This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” June 29, 2007, that has been edited for clarity.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: And this is a FOX News alert.
British police prevented a major terror attack in London earlier today. Two potentially deadly car bombs were discovered in the heart of London; both were diffused. British police are saying the two bombs were clearly designed to cause major collateral damage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER CLARKE, BRITISH ANTI-TERRORIST COMMAND CHIEF: There was a considerable amount of fuel and gas canisters. As in the first vehicle, there was also a substantial quantity of nails. This, like the first device, was potentially viable and was made safe by the explosives officers. These vehicles are clearly linked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Police are now examining footage from closed circuit television cameras in the area, and a massive manhunt is on for those involved. Our own Greg Palkot, he’s in London tonight with the very latest details — Greg?
GREG PALKOT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sean, you are very right at the very top of your broadcast. Some very, very close calls. Two cars rigged with explosive materials set to turn London’s version of Times Square into a scene of death and destruction. Luckily, that plan was thwarted.
The first car, filled, according to the police, with various items that could really cause a lot of damage: containers of gas, canisters of propane and boxes of nails. This car was spotted outside of a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus overnight. Also, smoke was coming from it, a good sign something was wrong. And inside that car was found a detonator. The detonator, a mobile phone. That was disabled. That possible explosion was short-circuited.
Then, the second car. Just a short while later, a second car was found, and later in this day it was found to also contain that explosive material. Also, that car disabled. Now, those two cars, as we just heard, have been linked.
The plan, according to the latest reports that we’re seeing, is the first car would blow up and maybe get hundreds of people coming out of that nightclub that it was parked in front of. The second car, set to blow up 15 minutes later, with rescuers coming to assist the people who were targeted.
Now, as you noted, Sean, the search is on for these potential terrorists and the Al Qaeda links being examined, as well. Back to you.
HANNITY: All right. And thanks, Greg Palkot, joining us from London tonight.
And for more reaction to today’s news, we’re joined in a “Hannity & Colmes” exclusive by former New York City mayor, presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.
Mr. Mayor, thanks for being back with us.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Thank you.
HANNITY: You know, I count over a dozen now foiled attacks. Clearly, this one was very close, but it once again is a reminder of how adamant this enemy is to destroy innocent life.
GIULIANI: I think, Sean, if you look at all the ones that have been public, both in the United States and overseas, it’s about 21, 22, something like that, the last time we counted, which means about one every four months. So this is a very persistent enemy. Now, you know, we don’t know exactly the source of this one, so maybe we don’t put this one yet in that category. But it sure — I mean, it sure is one that reminds me of being there.
I was there two years ago, on July 7 of 2005, a half-block away from where the bomb went off at the Liverpool station. So this one brings back a lot of memories of that day. And, I mean, in that case, people died. Thank goodness we’ve got a group of police officers here who acted brilliantly to save lives. And they diffused that bomb right on the spot. That’s tough to do.
HANNITY: That one cop that got in there, I was reading the reports in some of the London papers, was, you know, an incredible act of courage here. You know, as we look at all of these incidents though, Mr. Mayor, there is some good news and the good news is, is that police, law enforcement, our techniques are working. We’ve got the NSA program here. We’ve got the Patriot Act program here. You know, in light of this, how close this was, it’s staggering to me that we’re even debating the use of these techniques in this country even at this time.
GIULIANI: There’s another point that I remember from July 7 of two years ago, and I think you’re going to see play out in this one. There are about 40,000 CCTV [closed circuit] cameras in London, 40,000. I mean, I can’t guarantee it, and nobody else can, but there’s a pretty good chance that they’re going to have some of these people on camera. They did last time.
I remember being startled when I was in London. They had the people caught within a day. And that’s real important to deterring this kind of activity, I mean, to get these people right away before they can run out of the country, before they can go foment other things.
HANNITY: Mr. Mayor, one of the things you’re best known for is reducing crime and lowering the murder rate in New York. Following up on that, do you think maybe that’s something we need in this country, in major cities?
GIULIANI: We sure as heck have to look at it. I mean, I remember how important it was to the authorities in London to have this two years ago. I imagine it’s real critical right now to their investigation.
