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Glenn Beck

Governor Pataki Discusses 9/11; Where is Osama bin Laden?; Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

Aired September 11, 2006 - 19:00   ET

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

GLENN BECK, HOST: Tonight we mark the fifth anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 by debunking all the lies and conspiracy theories. But we also are going to look ahead to what we need to do to win this war once and for all. Coming up.
You know, in today`s America, it seems that we just don`t say al the things we`re thinking. Political correctness is going to kill us. And as we reflect on that horrific day five years ago, I think -- here is what everybody is saying, that the country is safer, that we haven`t been hit by terrorists since 9/11. But what people really are thinking is, "Gosh, I`m not as sad about 9/11 as I am angry or fearful."

Something big is right around the corner. Do you feel it? Maybe it`s just me. But here`s why I`m thinking that. As the entire nation mourns thousands of lives that were lost on 9/11, some people, namely al Qaeda`s No. 2 in command, paid tremendous beauty in a different way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, NO. 2 OF AL QAEDA AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, NO. 2 OF AL QAEDA (through translator): We tell you not to concern yourselves with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are doomed. You should worry about your presence in the gulf, and the second place they should worry about is in Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Now, here is how the president should respond in his speech tonight. He should, A, stop calling it a war on terror. To me, that`s like saying World War I was a war against the kamikazes. We are at war with Islamic fundamentalists. We need to kill them before we kill them.

You know, before we entered World War II, a 1939 Gallup poll revealed that 96.5 percent of Americans didn`t want to go to war with Germany. It was that hesitation and apathy that also cost us World War II. We just cannot afford that kind of complacency now. Our lives are depending upon it.

I was thinking today that I think America is kind of like the fat guy that goes in for stomach stapling surgery. You know, he goes in five years ago and while he`s laying there, he`s like, "Gee, if I just -- if I can just get this stomach stapled, I`ll -- I`ll go and I`ll have a second chance. I`ll exercise and eat right." And then he just gets lazy and distracted and before you know it, he`s fat again.

Since 9/11, have we kept our promises? Some would say we`ve gotten lazy and distracted. But like the fat guy, I think it`s just that we didn`t want to face our own possible death. We didn`t want to face our biggest fears.

And then the politicians have clouded the truth just to get elected. How many times have you heard in the last five years phrases like, "We brought this upon ourselves," or, "We need to understand what they`re angry about." Bull crap.

It`s time to be honest with ourselves and be the Americans we know we are instead of the Americans we`ve allowed ourselves to become. But to do that, we have to accept and confront the reality that we`ve been avoiding since 9/11. We`re at war, not with terrorists but with a global movement that will stop at nothing to destroy our way of life.

Now, that is grim news. But the sooner we choose to confront the grim news instead of dancing around it like our politicians, the sooner we can and will win. Washington is not going to solve this. You know, the leader that we`ve all been looking for, the Churchill, it`s you.

So here`s what I`m thinking today. I`m an alcoholic, and the first step to recovery is admitting that there`s a problem. That`s what we have to do here, and this is the problem. Watch this. This is how the Palestinians, the poor, innocent Palestinians that everybody was so concerned with this summer, reacted on 9/11. After thousands of people were murdered, they danced and handed out candy to their children.

The other problem? Politics and politicians. We cannot win if we don`t put politics aside. I got up this morning, the happiest news over the weekend was when the former Iranian President Khatami spoke at Harvard last night. Both young Republicans and the young Democrats on campus joined forces to protest. When something like that happens, it`s a great sign.

Now, if only our adult leaders could follow the kids. So why can`t we be unified on this? Well, I`ll tell you, we can`t even be unified on Ground Zero. It`s been five years. Why is it the president commemorated today by standing in a hole in the ground next to what looked like a kiddy pool instead of speaking in front of a fitting and fully built memorial.

It`s a question I wanted answered, so I visited Governor Pataki`s office, and we had a heart to heart about that and so much more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: I don`t believe I have ever agreed with Ray Nagin, ever, until I heard him say, "It`s a hole in the ground." It`s an embarrassment. What happened?

