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New York Senator Chuck Schumer will join President Obama for today's wreath laying ceremony
at ground zero.
He joins me now, live, uh... Today's ground zero visit here on the heals of bin Laden's,
must, Senator, evoke soime strong memories for you of 9/11 can you share a little
bit of what you're experiencing today.
Yes.
I was there a day or two after, with President Bush, that smell of death was in
the air people were holding hundreds of people holding up signs. Have you seen my mother? Have
you seen my son?
President Bush got on the pile, that was spontaneous not planned, I was ten feet away,
and spoke from the heart; rallied America.
This is a fitting and appropriate way for President Obama too
come here.
He's focusing on the families, because while New Yorkers feel-good, certainly real good, that
bin Laden is gone were not happy, because there is so many people who've lost loved
ones. Every one of us knew people who were lost. I did,
and so it's a good day.
We feel vindicated that some justice has been done, but it can't be a happy day in the President is
doing it perfect, just right, about focusing on the families, the firefighters, the cops
not giving a speech at groung zero, but rather laying a wreath. I think it's just right, and
fits his personality; strong, cerebral, little quieter, both did the right thing--- President
Bush and him.
Senator, what's your perspective when you stand there and and behind you is a sight
that is still under construction almost ten years later. There's been
so many setbacks and bickering over what should happen there at the site of ground zero.
When are we going to see something finished?
Ya know, I think about
I think about, how the days after and weeks, even months after 9/11, we thought downtown would
become a ghost town.
Financial firms were thinking about locating in Midtown in New Jersey... or even about further
away than that. People said departments that were being built would never be filled in
now, it is ten years, there was some political fighting, but today New Yorkers look at the
glass three-quarters full not one quarter empty. There's a lot of construction here. Downtown
is bustling. Some of these buildings you see in the back burner are residential towers that
have gone up since 9/11, and young people are flocking to live here New York's resilient.
And you know, we fight a lot with one another, but when we resolve to get something done
we, we do. This looks great to me. Ok, let me ask you about the progress on another front,
on Afghanistan.We went in there
to find and capture the people who attacked us on September 11, and those who harbored
them.
Have we accomplished that goal is it time for our troops to leave Afghanistan?
Well certainly the terrorist networks like al-Qaeda happened to be dramatically weakened
even before today. The drones that President Obama ordered sent across the border
have knocked out the vast number of al-Qaueda's leadership, and now finally
we've gotten bin Laden, the leader. So a lot of the job has been done and I think in
the next several months there'll be an assessment as to how much more, how much longer the
troops have to stay.
As long as we can protect ourselves from terrorism, with the drones and things like that. The greater
danger than Afghanistan, frankly, is Pakistan. It's a very troubled country it's a divided
country there are some in there that are pro-western and some who are pro-terrorist, pre-Taliban.
It's a country that made, as it's hero, a guy Dr. Kahn's, who sold nuclear weapons to North Korea.
uh... It's a divided country without leadership, and its nuclear, and then the next ten years
that's going to be our biggest problem. Senator Schumer, I thank you so much for giving us
a couple minutes, on what's a very busy day for you. I appreciate it.