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America Under Attack: Former Secretary of State Eagleburger Praises New Yorkers

Aired September 11, 2001 - 20:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And I just want to throw back to Aaron Brown in New York, but to remind our viewers that that first crash occurred almost exactly some 12 hours ago, when that first plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York -- Aaron.

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Wolf, and particularly thanks to the cardinal. Those were extraordinary words and much needed, I think, to remind us how we might deal with the issues here with our children. I think all of us at some point today have wondered how we are going to explain this to them.

Lawrence Eagleburger has been a part of a number of administrations in the diplomatic positions, he is I think familiar to many of you as well. He joins us from Charlottesville, Virginia, I believe. Again, good evening to you, sir, it's nice to see you again.

LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Good to see you.

BROWN: I -- I want to go back a few hours to a conversation you had, because, if I remember it correctly, you talked specifically about two things that came up in the president's statement: One is that we need to be proactive, the country needs to be proactive in attacking terrorist groups before they attack the United States. And -- and this is the point the president made -- that it is not enough to go after the terrorists, you also must go after those who harbor the terrorists. Hardened by the president's words tonight?

EAGLEBURGER: Very much so. I thought it was a superb speech. I'll tell you something, I think we are all going to find that the American people are much tougher than some of the commentary tonight that I have heard would imply. And if you have the leadership that I think the president demonstrated tonight, and if we carry out the words he said, and we do in fact act and act hard -- against not only the terrorists but those who have housed them -- I think we will find that we have struck a real blow for beginning the end of this terrorist tragedy that has taken over the world for so long.

We won't win it all at once, but if we now really start to take seriously the words that the president said, both in terms of attacking the terrorists and those who mother them, I think we can begin to see this thing turning around, and I think the American people will be totally in support of that. BROWN: Secretary Eagleburger, what is it you have heard from commentators or anyone else that made -- that perked your ear there, that suggested the American people did not have the resolve or did not have the toughness to deal with this?

EAGLEBURGER: Well, you know, I don't want to carry it too far, but what I have heard is, you know, they are all shaken, that some implications that this is -- that we are not going to sort this out too quickly.

All I'm saying is, whether we have been shaken or not, if you watched what went on in New York City today, and particularly the police and the firemen, but also average New Yorkers in the ways in which they responded to try to take care of each other, I was in fact very much impressed by their guts and their ability to deal with these things in a rational way, and I think it showed a great deal about the city of New York, which has not always been my favorite place, and it also showed a great deal about the American people.

And I think you are going to find that we are going to be really prepared to back the president all the way now. In this sense, I do think it's like Pearl Harbor, because it's Pearl Harbor that led us all to come together to defend ourselves against the Japanese. I think this is Pearl Harbor in a sense in bringing us now to look at this terrorist issue, as in fact we should look at it, which is if we don't deal with it now, it will be so much worse as the years go on.

BROWN: Secretary Eagleburger, thank you. It's good to talk to you again.

EAGLEBURGER: Thank you.

BROWN: If I could second one thing he said: Of all the images that we've seen in the 12 hours that we've been here, it is a scene of New Yorkers calmly evacuating the area, very slowly walking, no panic, no screaming, helping one another, that has stayed with us. It is not the most dramatic picture, but it is one of the most telling pictures we have seen about how people respond in moments of extraordinary crisis.

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