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI, NEW YORK: I think people who are expecting the Freedom Tower to be cutting the ribbon in 2006 weren`t realistic from the beginning. And what we have done from the beginning is put in place a master site plan that I think is brilliant and visionary and, in fact, is going to make not just New Yorkers but Americans -- Americans proud.

The only building that is delayed is the Freedom Tower. That`s because we had to redesign it, because we`re in a war and we had to take into consideration that it`s going to be the tallest building ever built in the history of America. And as a consequence, we`re going to build the most secure building ever built in the history of America. So I think when people look back they`re going to say, they did it right.

BECK: Let me just tell you the perception I feel from people I talk to and me as an American. You know, I`m not a politician or anything like that, just me as an American. It`s not the tallest building in the world. It`s a tall building with a very long spire. Is there any part of you that says, gosh, this isn`t the way our grandparents would have done this?

PATAKI: No, not a bit. In fact, I am very proud. And mark my words five words from now when virtually everything will be finished, including the other office towers at Ground Zero, or 10 years from now or a decade, more than a decade, a generation from now, people are going to go to Lower Manhattan. They`re going to see the most moving memorial ever constructed in the United States.

BECK: Do you feel the frustration?

PATAKI: Sure.

BECK: You do?

PATAKI: Sure, of course. I would love to go down there tomorrow and look up and see, there`s the Freedom Tower. And walk through the memorial.

BECK: No, no. Here`s the thing. We`re the country that put a man on the moon, and I know that took time. But we put a man on the moon. And you had a country that would have built those things 10 stories taller with their teeth, and it`s still a hole. And it`s frustrating.

Governor, I know you say it`s not, but here. My sister is in town who`s here for the anniversary. She`s from Seattle. She said, "I want to see the Trade Center site." And I said, "Imagine a construction site with a fence that you can`t see and a giant hole in the ground. That`s what it is." We`ve moved the cornerstone from over here to over here.

PATAKI: That`s not true. First of all, there is a train station down there.

BECK: I understand that. But it`s not...

PATAKI: Well, you understand that. That was more than a half billion dollar project...

BECK: Right.

PATAKI: ... that had to be done quickly, because there were tens of thousands of people who used to work at that site who couldn`t get there. There are also, if you go through, there are subway lines running through it. In one year we rebuilt those subway lines. And they are now fully in place.

BECK: Can you assure people that the memorial`s not going to end up being some milquetoasty PC thing that you walk through and go, "What? I don`t even know -- how does the American Indian play a role?" I mean, it`s becoming this weird PC...

PATAKI: Not at all, Glenn. The memorial design is brilliant. And what we have done, and it takes time, is go from the conceptual idea of what the memorial would look like to hard, engineering drawings, where it`s now actually under construction.

And the centerpiece, which was part of Libeskind`s brilliant master site plan, is where the two towers stood there are going to be voids. And around those voids will be the names of every hero who died.

And there will be water falls falling into those voids to a reflecting pool below grade, so that future generations are going to walk that site and say, "My God, I can`t believe the magnitude of the structure that was lost, the structures that were lost on September 11." But more importantly, they`re going to see the name of every single one of those heroes.

BECK: I watched New Orleans fall apart and become a nightmare, and I thought, gosh, that will look like a picnic if this city ever falls apart. What keeps you up at night?

PATAKI: You know that we are at a global war with terror and New York has been a target and still is a target. So you know, I think night and day about what steps we can take to try to anticipate what those who would attack us might do.

I know we have the finest homeland security office anywhere in America that is very aggressive and proactive working with the finest police department anywhere in the world, the New York City Police Department, with Mayor Bloomberg. But you just know that New York is a symbol of America. We`re doing all we can.

We just have to continue to trust in the courage and the strength of the people of New York. We have every reason to be confident of that courage and of that strength. And then do with what we can at a governmental level to be proactive to protect us. We`re going to continue to do that.

BECK: Governor, thank you.

BECK: Thank you, Glenn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Five years later, still so many unanswered questions. How about Osama bin Laden? Why hasn`t that guy been caught? I`ll ask the guy who headed up the hunt for bin Laden in 2001 next.

