President's Message to New York; Michael Moore on Bin Laden
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Tonight, President Obama's message to New York and the world.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.</s>MORGAN: His dramatic visit to Ground Zero, his emotional meetings with First Responders and 9/11 family members. I'll talk to New York City's fire commissioner who was with the president today. And Michael Moore live, the man who said this three years ago.</s>MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: I don't think bin Laden is hiding in some cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan. This guy's a multimillionaire.</s>MORGAN: Now he says bin Laden was executed by the United States. And he says it's time for President Obama to come clean. Tonight, I'll ask Michael Moore, is he happy that bin Laden is dead. And a PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT television exclusive. For the first time, we'll play Beyonce's new single to benefit New York police and firemen's widows and children. This is a special PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT. Good evening. I'll bring in Michael Moore in just a few moments. But first, some breaking news coming out of the deadly raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. Our Homeland Security Department says al Qaeda was plotting to derail trains in this country. An attack possibly timed to occur on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Officials say the plot was not operational and meanwhile there are extraordinary scenes in New York today. Frankly, this was a moment that many feared might never come. The president of the United States visiting Ground Zero just days after successfully killing Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs. President Obama made no public remarks at the World Trade Center site today but listen to what he said earlier when he visited the firehouse that lost more firefighters than any other on 9/11.</s>OBAMA: It's some comfort, I hope, for all of you to know that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into Pakistan that they were doing it in part because of the sacrifices that were made with the state. They were doing it in the name of your brothers that were lost. And finally let me just say that although 9/11 obviously was a high water mark of courage for the New York Fire Department and a symbol of the sacrifice you guys were making sacrifices every single day.</s>MORGAN: President Obama will meet tomorrow when members of the Navy SEALs team that raided bin Laden's compound. Joining me now is one of the men who was at the president's side today. Commissioner Salvatore Cassano of the New York City Fire Department. Commissioner, a very moving day. What was it like for you?</s>COMM. SALVATORE CASSANO, NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: It was an unbelievable day. When the president visited the Firehouse, Engine 54, Ladder 4 Battalion 9 where we lost 15 members on September 11th, he just raised everybody's spirits. It showed the department that our losses were not forgotten, that he felt the pain that we felt, our families felt, and he brought the person responsible for the deaths of 343 members of the department and many more civilians and First Responders on September 11th to justice. It gave us a little bit of comfort knowing that we haven't been forgotten and we're moving on. That's one chapter out of the way. And -- but we're right back to work preparing for the next event if it happens and when it happens.</s>MORGAN: I mean, Commissioner, did you get a sense of your men, that these brave firemen feeling any sense of closure or is it not really that kind of emotion?</s>CASSANO: Well, I don't like to use the word closure. I certainly know that they were comforted and that they felt that one person will not be there any longer to try to plot against us. Closure to me doesn't really mean anything. But comfort, yes. A little relief that one of the bad guys is out of the way.</s>MORGAN: What did the president say to you privately about his visit? Because obviously it's the first time he's been there since he's been president.</s>CASSANO: Well, he wanted to thank us for our sacrifices. Again, on September 11th but he also thanked us for the job that we do every day and, you know, while we're here today, there's over 2,000 firefighters of New York City working right now to keep this city safe. But we turned that around and thanked him for the unbelievable decision he made on Sunday night to give the go on that raid and put Obama -- President Obama in the minds and hearts of every New York City firefighter and their families that he made the right decision for us and he put a chapter behind us that we really needed. This is the 10th anniversary and it's a very big relief for us that bin Laden is out of the way.</s>MORGAN: Yes, I mean, do you think New York firemen would like to see a picture of a dead Osama bin Laden?</s>CASSANO: I spoke to many firefighters today, and they all feel like I feel, that we go along with the decision of the president. We had Navy SEALs there, these brave men who did a great job for us and if they are telling us that they got Osama bin Laden, that's enough for me to believe it.</s>MORGAN: We're already seeing some of the dividends of this raid, not just the death of bin Laden, but details about future plots by al Qaeda. One in particular involving a potential attack on America's rail network. When you hear that, what is your reaction?</s>CASSANO: It doesn't surprise me one bit, Piers. We know that New York City is the number one target in the world. We know that people would love to come here and make another statement. That's why we've been preparing since September 11th and afterwards, training very hard to ensure that there are no other attacks. We work very closely with the police department. We work closely with the military homeland security. That didn't surprise me one bit. I do know that we're ready. We're prepared. And if something does happen, we're ready to handle that.</s>MORGAN: Well, Commissioner, I'd like to thank you and all of your firemen for the service that you do. As the president said, it wasn't just about what happened on 9/11. It's what you do every day in New York and indeed firefighters all over America, but a special day for you and your team and as I say, I thank you.</s>CASSANO: Thanks. I think today is a special day for not only New York but for the United States of America, knowing that we have the military out there day in and day out protecting us and ensuring that we enjoy our freedom. So I'd like to say thank you to all of the military men and women out there that are serving and making this country what it is.</s>MORGAN: Commissioner, thank you very much indeed.</s>CASSANO: You're welcome.