Former New York Governor George Pataki recalled the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in an interview with Newsmax, describing the unity he witnessed in New York in the aftermath and warning against efforts to distort the history of the attacks. Pataki said he was in New York City when his daughter called and told him to turn on the television after the first plane struck the World Trade Center.
“At first I thought it could be an accident,” Pataki recalled. “I saw the second plane hit and immediately knew we were under attack.”
Pataki said that, having dealt with disasters during his tenure as governor, he immediately mobilized his administration. He also joined then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his team at a temporary command facility in Lower Manhattan.“We sat in the same room at the same table that afternoon and for months thereafter. I saw that love, that sense of unity. I saw people waiting in line to give blood, and an enormous outpouring of patriotism and spirit.”
He also recalled appearing alongside Newsmax host Tom Basile and Giuliani at McGuire Air Force Base when then-President George W. Bush visited Ground Zero on September 14, 2001. “It didn’t matter if you were a Republican, Democrat, black, white, young, old. We were attacked as Americans.”
The former governor criticized what he described as attempts to blur the nature of the 9/11 attacks, arguing that Americans should distinguish between Muslims practicing their faith and radical jihadists responsible for terrorism. “There’s a huge difference between someone practicing their faith as a Muslim and someone attacking buildings as a radical jihadist. The planes weren’t bumped into the towers. They were deliberately run into those towers to kill as many Americans as possible by people who hated us then and still hate us today.”
Pataki also discussed a new documentary produced by the Pataki Center, Out of the Darkness, which examines the events surrounding September 11 and the response to the attacks. He said one of the documentary’s goals is to ensure that younger Americans, many of whom have no active memories of 9/11, understand what happened. “Basically, I want them to learn the truth.”
Pataki said the country must remain vigilant against terrorism while continuing to defend freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the right to choose one’s leaders, and freedom of worship. “If we cower and are afraid to do that, to speak freely, then the honor and the memory of September 11th will have been lost. This is America. We’re still a great country with a great people. There’s no reason we can’t come together again and rise to new heights.”