You`re watching a special edition of GLENN BECK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: You know, in the five years since 9/11, the trail for Osama bin Laden has gone completely cold. But now, Iran has turned bin Laden almost into a bit player. Is he still worth catching? Gary Berntsen is a retired CIA senior operations officer who headed the task force charged with finding bin Laden. He`s featured in a National Geographic documentary on bin Laden tonight.

Gary, where is he?

GARY BERNTSEN, RETIRED CIA SENIOR OPERATIONS OFFICER: Bin Laden is hiding in the federally administrated tribal areas of Afghanistan, along the Afghan/Pak border among 25 million Pathans.

BECK: Gary, is Pakistan really an ally of ours? I mean, they seem to be playing this double game with us where they`re our friend and his friend.

BERNTSEN: Well, I think that people have to recognize that Pakistan is a nation of 160 million people. It has nuclear weapons. It is a very, very complicated -- it has, you know, an area in that federally administered tribal areas.

BECK: Right.

BERNTSEN: They`re not under complete control. The Pakistanis have maybe 60,000 forces up there trying to control this millions and millions of folks. And the Pakistani forces, you know, for want of a better word are living behind the wire, not to get it back.

This is why Musharraf was looking for some sort of negotiations with the tribal leaders. That doesn`t mean he`s going to stop the pursuit.

BECK: You were actually -- you must have been so frustrated, because it`s my understanding that you actually were within walkie-talkie distance. You could hear him on a walkie-talkie.

BERNTSEN: We were able to put -- I was able to put my forces very close. They got up onto a mountaintop and were able to -- we took a radio off of a dead al Qaeda fighter, and we listened to bin Laden pray with his people, apologize for leading them in there. We called in air strikes for, you know, almost 16 days. And in tonight`s special on the National Geographic Channel, they talk about that.

BECK: Did you see -- did you see this thing on ABC, the special?

BERNTSEN: Well, I saw parts of it. And it -- that also is a very complicated issue, because the Clinton administration made it very difficult for us to work. And I know that there`s a lot of people in the Clinton administration that have complained...

BECK: Right.

BERNTSEN: ... that certain scenes were fabricated. Well, what isn`t shown is the barriers that were imposed upon us that wouldn`t allow us to get up that close at times.

BECK: Right. But would you say -- I have a theory -- first of all, we have to stop pointing fingers. I`m a conservative, but let`s stop pointing fingers. I don`t really care. Let`s deal with the present.

But I have a theory that the Bush administration has kind of fought this and tied people`s hands behind their backs, as well, at least at the very beginning. Would you say that`s true?

BERNTSEN: I don`t think so, because the Bush administration let us loose. And we had some incredible...

BECK: Hang on a second. You had enough people on the ground to catch Osama bin Laden?

BERNTSEN: Well, let me say this first. We had to destroy the Taliban first, which we did.

BECK: Right.

BERNTSEN: We had to destroy most of bin Laden`s force, which we did. I called for forces, for you know, 600 to 800 Rangers, and they didn`t come. And that was the unfortunate part. It was am accumulation of fog of war and concern probably by the White House and the military about what happened to the Soviets there. But I believe had we brought them in we could have ended it there and then.

BECK: OK. Do you think we`re going to catch him?

BERNTSEN: Yes, we will. We continue. We`ve got good people in the agency, in the military, working this. We`re going to catch him. We`re going to either kill him or capture him. I don`t think...

BECK: Which do you think -- which do you think would be our best -- there`s a lot of people, especially, that would like to kill him.

BERNTSEN: To kill him. To kill him, yes. Had we killed him then -- had we captured him, he probably would have wound up dead anyway in the first part. You know, our instructions were to eliminate him at that point.

BECK: Gary, we`re going to talk to you, spend some more time on the radio program with you tomorrow. And just to hear what it was like living up in the mountains searching for Osama bin Laden. We`ll talk to you then. Thanks.

BERNTSEN: It`s been a pleasure.

BECK: You bet.

You know, I`d always believed that the greatest American generation is the one that was living in the here and the now. The question has always been, when were we going to wake up?

