Did Rudolph W. Giuliani practice what he now preaches?

This Washington Post article, Giuliani's Rhetoric on Terror Contrasts With His Record suggests that the former Mayor has not practiced what he is now preaching when it comes to the topic of terrorism. It's a highly recommended read since it's a given as the Presidential campaign continues the topic of terrorism and who is going to be "tougher" on it will be one of the primary spin points of many of the candidates both Republican and Democrat.

Will trying to paint Democrats as being soft on terror backfire on Rudy given some of his own previous statements? Some selected paragraphs from the article:

On the campaign trail, Giuliani particularly stresses the time he spent as U.S. attorney investigating Yasser Arafat for his role in the death of a wheelchair-bound New Yorker, Leon Klinghoffer, in the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. "I investigated Yasser Arafat before anybody knew who he really was," Giuliani said in Las Vegas.

But prosecutors who led that case say Giuliani overstates his role. He assisted in the later, failed attempt to evict the Palestine Liberation Organization from its New York office, but the investigation of an Arafat link to the ship hijacking was handled by the Justice Department in Washington, say former Justice officials, including Stephen Trott, now a federal appeals judge.

In 1997, the city decided to place an emergency command center for the agency on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, across from the twin towers. Several top officials argued for a lower-profile site, such as an office complex across the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn.

Giuliani and his advisers have rejected criticism of the site selection, saying no one could have predicted the collapse of the towers. But Louis Anemone, a top-ranking police officer who has since retired, disagrees. The World Trade Center "was number one on our list of the most vulnerable and critical and symbolic locations in the city. The place had been attacked once before, and they had been threatening to bring those towers down again," Anemone said. "For those of us who lived and breathed this stuff day in and day out, it boggled the imagination."

This comes down to the typical question asked, what will matter more? Facts or Spin...