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Guiliani to U.N.: It's us vs. them
©New York Times, UNITED NATIONS -- Mayor Rudolph Giuliani used a rare invitation to the U.N. podium on Monday to entreat the countries of the world to abandon neutrality in the battle on terrorism: "You're either with civilization or with terrorists." "This is not a time for further study or vague directives," Giuliani declared in a speech that alternated between lessons in American civics and forceful appeals to the world to join forces in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. "The evidence of terrorism's brutality and inhumanity, of its contempt for life and the concept of peace, is lying beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center less than 2 miles from where we meet today." Giuliani became only the third New York mayor to address the General Assembly, and the first to speak at an event other than a groundbreaking or a grand opening. The last was in 1952, when Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri spoke at the opening of the U.N. headquarters on the East River. Giuliani was invited on Friday by the Assembly to speak at the opening of its debate on terrorism, which was planned long before Sept. 11 but has taken on new significance since. Delegates filling the Assembly hall greeted Giuliani with applause, but remained silent throughout his speech. Though his blunt tone differed from the usual flow of diplomatic formulas, most diplomats in the hall were also New York residents who had lived through the horror of the attacks and who regarded Giuliani not only as their sometimes critical host, but also as their mayor. Giuliani's basic message was that the attack on the twin towers had been an attack also on the United Nations and what it stood for, and that it was time to respond seriously. "Let those who say that we must understand the reasons for terrorism come with me to the thousands of funerals we're having in New York City -- thousands -- and explain those insane, maniacal reasons to the children who will grow up without fathers and mothers and to the parents who have had their children ripped from them for no reason at all," he said. "On this issue -- terrorism -- the United Nations must draw a line," the mayor declared. "The era of moral relativism between those who practice or condone terrorism, and those nations who stand up against it, must end." Giuliani went out of his way to emphasize to the delegates, many of them Arabs and Muslims, that he was opposed to singling out any ethnic or religious group for blame. He said there were many times when he would visit a mosque on Friday, a synagogue on Saturday and a church -- "sometimes two churches" -- on Sunday. "And by the time I finished," he said, "I would say to myself, I know that we're getting through to God. We're talking to him in every language that he understands. We're using every liturgy that exists. And I know we're getting through to the same God." In coming days, 144 speakers are scheduled to follow Giuliani to the podium in the debate on terrorism. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and many diplomats said they hoped the debate would lead to the conclusion of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