I remember when I was a kid. I was about this tall, and we were staying at my grandparents` house in the summer. And every morning my grandma would open the attic door and call up the wooden stairs. She`d say, "Kids, it`s time to wake up." For me, she`d have to do this a couple of times before I`d finally lumber out of bed and cross the cold, squeaky wooden floor.

But finally, I would, and she`d be there in the kitchen. She`s be making breakfast. Grandpa would already be outside. He`s been in the hen house, because "there was work to do." They were hardworking people. They were good and decent people.

Seemed to me that they were from not only a different time but I always thought they were from a different place. They weren`t. The spirit of our parents and our grandparents, it isn`t from some foreign place. It hasn`t died out. It`s the flame that flickers in all Americans. It`s what sets us apart. It`s what built this country. It`s why our borders still teem with the poor and the tired and those yearning to be free. It burned with zeal from the immigrants from every corner of the earth who came here searching for a better way of life.

The flame that Lady Liberty holds up is the American spirit. It burns deep within all of us, no matter what your race or your gender or your religious background.

Out of all of the things that we have built, the powerful machines, the computers, the weapons of mass destruction that are buried in the middle of the heartland, the hardware and the software that we have spent millions on every single year to protect and keep the plans secret, our biggest seeming secret, the one the world wants most of all, isn`t a secret at all. It`s something that we would freely give to the rest of the world.

And while it seems so self-evident to us, for some reason it can`t be duplicated. Yet it can be passed on from person to person, torch to torch. It is the American spirit.

If you weren`t trapped in one of those towers five years ago, if you weren`t on a plane or in the Pentagon, then you have reason to fall to your knees and humbly give thanks today.

Oh, it was a beautiful fall morning, on the edge of the land created by divine providence. Coffee shops were open. Children were on buses. People were easing into their typical workday when America`s greatest generation heard the voice: "Kids, it`s time to wake up."

Several times we had ignored the voice. We drifted back into twilight sleep muttering, "I know, I know. In a minute."

But, finally, we are awake and out of bed, for there is much work to do. The task before us now, it`s much more daunting than what our parents and our grandparents faced, but we`re stronger. We`re a more prepared nation.

The torch has been passed. We are the greatest American generation. The American spirit is alive and well. Our flame has not burned out. It had just been dimmed while we were asleep.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Welcome back to this special edition of GLENN BECK. For many of us, the Statue of Liberty`s torch is the visible reminder of the freedom this country was founded on.

Well, for Charlie Deleo, keeping that torch burning was his lifelong passion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice-over): When Charlie Deleo first laid eyes on Lady Liberty, he was a tourist visiting the statue. And on a whim, he filled out a job application and was hired on the spot. The year, 1972. And the Statue of Liberty had fallen into neglect.

CHARLIE DELEO, KEEPER OF THE FLAME: I used to sneak up to the torch. I was a temporary employee. Nobody took care of it. You know, it was neglected, dirty. And I used to change the light bulbs and clean the flame on my own. And my boss found out about it, and instead of reprimanded me, gave me the permanent job.

BECK: That job became his life for the next 27 years. To date, he`s the only person to hold the permanent position of keeper of the flame.

DELEO: A typical day at the statue for me was first check the lights in the torch. Now and then I`d have to clean the golden flame from bird droppings, clean the inside of the superstructure, as well. It was like Spider-Man.

BECK: Through the years, Deleo watched hundreds of thousands of tourists and school kids look up in awe at the statue. He watches as immigrants, both old and new, came to the statue with tears in their eyes. To them and all of us, she represented what this country stood for.

On September 11, 2001, while standing at the base of Lady Liberty, he watched as the very freedom that this statue stood for was attacked.

DELEO: I remember I stood in front of the statue, and I had tears in my eyes. And I was watching the statue saying, "Any second the plane is going to hit it."

BECK: After 9/11, Lady Liberty shut her doors. No more tourists, no more families, no more children looking up in awe.

DELEO: It was like a ghost town, like a once beautiful city becoming a ghost town. That`s how I felt.

BECK: Six days later, Charlie Deleo suffered through another attack. This time it was his heart. Sadly, Charlie was forced into retirement.