And the other thing that I remember in London, being there two years ago, their emergency response is superb. I mean, they were all over that city in about two minutes. Looks like their emergency response, once again, was superb. An ambulance driver is the one who first spotted this. That means you got a pretty darn alert emergency response going on when they pick up things like this.
HANNITY: You know, and certainly, I’m sure we can do it with ways that we can protect the privacy of innocent people, and then certainly that would need to be a component here. But let me ask you, in terms of — in the battle now for this presidential race, you see the divide and the differences here. Does this go to the heart of winning the war in Iraq? Does this go to the battle over the Patriot Act, the NSA surveillance program?
GIULIANI: Sure. Sure, it does.
HANNITY: Explain why.
GIULIANI: It goes to the whole point that I keep making. It’s my first commitment of the 12 that I’ve made to the American people. We have to be on offense in the terrorist war against us. What that means is, we have to anticipate.
This is what they’re doing in the U.K. They’re anticipating. Now, look how difficult this is. U.K. has got just about the best intelligence services in the world. They weren’t able to pick this up in advance, but because they’re anticipating, they got it just in time.
Well, it’s got to be a great lesson to us. We’ve got to be on offense in the Islamic terrorist war against us. Whether this came out of — whether it came out of, Islamic-inspired or not, this is a good object lesson in how you have to deal with it. And I don’t want to come to that until the authorities do.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Mr. Mayor, it’s Alan Colmes. Welcome back to our show.
GIULIANI: Hi, Alan. How are you?
COLMES: How are you, sir? As I understand it, this was found because they called an ambulance for a drunk coming out of a bar, basically, and this had nothing to do with the Patriot Act or legislation. This was a fortuitous confluence of events which resulted, thankfully, in preventing a horrible act from taking place.
GIULIANI: No, but, Alan, that isn’t correct. I mean, you train a — I’ve got to believe that the emergency responders in London, like the ones in New York and some of the others, have been trained to look for things like this. I’d be surprised if that wasn’t the case. And then the CCTV cameras that are probably going to be critical in finding the people who did it, that’s all being on offense against terrorism.
I mean, I remember July 7 two years ago, the way the emergency people were trained was being on offense against terrorism. The cameras caught most of those people back on July 7. All that is stuff in which you’re on offense, and there is political opposition to that. I think you’d be naive not to mention that.
COLMES: Well, I didn’t say there wasn’t political opposition to it, but this wasn’t about a Patriot Act. But in terms of the cameras which you’ve talked about, does that mean you would advocate more cameras in public places, more surveillance, more public surveillance, more surveillance of Americans going about their business on a day-to-day basis to prevent something like this happening here?
GIULIANI: Alan, before anybody advocates and you get all excited about it, maybe you should just point out that that is the fact. And it is the fact in the U.K. Whether it is the fact in the United States or not, it’s something we can look at.
But, I mean, the reality is, your point is not correct. I mean, the reason they’re on top of this as quickly as they are — and, boy, that was true of July 7, that one we already know, because it’s played itself out — is because they’ve been on offense against terrorism. It’s something we have to look at.
Maybe we do it in a different way. Maybe we do it because we have different sensitivity and constitutional rules, but we sure as heck don’t want to go back to the pre-September 11 thinking, go back to the 1990s, like some of the political figures that are talking about, you know, let’s go back to the 1990s…
COLMES: No one’s suggesting we go back to the 1990s, sir. But I guess what I’m asking, also, is some say this is a reaction to Gordon Brown being newly installed. Does that mean an incoming American president has to be prepared, ready for some possible attack like this, day one, that somebody wants to make a statement against a new American president? And what do you do if you’re that person?
GIULIANI: Any American president or vice presidential selection has to be selected based on the fact that, on day one, who knows what you’re going to have to deal with. I mean, you know, in many ways President Bush was tested only eight months into his presidency. And, I mean, that’s just the reality of the world we live in. I don’t think that’s any novel thing. Every candidate I think is going to be tested against that standard, and they should be.
HANNITY: All right, Mr. Mayor, thanks for joining us.
GIULIANI: Thanks.
HANNITY: I understand you’re at the Reagan Library tonight.
GIULIANI: I’m at the Reagan library. I’m about to give a speech tonight to my former colleagues in the Reagan Justice Department.
HANNITY: Well, it’s good to see you, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day on this important news day, as we still battle this war on terror.
GIULIANI: Good to see you.
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