4,500 take lessons from speech Louie Gilot El Paso Times

Giuliani spoke Sunday evening at a press conference at the Camino Real Hotel.

About 4,500 El Pasoans who came to hear former New York Mayor Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani's secret to leadership left with much more Sunday.

"He spoke about what we stand for as a nation and why other nations are jealous and why we were attacked," Northeast resident Eva Guzman said.

"He crystallized it for us," her friend Manuel Puentes said.

Giuliani started his 50-minute speech with a standing ovation Sunday night at UTEP's Don Haskins Center in an event sponsored by the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center. The speech was preceded by a one-hour introduction, with video tributes to the museum and immigrants, a dance number and music by the El Paso Symphony Orchestra.

Giuliani, 58, started with a series of funny anecdotes about hosting "Saturday Night Live" and sparking a controversy by calling New York "the capital of the world."

But the tone soon turned serious as Giuliani saluted El Paso for overcoming its own crisis, the burning of the Holocaust Museum last year during an electrical fire that ravaged much of the collection.

"I'm so impressed by the way you all reacted to an event that could have broken the spirit of El Paso. I'm very impressed by your resilience and strength," he said.

Moving about the stage in a dark suit and a red tie, Giuliani described his experience at ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001.

"When I rushed to the scene, to the fire department under the towers, I saw a man jump. ... I thought, this is uncharted territory. We have never been through this before. A few times, I thought, 'Can we get through this? Can I get through this?' " he said.

Giuliani drew parallels between the Holocaust and the Sept. 11 attacks. Like the Holocaust, the terrorist attacks have to be studied and understood so they are never repeated, he said.

In the 1930s, America felt safe, Giuliani said, and along came Adolf Hitler.

"One thing about Hitler: He made it clear what he wanted to do ... but we sat down as Europe was giving him more territory. Hitler wasn't going to get better with time, with more territory and more power. If Hitler had been dealt with early instead of practicing this policy of appeasement, I believe we could have saved a lot of lives," Giuliani said.

In the 1990s as well, freedom and democracy seemed to spread with the end of communism.

"What did we do? We demilitarized ... against a background of clear warning. Did we think that with a little more time Saddam Hussein was going to get better? What were we thinking when we helped Yasser Arafat win the Nobel Prize?" he asked.

Giuliani said America was attacked out of hatred for what Americans believe in: freedom and democracy. Those beliefs, he said, are the future of the world.

"The spread of freedom and democracy is extremely frightening for the people who attack us. These ideas are powerful. You let people think these ideas, and they'll overthrow dictators," he said.

"The hope for peace is democracy. Everywhere we spread freedom and democracy, you spread peace. There is no reason to go at war with a democracy. You negotiate, try to work it out," he said.

Paul Szurek and his 13-year-old son, Paul Jr., liked what they heard.

"He talked about leadership in the context of Sept. 11 and carried it forward. It's a great message," the senior Szurek said.

Giuliani took questions from the audience about his trip to Mexico City today to consult for the Mexican government about crime. The Giuliani administration saw crime drop in New York City by 40 percent during his two terms as mayor.

A man asked him what he thought of James Woods playing Giuliani in an upcoming USA movie titled "Rudy."

"I think they should have let me play my part," he said.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2002