DELEO: I miss it a lot, but I realize that I did my job for a long time and now God gave me the privilege of being the keeper of the flame for 30 years. I can`t argue against that.

BECK: When the statue eventually reopened, to no one`s surprise, there was Charlie, returning to duty, this time as a volunteer. But now things are different. Since 9/11, no one has been allowed back inside the torch. The vantage point that Charlie once cherished now lies empty.

DELEO: It`s like a diamond taken out of its setting. It will never be the same.

BECK: And now, five years later to the day, Charlie believes the statue, a symbol of hope and liberty for all the world to see, sends a message more powerful than ever before.

DELEO: I think she`s sleeping stronger now in that she`s trying to say to everybody, don`t be intimidated by acts of terrorism. We are a free country. And you know, she`s still shining. Her torch is shining bright, and she`s still a welcoming lamp for the whole world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Welcome to "The Real Story." This is the part of the show every night where we try to take the news of the day and cut through the media spin and find out why a story is actually important to you. Let`s start with 9/11 and one of the most enduring images of 9/11 is this one. You`ve seen it probably a million times, probably a million times jut today. Three firefighters just hours after the tower collapsed. They raise this beautiful American flag against the back drop of smoldering debris. And it was an image of hope and pride for a country in mourning.

Well, since that day, the Ground Zero flag, as it`s known, has flown over Yankee Stadium, I think went to the Olympics in 2002. New York City Hall had it. It on an aircraft carrier on the way to a fight in Afghanistan.

Here`s the real story on this tonight. The flag that traveled to all of those places actually a fake. Soon after that photo was taken, someone switched flag with one that`s over two and a half times bigger. Take a look at the split screen image here. One will show the original flag. The other is the replacement. Compare the size of the flags to the people in the photos. It`s not even close.

No one really knows what happened to the original. It may have been a good intention firefighter who thought the original was too small, or it may have just been an honest mistake. Whatever the reason, the flag that recalled the images of Iwo Jima and helped unite our country in our darkest hour is missing.

Now, last night`s movie "The Path to 9/11" created controversy because many people felt that it inaccurately portrayed many critical events that didn`t serve to be fictionalized for the sake of TV. But the real story tonight is that this is just one flare-up in what has been five agonizing years of lies and accusations from all sides that are slowly tearing this country apart. We`ve got to unite.

This morning on his way to work the executive producer of my radio program decided to switch trains and stop near Ground Zero here in Manhattan. He told me later that he just wanted to feel the enormity of it all. He wanted to hear the silence echo through the pit, to see the impromptu memorials on every street corner and regain the feelings of outrage and determination that had quieted in him and I fear most of us over the last five years.

Unfortunately, he wasn`t even close to being able to do that. The entire area, even at 7:30 this morning, filled with 9/11 conspiracy theorists using the anniversary as a platform for media attention. They marched around with inflammatory signs, handing out pamphlets and fliers. And as easy as it is to dismiss them all as nut jobs, you can`t, you cannot ignore them anymore.

Many of them have influential roles in our society, they`re doctors, they`re lawyers, they`re even university professors. Just last week, a physics professor at BYU - BYU of all places -- put on paid leave because of his belief that the World Trade Center was brought down by explosives.

Other conspiracy theorists have been teaching at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, not a surprise, and the University of New Hampshire. It`s time once and for all for us to provide concrete evidence to refute these people. After all, the truth is on our side, not theirs.

James Meigs, he is editor-in-chief of "Popular Mechanics" magazine, he has published a book called "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Just Can`t Stand Up to the Facts."

James, I`m going to rattle through some of these if you will. The first one is the cell phone myth. This one is-- well, it comes from the documentary of "Loose Change." It gives alternate explanations to what happened. One of them says the cell phones couldn`t have been used at the altitude that the planes were at. Here`s a clip from "Loose Change."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cell phone calls could have taken place. We took a series of cell phones onto a Cessna 172 and flew up to 8,000 feet. For 32,000 feet, cruising altitude for a commercial jetliner, Doonie (ph) calculated a 0.006 success rate, less than one in a hundredth a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: James, fact?