</s>MORGAN: My next guest is a man of strong and controversial opinions, especially when it comes to Osama bin Laden. He says al Qaeda's top man was executed by the United States. And Michael Moore joins me now. Michael, let me start with a simple question. Were you pleased when you heard that bin Laden had been killed?</s>MOORE: I'm pleased that he will no longer be around to do any harm to anybody. The world is a better place without him. To be -- to celebrate someone's death, I think that's goes a step further than my own -- it's not the way I was raised. I was raised in an Irish Catholic home. I believe in those principles that I was raised with. I hear a lot of people often say, what would Jesus do? I don't think Jesus would go down to Ground Zero like a lot of people did on that -- on Sunday night with champagne bottles and pop corks and have a party. In fact, I felt kind of bad. I was watching here the local news that night, watching -- there were relatives of victims of firefighters, of people who also went down there on Sunday night, holding photographs of the deceased. And it was a very powerful and very emotional moment for them. And then suddenly the sort of party grew around them and you could see how affected they were by that and not necessarily in a positive way because it means something very different to them. They don't run around shouting USA, USA. They lost people and so it affected them. So I think -- I think that it's a good thing that Osama bin Laden is gone and -- but it's not necessarily the way I would have done it if I had any say in it. But it -- I have a lot of thoughts about it. If you want to talk about it, I'm willing to do that.</s>MORGAN: Yes. I mean, I mean, I'm interested in your reaction there about the celebration. You know I'm not a New Yorker but I live a lot of the time in the city and I came into New York about two or three weeks after 9/11. And I completely understood why many New Yorkers felt like celebrating. When that city was, you know, brought to its knees and the twin towers collapsed, and nearly 3,000 people are slaughtered in an appalling way, I understood why there was an outpouring just on that night when the news broke that bin Laden was finally dead. The people would feel quite jubilant about that.</s>MOORE: Yes, but I think there's a difference between maybe feeling jubilant or good about it and -- look, I don't want to focus too much on that. I think that -- I think everybody I know, everybody is happy that he will be unable to harm another single soul on this planet. And so that's extremely a good thing. But there are much larger issues here, I think, to discuss in terms of where we go from here. It also gives this country a great opportunity to begin a new era. I mean, this could be a very positive moment, too, if we chose to see it that way. So there you go.</s>MORGAN: What did you think of the decision not to publish the images of a dead bin Laden?</s>MOORE: Well, personally, I don't need to see that. I believe the president. And that's enough. I think there is something grotesque about it. People who want to see it. I don't think it's necessary. You know we have the death penalty in almost 40 states in this country. We don't publish photos of the execution. We don't televise them. Yet everyone believes that the execution occurred. Nobody doubts it. There are witnesses to it. There are witnesses to this execution and members of -- you know the intelligence community and people in Congress have already I think spoken to certain people involved, and I think that the administration has done that. And I think that that's -- you know, that's good enough. But that -- I mean that's a personal feeling.</s>MORGAN: I mean, Michael,</s>I -- MOORE: Yes.</s>MORGAN: If I may interrupt, I mean, I'm quite surprised to hear you say you just believe the president and the administration. I mean you're one of the most vociferous skeptics of all things White House and have been for a long time. Why would you simply believe what they tell you on this?</s>MOORE: I'm vociferous in my skepticism of those who don't tell the truth and who have a track record of not telling the truth. If you come before a nation and tell them that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, and absolutely positively sure, and here's the drawings and here's all this evidence and all that, and you take a country to war over that, when in fact there weren't weapons of mass destruction and there were people in your intelligence community trying to tell you that there weren't weapons of mass destruction -- if you say things like that, then yes, you're going to receive a skepticism of myself and millions of others of Americans. President Obama, unfortunately for those who don't like him, has earned the trust of most Americans because regardless of how you feel about his policies, regardless of the criticisms I may have of policies of his or decisions he's made, he has told the truth. And until proven otherwise, I think that that's been his track record for his years both in Congress -- in the Senate, I mean, and in the White House. And so for me he gets the -- he gets the benefit of the doubt. What I don't think we're being told --</s>MORGAN: I mean --</s>MOORE: Yes.</s>MORGAN: Michael, let me just ask you something about that.</s>MOORE: Yes.</s>MORGAN: I mean, when he said, before he was elected, that he would close down Guantanamo Bay, and then he doesn't do that, I mean, that's not entirely being straight with you, is it?</s>MOORE: Well, he hasn't done it yet. That's not telling a lie, like a weapons-of-mass-destruction lie. That means he hasn't done it yet. I think many of us wish that he would do it. I saw the chief prosecutor, the military man at Guantanamo I think earlier today on CNN, saying that it should be closed and closed soon, and a lot of people agree with that. And there are people like me who were disappointed he hasn't done it yet. I mean I'm disappointed in -- I wish there was a single payer health care system instead of the compromised system that we have. I mean if you want to go down that list, yes. But those aren't lies. Those aren't -- those aren't things that President Obama has done where he has set out to take us down the wrong road. That's a huge difference. And I've got to tell you, my first thought -- and it's not a partisan thought. It's not a Republican or Democrat thought here. It's just when I heard the news on Sunday night, I thought, wow, you know, he came in on day one and said, we're going to get this guy and that's it. And he told everybody, that's it. Go get -- that's it. We're getting this guy. And he did in two years what the other guy couldn't do in eight years -- didn't do. And in fact, in 2006, as we know, President Bush shut down the CIA station that was set up for the expressed purpose of finding bin Laden. He didn't care about finding him anymore. So --</s>MORGAN: Michael, we're going to have -- we're going to have a short break, Michael. I want - I want to pursue this when we come back and also talk to you about your claim that bin Laden was effectively executed by the Navy SEALs.