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American Morning

An Interview With Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Aired May 30, 2002 - 07:26   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now that recovery efforts at ground zero are officially ending with a ceremony today marking that at 10:29 Eastern Time, everyone is looking ahead at what is next for the sacred site. What kind of memorial will finally emerge from ground zero? Perhaps no one is more closely linked to the events of 9/11 than New York's former mayor, Rudy Giuliani. When the towers crumbled, he rose to the occasion, earning worldwide praise for his leadership.

And Rudy Giuliani joins us now from Times Square.

Good to see you again, sir, welcome.

RUDOLPH GIULIANI, FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: How are you, Paula?

ZAHN: I'm fine, thanks. What does the ceremony today represent to you?

GIULIANI: Well it represents I think stopping and pausing and respecting and honoring the work that all those people did over the last nine months and accomplishing this Herculean effort in much less time than anybody had any right to expect on September 11 or September 12. It also honors the memory of the people that lost their lives there; all of the people that lost their lives there who were just playing out the American dream in their own way, and all of a sudden these horrific attacks took place.

And it also represents, I think, the American spirit. That we were able to withstand this horrid attack, were still mourning for the people that we loved, we always will. But at the same time, I think we realized that America and the American spirit is stronger today than it was before this. And therefore they've lost in the objective that they had to crush our spirit.

ZAHN: Does it just make your stomach turn when you hear portions of that intercepted conversation between al Qaeda members talking when they were planning the 9/11 attacks and you hear them say, "We are going to make a mess of things in New York that you can't clean up?"

GIULIANI: Paula, my anger I can't possibly describe. Every time I've gone down there, from the first moment I was there until the last time I was there, sometimes 12, 13 times, 14 times a day. Every time I go there I feel this tremendous anger at what these people did to us, and the reality that there is absolutely no excuse, no justification that exists for this kind of horrific attack. And then you've got to take that anger and you have to channel it into a commitment that this will never happen to us again, and that we maintain our spirit. And we maintain our spirit as a free people and not let them affect us the way they wanted to affect us.

ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about some of the lessons you learned pre-9/11 running the city, what you learned after 9/11. I know you're working on a book on leadership. What are some of the lessons that you could share with Mayor Bloomberg that could help all of us prepare for the possibility of another attack?

GIULIANI: Well I think Mayor Bloomberg is doing everything he can to prepare for another attack. And the main thing is exactly what you just said, to be prepared. And it's the role of a leader to try to anticipate as many of these things as possible, realizing that you're not going to anticipate all of it. But to try to figure out what they're going to do to us, how they're going to do it, and be ready for all of that.

I think that's what the Bush administration is doing when they give us these warnings about attacks, inevitable attacks. possible attacks. All of that is an effort to try to say to everyone in the federal government, the state government, the local government, we need more preparation, we need more thinking about what happens if there's a biological attack, a chemical attack. We need more systems, more antidote. We need to be ready for all of these things.

And at the same time -- this is the most difficult part of this, and it almost seems contradictory, but it isn't -- as we prepare more, we have to get our people to relax more and to make sure they don't let the terrorists take away our freedom of movement and our freedom of action. It's part of figuring out how to live in this world that we've now discovered of terrorism.

ZAHN: I still here your mantra ringing in my ear, "shop, shop, shop". I remember when you encouraged everybody to come to New York and blow some money here. In closing this morning, I know you have some very strong feelings about what should happen to the World Trade Center site. I know you view this as solemn ground, as so many people do. What should be built there, if anything?

GIULIANI: It has to be a memorial. It's a burial ground, you know? It's a burial ground. It's the site of the death of almost 3,000 enormously brave people from all over the world. A large number of what I consider my police officers and firefighters and rescue workers and everyone else's. And the reality is it has to be a memorial; a grand magnificent memorial that will draw people there.

I think a library and museum that recounts the horror and the heroism of that day. And maybe also access a reminder to never let this happen to us again. Not to let down -- not to let down our guard and, you know, not do everything we can to make certain that something like this doesn't happen to us again.

ZAHN: In closing, I know you started your own company, Giuliani Partners, and you're a very busy man. Have you ever given any thought to going back into the political arena down the road?

GIULIANI: Oh I think about it, sure. In the future, I think...

ZAHN: And which job are you thinking about, Mr. Mayor? Is it going back to being the mayor of this great city or...

GIULIANI: Right now, Paula, I'm getting a chance to campaign for and help other people, some of whom helped me. So I get a chance to repay some of the debt that I owe to some of my fellow Republicans. And, you know, in the future I'll probably run again. I enjoy doing it.

But I've taken kind of an almost -- I shouldn't call it a fatalistic attitude, but more or less an attitude like, things take care of themselves. You do what you got to do each day and it all falls into place. So I don't know exactly what the future will bring, but I'll be involved in public life.

ZAHN: Well, when you make some decisions, we'd love for you to come and join us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

GIULIANI: I'll let you know -- I'll give you a call and let you know right away.

ZAHN: Would you? Yeah, whatever job you're considering, just come and tell us and we'll announce it publicly. Good luck to you today.

GIULIANI: Thank you, Paula. See you soon.

ZAHN: I know you're going to have some conflicting emotions as you join the families down there. We really appreciate your spending a little part of your morning with us this morning.

GIULIANI: Thank you.

ZAHN: Mayor Giuliani.

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