JAMES MEIGS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "POPULAR MECHANIC": Well, yes, like so many things in that movie, the charge about cell phones really falls apart when you look at it up close. And it`s not hard to find the truth. We talk talked to the engineers of the leading cell phone companies and they explained cell phones work not perfectly but reasonably well in airplanes in 2001. But here`s the key point.

Most of the phone calls made from Flight 93 and the other flight were made on the seat back air phone. So the whole point is really moot. Again and again, when you look into conspiracy theories, and our goal was to take them seriously, really dig down, you find out that they`re based on misconceptions like that and yet they`re able to repeat it.

So somebody just goes to a Web site or sees a movie, it looks credible if they don`t do their homework and dig down to the original story.

BECK: Let`s go to the next one. The next one is Columbia University seismograph shows it looks like it was a bomb and not an airplane that toppled the World Trade Center towers.

MEIGS: And it`s so easy to get the truth on this. The Columbia University report is available is tot public. We`ve talked to the geologists. The report says nothing like that, it shows no evidence whatsoever of any explosives in the tower.

BECK: We have the graph. Here it is. If you look at the graph, you can see. What they`re saying is those spikes there, that is an explosion.

MEIGS: If you look at that graph, that graph covers about 30 minutes so it concentrates the collapse of the buildings so they look like giant spikes. Here is a graph in a 30-second chart where you can see it`s a series of waves that get bigger as the building runs to the ground. No spikes, no bombs.

Furthermore, the geologists who performed this study are outraged and really dismayed that the work has been so thoroughly misrepresented. This happened every time we talked to an expert or eyewitness who is quoted by the conspiracy theorists.

BECK: Well, I love this one. This is quite possibly my favorite besides the Jews were all told to get out of the building.

There was a guy who was an eyewitnesses of the plane that hit the Pentagon. He was on CNN and his name is Mike Walters. They have used this interview as evidence of a conspiracy. Watch the sound bite here from CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a cruise missile with wings went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. Now I guess we just have to play to -- to debunk that, we have to play the whole sound bite, right?

MEIGS: In fact, that clip is seen over and over again. All the conspiracy theorists quote it in books and Web sites but wait until you hear the whole clip .

BECK: Here is the whole clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I looked off -- I looked out my window and I saw this plane, a jet, American Airlines jet, coming. I thought, this doesn`t add up. It`s really low. And I saw it. It just went -- I mean, it was like a cruise missile with wings - went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: That is so outrageous. Does this bother you that you had to write a book like this?

MEIGS: It bothers me, and it bothers so many people we talk to like Mike Walters who`s heartsick that his words are taken out of context. No matter how many times he tries to set the record straight. It gets endlessly repeated out there.

BECK: James, thanks a lot. That is the real story tonight. No if you`d like to read more about debunking of the 9/11 conspiracies, or if you`ve found a real story of your own that you`d like to tell us about, please visit glennbeck.com and click on "The Real Story" button.

And tomorrow on "The Real Story" I`m going to give you some unbelievable information about us as a country. Would you believe we`re more united now than the greatest generation was? Believe it or not, unbelievably great news, stuff you`re not hearing anywhere else. We share it with you tomorrow. Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Perhaps no other event in the history of our country has elicited more memorials than the attacks of September 11th. From the fields of Shanksville to the streets of Washington. From the fire stations of New York to the living rooms of victims` families, people have just poured their hearts and souls into creating personal and profound tributes.

Tonight, I want to bring you a story we`ve been working on for a while. It`s a story of another memorial -- one that, when finished, will not only ensure we never forget, but will literally help this country to fight through whatever may lie ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice-over): On the banks of the Mississippi, just outside New Orleans, building navy combat ships has been a way of life for generations.

TONY QUAGLINO, CRANE SUPERINTENDENT: Oh, yes, yes. Been here a long time. I`d say 41 years. Probably worked on a hundred or more ships.

BECK: But there`s one ship rising to life here that holds a special place in the hearts of these shipbuilders, a ship that will carry more than just marines and machinery, a ship that will never be forgotten.

