receiving reassurances about environmental safety, officials behind closed doors were discussing toxic exposure, potential lawsuits, and the city’s liability.
The Harding Memo is especially disturbing. Written only weeks after the attacks, it discussed the possibility of thousands of legal claims against the city, including claims involving toxic exposure and faulty safety equipment, while considering ways the city might limit its liability. Other records show continuing concern about contamination and the legal and public-relations consequences that could follow. While firefighters, construction workers, police officers, residents, and volunteers were breathing the dust of Ground Zero, people inside government were already contemplating what toxic exposure might mean for the city. Meanwhile, the public was being reassured.
The human cost did not end when the smoke cleared. Firefighters, police officers, cleanup workers, volunteers, and residents have spent the last quarter century dealing with illnesses associated with exposure to the World Trade Center disaster site. Hundreds of FDNY members have died from World Trade Center-related illnesses, and more than 10,000 FDNY members have been certified with at least one 9/11-related physical health condition.
Perhaps one of the most troubling aspects of the entire story is how long it has taken for these records to see daylight. First responders, survivors, elected officials, and 9/11 health advocates have sought records for years. The present release followed a long fight for disclosure, including litigation, and New York City has indicated that additional records will continue to be released. Twenty-five years after the attack, Americans are still learning what their government knew in its aftermath.
We were not told the whole truth. I do not need a conspiracy theory to say that. I do not need to pretend that every official knew everything or that every reassuring statement was a calculated lie. The public record itself now shows that serious concerns existed behind closed doors while confidence was being projected publicly. Americans were entitled to know those concerns, especially the men and women being asked to work, live, and breathe in lower Manhattan.
Twenty-five years later, Americans deserve the truth about September 11 and its aftermath, no matter whose political career that truth helps or hurts.
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One must ask who exactly holds the strings to the puppets who allows such wicked staged events.
My heart leans to all the lost who died that day .
All the families who thought it was just another day ,then to see the TV knowing how their loved ones died.
Awful