Rudy Giuliani on Iraq
"Invading Iraq gets a nod, but illegal aliens are out"
From Manchester Union Leader on November 27, 2007
By John Distaso
Rudy Giuliani said yesterday he "never had any doubt" that if he were President four years ago, he would have invaded Iraq. He said he is now "even more certain" that it was the correct national security move.
"I actually believe that Democrats are going to agree with me on that by the time we get to the general election," the Republican former New York City mayor said. Giuliani addressed a wide range of issues in an hour-long meeting with editors of the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Giuliani said that if Saddam Hussein were alive and in power, he would be trying to build a nuclear arsenal to meet a growing nuclear threat from Iran.
"We'd have two -- instead of one -- irresponsible, terrorist-supporting regimes that have enormous amounts of wealth available to them wanting to become nuclear powers in Middle East," he said. Libya would also be "a terrorist-supporting state with nuclear ambitions," he said.
History will show that "it will turn out to have been the correct decision to have removed him," Giuliani said.
Giuliani said Gen. David Petraeus is "the right general" to lead U.S. forces in Iraq, and the U.S. should persevere to achieve a stable Iraq "that will act as an ally for us in what will be an ongoing Islamic terrorist war against us for some time."
But Giuliani said the U.S. should not meddle in internal Iraq policy.
"I think we're going to have to be there a while to give them stability so they can work out a government that fits their culture, fits the degree of democracy that they want, the amount of compromise they want to make," he said.
Illegal immigration
Giuliani said that despite allegations to the contrary, he has always been tough on illegal immigration. As mayor, he said, he wanted to deport illegal alien criminals, but the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service opted for "gardeners" and restaurant workers as part of a "totally messed-up priority."
He said that as president, he would beef up border patrol capabilities and establish tamper-proof identification cards to allow the government to track immigrants, which will prompt them to get jobs and pay taxes.
Giuliani said part of immigration reform should be "to say you have to be able to read English, write English and speak English and understand the basics of what Lincoln described as the American creed."
He said he has never supported welfare payments for illegal immigrants, but only that they be allowed to send their children to public schools, to report crimes and to receive health care without fear of government retribution.
Separately, he said, he initiated "workfare" in New York City two years before it was included in Clinton administration's federal welfare reform program. He said New York at one point employed 36,000 workers who were also welfare recipients. He said he eliminated recipient duplication through a finger print-imaging system.
Going after Romney
Giuliani also fired back at rival Mitt Romney, who charged during the past weekend it was "very ironic" for Giuliani to criticize him for appointing a judge who allowed the release of a convicted killer who recently murdered again.
Romney noted Giuliani's support of former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who is being indicted on multiple counts of corruption and fraud. Giuliani had recommended Kerik to the White House to be the nation's homeland security director.
"Bernie Kerik was a mistake, and I've said that," Giuliani said. "I made a mistake. I didn't check him out carefully enough, and I've learned from that."
During the weekend, Giuliani said Romney should "explain his appointment and the judge is going to have to explain her decision, but it's not an isolated situation."
He said FBI statistics show the rate of murder, burglary and robbery went up in Massachusetts while Romney was governor.
Romney's campaign yesterday released its own version of FBI statistics showing that violent crime, assaults, rape, larceny, motor vehicle thefts and the overall crime rate dropped during his four years in office.
Giuliani noted that his own claim to have reduced taxes 23 times in New York has been disputed, with some news reports saying that he initiated 15 of those decreases.
"Either category, I'm ahead of all of them by 15-0 or 23-0," he said. "The point I'm trying to make is you will be confident I will reduce taxes because I've already done it."
Energy, abortion, polls
Giuliani also:
Supported federal subsidies for carbon sequestration, solar power, hydroelectric power and hybrid vehicles. He backed streamlining federal regulatory requirements for nuclear power plants and drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge as part of a concerted effort for energy independence.
Reiterated his promise to appoint "strict constructionists" to the federal bench but said he did not know if that type of judge would overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, because one judge may view it as decided law and another may believe it was incorrectly decided and should be reversed.
Attributed his recent drop in New Hampshire polls to Romney having spent more than $7 million in the state while he has spent only "a few hundred thousand" dollars. He said he will now spend more time and money here but added that since he does not expect to win "every primary," his "fallback" is his big leads in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and California, all of which will have primaries on Feb. 5.