QUAGLINO: At 66 years old, I didn`t know what else I could do except work on this ship.

BECK: The ship is the USS New York, a new class of amphibious warship, and she bears in her bow stem a piece of American history forged from the wreckage of an American tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have the One World Trade, report of 50 people trapped on the 104th floor in the northwest corner. The floor is burning out from underneath them.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: The situation is that two airplanes have attacked apparently.

BECK: We as a nation looked on, helpless and afraid. As a world we had once known changed forever.

GLENN CLEMENT, PAINT SUPERINTENDENT: I just never thought in my lifetime I would see that happen. I never thought they`d come on our land to do that to us.

QUAGLINO: Targeted a bunch of innocent people that were just trying to get a job done.

BECK: But amidst the horror, we saw acts of selflessness, acts of bravery.

CLEMENT: Regardless of their own personal safety, they went into that building.

BECK: We bore witness to the unquenchable American spirit and the birth of heroes. And we as a nation started pulling together because we refused to let hate tear us apart.

QUAGLINO: The future of our country was going to change forever from that day on.

BECK: In the months after September 11th, the governor of New York petitioned the navy to bring back the retired name New York and to give it to a ship that would play a vital role in the war on terror.

CMDR. CHRIS MERCER, U.S. NAVY: It is named the USS New York, specifically to honor the victims, the responders, the family members of the tragic attacks of 9/11.

BECK: And the USS New York was soon to receive an even greater testament to the heroes of 9/11.

MERCER: We salvaged about ten tons of steel from the World Trade Center towers and used that in forging what really is one of the strongest parts of the ship, which is the bow stem.

BECK: The salvaged steel included a girder recovered from the South Tower, mangled debris from the Fresh Kills landfill, which was then melted and cast as the bow of the USS New York.

QUAGLINO: It was brought tot shipyard and it was set up on a pedestal right here behind us. And it was like a monument while it was there. You can feel a sense that you were looking at the towers.

BECK: A monumental reminder that in building the future we often embrace the past.

TOMMY DUFRENE, SHIP SUPERINTENDENT: When we laid the keel on the ship, there was a ceremony. Dignitaries and workers alike. I was here. It was a big event. People could feel it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The USS New York will ensure that all New Yorkers and the world will never forget the evil attacks of September 11th and the courage and compassion of what New Yorkers showed in response to terror.

BECK: Painted white, the bow stem inspired reverence from the Evandale (ph) workers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks knew that this was no ordinary piece of steel. A few people cried about it. I may have, too, a little bit. I`m a pretty emotional guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People wanted to touch it. It was like it was a spirit of the people, the heroes that lost their lives.

BECK: And as the spirit of 9/11 stirred deep emotions among the builders of the USS New York, another tragedy loomed that would challenge their faith and their future.

LOU HOSE, DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES: About 12 hours before the storm landfall, we had a forecast from our weather service that said we were going to see 160-mile-an-hour winds.

BECK: Katrina cut a devastating path across three states, ravaging New Orleans and destroying lives.

My house had 6 1/2 feet of water in it. Everything we worked for all our lives had been destroyed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were huge areas of New Orleans where there was nothing there. I think you see something like the New York as a reason that people wanted to come back. We need to go build that ship.

BECK: And for some the USS New York is the only thing that makes sense in a shattered world.

MICHAEL NORMAN, CRANE SUPERINTENDENT: This is the only normal thing that`s right now normal in our lives. Everything outside coming to work is abnormal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ship does motivate you. It helps the workforce. It`s that motivation factor. That came built in.

BECK: The USS New York is scheduled to launch in 2007 with a ceremony in New York harbor. It`s sure to resonate with the people of both of these cities and the rest of the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is really more than a warship. It`s really a projection of power, a projection of hope to people around the world.

BECK: And though the USS New York will leave New Orleans, it will live forever in the hearts of these workers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When it leaves, it will be gone, but I`ll never forget it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ship`s motto is, never forget. Never forget. It`s a remembrance to the folks who lost their lives on 9/11, and right now I don`t see anything else out there that is marking that day the way that this ship will mark that day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (on camera): Building a ship of that size, with such monumental and symbolic significance is no easy task. Tony Quaglino, he is the USS New York`s crane superintendent. We saw him in the piece here a second ago. Tony, you actually delayed your retirement so you could work on this ship. How come?

