Submitted by George N. Spitz, Mar 4, 2007 00:47

The success of Rudolph Giuliani in Presidential polls among Conservatives is largely based on his fallacious boast that he found New York like Baghdad and solved the problem. For example, recently in New Hampshire, Giuliani told Republican activists "we have to bring peace and security as sort of the beginning of anything, whether it's in Baghdad or in other parts of the world or here at home, I'll say that to you because I saw that happen in New York, and I made it happen. I did it," the Times reported on January 27. ‘

In fact, however, David Dinkins, Giuliani's predecessor, is far better suited to claim, that he found the city "like Baghdad" and reversed the many years of mushrooming crime that afflicted New York City. In 1993, the New York Times accurately editorialized that David Dinkins "community policing initiative has added 6,070 police to the force, and the yearly number of major crimes against people and property has declined from 712,419 to 626,182 since Mr. Dinkins took office . Under David Dinkins, New York City experienced 36 consecutive months of decline in the crime statistics across the board, in the seven index crimes. Murder went down 14 percent. Those last 36 months under Dinkins reversed trends that were a decade old, according to Village Voice author Wayne Barrett.

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