You betcha this is true. Take my fav woman in the whole wide world, the one Hildebeaste. You ever listen to this woman
Transcript of Hildebeast's interview on This Week on ABC, Sun 9.16.2001. She was interviewed by Sam Donaldson. The interview started approx 1:16pm EDT and ended approx 1:23pm EDT.
Sam: [Sorry, I missed the first part of his first question]...now at the moment, that's all behind us isn't it?
Hildebeast: Well, you know, Sam, that's what's so great about our country. Uh. Now in this moment of crisis, uh, we're united, we're behind our president, uh, and we're moving forward together. I can't say enough about the extraordinary support that New York has received from the president, from my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle. And I know that we're gonna have whatever support New York needs in order to rebuild lives and rebuild our city.
S: I read a couple of op-ed pieces in a couple of New York newspapers suggesting that President Bush should have come earlier, I mean, do you think he should have come earlier?
Hildebeast: Oh, Sam, I, I don't see any reason to engage in that kind of second guessing. I was delighted that the president got here as soon as, uh, security and other considerations could be taken care of. Uh. We went with him to the site. I'd been there earlier on Wednesday and when I saw him in the Oval Office on Thursday, both Senator Schummer and I, uh, were delighted that he was going and that, uh, he was going to see first hand what we saw. Because I think as anyone will tell you who's been down there, uh, as good a job as you and all of our colleagues in journalism and especially on television have done describing what happened, you really cannot imagine what it looks like and feels like until you either fly over it or you see it as I have.
S: And your daughter Chelsea was what, 12 block away when it happened?
Hildebeast: Yeah, she was in, uh, the area staying with friends, uh, and both, uh, Chuck Schummer and I were spending the early moments of, uh, this disaster trying to make sure our daughters were ok, uh, we were lucky, they, they were, uh, but a lot of people haven't been as fortunate, uh, and, ya know, when I was at the armory yesterday visiting with families who are still hoping that, uh, their loved one will be rescued they have their pictures in hand and their stories that they wannna tell, um, I, I just couldn't, ah, help but feel both grateful for the fact that my daughter was all right but having a redoubled commitment to doing everything I could to help those families that are going to have to face the reality of having lost a, child or a husband or a father or a mother.
S: It's terrible. Let's talk about American life now though. What happens in the future from the standpoint of the question of security versus relaxation or giving up some of the freedoms that we've enjoyed in this, in this country. How far do we go, for instance on air, airline security.
Hildebeast: Well, I think, everybody recognizes we have to tighten security. We have to do whatever it takes to keep our people safe, uh, that's...
S: Including profiling Senator?
Hildebeast: Well, I think we have to do whatever it takes, Sam. And I believe that, ya know, Tuesday changed everything, uh, Tuesday was a day that America has never, ever had to experience and I hope to heaven that we never have to again. But we are in a war situation and we're going to have to do things that people do in times of war, uh, I just heard your interview with the, uh, mayor and I think he's right to look at examples in history, uh, like the battle of Britain, uh many of us have been studying, uh, what others did to carry on. And we know that we have to make tradeoffs in convenience, uh, in our freedom of movement without undercutting or loosing our way of life and our values which are really what a ma, make America special and great and we can't ever let anyone, uh, undermine that.
S: Do we get on airplanes now, uh, and, uh, if there are people of middle east origin, American citizens for all we know, on that airplane, uh, do we have a problem?
Hildebeast: Ya know, Sam, yesterday at the armory when I was talking with the relief the workers, uh, and the families of missing people I saw every kind of American. Ya know, one family came up, ya know, holding the pictures of having lost both a, a son and a daughter-in-law, they were Muslim Americans. Other families were telling me the story of, ya know, their daughter who had just gotten married and would never, they thought, be with them again. Every shade of skin color, every kind of background this was a blow at New York and at America and all we are and...
S: That's, that's...
Hildebeast: ...we can't...
S: why I asked you Senator...
Hildebeast: well we can't...
S: about profiling...
Hildebeast: ...well...
S: ...because you say do it takes, do everything it takes...
Hildebeast: That's right.
S: ...does it take profiling?
Hildebeast: Well, ya know, I think that's gonna be up to the law enforcement experts and I think we have to be cautious, we have to be careful, but let's not go overboard and start, ya know, pointing fingers at Arab Americans at Muslim Americans who are just as devoted Americans as you or I are. We have to find the terrorists no matter where they are here at home or abroad. And we have to strike at their sources of, uh, funding and support. Uh. But we have to do so with the full knowledge that we cannot let anyone, anywhere change the character of America. So, yes, we're gonna to take every precaution, every security, uh, measure that is required but we're not going to let anyone, uh, undermine our way of life and we're certainly not going to let law abiding, decent, patriotic Americans no matter what their religion or their background be in some way pointed out or harassed.
S: Before I let you go, speak to this issue of, uh, more deaths, uh, in this country, perhaps, for service personnel. One of the reasons given, and I would like you to respond to this, that, uh, your husband, when he was in office, used cruise missiles against Osama bin Laden and did not try to mount a ground operation, was a, a belief that the American public just wouldn't stand for causalities in our armed forces. Was that one of the reasons? And what about the future when it comes to causalities in the armed forces?
Hildebeast: Ya know, Sam, as I say, I think everything changed on Tuesday. I think the American, uh, people have a much greater awareness of the enemy that we face and the sacrifices that will be necessary. I am absolutely confident that the president and his advisors, uh, will put together a plan that, uh, will take into account the great difficulty we face. Ya know, I have uh, some, uh, knowledge of what the terrain, uh, in that part of the world is like, uh, I have a little sense of history, uh, the successive, uh, attempts to try to conquer or invade or control Afghanistan, the most recent being by the former Soviet Union. Uh, this is an extraordinarily difficult undertaking. But we have to use any and all means that we believe will create conditions that will lead to the kind of positive outcome that we want. Yes, there will be sacrifices and there will be losses but we have to proceed in a prudent and effective manner.
S: So, in a word, if we have to take causalities in this war against terrorism, we're just gonna have to accept that.
Hildebeast: Sam, we just took causalities in New York City. We took maybe 5000 causalities. We took them at the Pentagon. We have already had men and women, innocent civilians, killed in this war and we've lost some of the bravest people you could ever meet. Our firefighters, our police officers, our emergency personnel, who went in there, they were the front line soldiers in this war against terrorism. We've already taken causalities. Now we are facing a, an implacable foe who stands against our way of life and our values. And this is a war that we have to pursue but we have to do it in an effective and prudent manner and it's going to take the patience of all of us. And that's why I think everyone has to support our president and all those who are attempting, uh, to find, uh, the source of this terrorism and stamp it out.
S: Thank you very much Senator, uh, Clinton for being with us today.
Hildebeast: Thank you.
S: By the way, uh, the official causality figure has just gone over 5000. 5000 and 97 is missing, uh, figure is, uh, the one we're getting now. Still ahead.....
END OF TRANSCRIPT