QUAGLINO: Well, I wanted to partake in the building of the ship. To me, it was a memorial to the folks who died on 9/11, both the heroes and the victims. And I just felt compelled to do so. To me, it was the investment in the future of my children and my grandchildren.

BECK: Are you from New York? Where are you from?

QUAGLINO: I`m from New Orleans. My roots are from New York. My grandpa.

BECK: Yeah.

What is it like to work on it? I mean, here you are -- we`re sitting here in New York City where no matter what the governor told me about a half hour ago, we`re sitting with a hole in the ground, and you guys have a soon-to-be working memorial. What does that feel like?

QUAGLINO: It`s been very rewarding to all of us. Everybody here has taken great pride in the construction of the ship. It`s really been like a sanctified task for us to work on this ship.

BECK: You feel different than -- How many ships have you help build?

QUAGLINO: Oh, I don`t know. Maybe a hundred or so in 40 years.

BECK: Does this feel different to you?

QUAGLINO: Yes, sir, it does. It`s very different.

BECK: In what way?

QUAGLINO: Again, it`s really a sanctified feeling in that we took such pride in the building of this ship. This is a memorial to the folks that died on 9/11 and I just wanted to be a part of it.

BECK: Do you feel that the rest of the guys feel this way as well, all working on it? Is there -- is it special to you and a few others, or do you feel that everybody feels the same way?

QUAGLINO: It`s been special to everybody. The company, the workers, myself. We work in the heat. We work in the rain. I find with this ship there`s less explaining about the environment than in the past. And it`s just so rewarding to work on this ship. I can`t -- I`m repeating myself, but I feel like it`s very important to us.

BECK: You`re doing a great job. And so is everybody on the crew. Thank you so much, Tony.

QUAGLINO: Thank you very much.

BECK: Appreciate it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: September 11, 2006, can you believe it? The five-year anniversary of the biggest lesson we`ve ever learned, five years away from the 10th anniversary, probably unfortunately the next time we`ll all focus on it again.

In 2011 we will once again attempt to honor those who have been lost in Washington and Pennsylvania, and a few dozen blocks south from where I`m sitting right now.

And while remembering the heroes who died that day is vitally important, the best way to honor the lives they lived is to promise ourselves that we won`t let it happen again. We already made that promise, but are we doing it? Who really wants to focus on that everyday? Maybe I`m the only one, and I know this makes me sound horrible but my instinct is to just spend time with my wife and play with my kids, and sit on the couch with a bowl of ice cream.

I don`t have the attention span to watch an entire episode of this show, let alone be part of a global struggle of good versus evil. The only thing that keeps me engaged is the fact that I absolutely know we have to focus.

Do I want to talk to you every night about "American Idol," movies and why I keep seeing commercials for fried green beans? Yes, I do. And will we do that sometimes? Sure.

But on my desk in my radio studio is a picture that I see every day when I do my show. It`s a picture of the Twin Towers from about 10 years ago. But more important than the Twin Towers is what`s standing in the foreground of the towers. My daughters Hannah and Mary. When I see that picture I stop thinking about sanctions, the UN, and war. I stop thinking about the media, the economy, and the political ramifications.

I just think of my daughters, and that reminds me to do whatever it takes to win this war before they`re forced to fight it. That`s while I`ll continue to bring you the words of those in the Middle East that are not threatening us but are promising to end our way of life. We have to pay attention to this coming storm before it reaches our shores.

If and when something happens, most of America will turn to the government and point fingers, like ABC, they did this weekend or like "Fahrenheit 9/11" did clumsily before that. We`ll ask "How could this have happened?" and we`ll replay the same thousand conversations we`ve had for the past five years. But this time it will be different.

We all know the danger. We all know the words that are spoken in the Middle East. And this time, we all know that we have no more excuses. And very little time left. If we don`t step up now, next time the only ones to blame will be ourselves. Good night.

END