Excerpts of Remarks to Reporters in London, England

Mayor Giuliani On The U.S.-U.K. Relationship

"We had an excellent meeting with the Prime Minister and his wife. And the Prime Minister and I got a chance to talk about what I'm going to talk about tonight and this afternoon which is our special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. It is that. It is a special relationship that has been forged over many, many years of common objectives, common values. Tested by war. Tested by terrorism. And the two countries are as close as they've ever been and I think the prospect of their remaining even closer is what'll be the future.

"We also had the opportunity this morning to visit with Tony Blair. I've been here several times when Tony Blair was the Prime Minister. Judith and I have wonderful memories of being here. … The United States and the United Kingdom are connected together by values, by common interests, by language and they're also—it's also held together by very close personal relationships between our presidents and your prime ministers going back to Roosevelt and Churchill. Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. Tony Blair and George Bush. Now your new Prime Minister made quite a hit in the United States when he came over and visited in the United States. I said to him, he, like Tony Blair, has become very popular in the United States. Hope it hasn't hurt his popularity here in Great Britain. But it shouldn't. Our relationship is much deeper than any occasional disagreements we may have. …

"Tonight I'm going to be speaking, and it's the main reason I came here, to give the first lecture for the Margaret Thatcher series and get an award from Margaret Thatcher. That's one of the strongest relationships that American Presidents and Prime Ministers ever had, between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. There's a book, pretty current now in the states, that talks about Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and Pope John [Paul II] being the three primary people who reversed communism. Brought down the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall. That relationship led to a tremendous amount of freedom and opportunity for people who didn't know freedom and opportunity before, at least for quite some time.

"I think that the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, like the relationship between the United States and Europe, has to be based on very fundamental, enduring principles that bring us together. If there are occasional disagreements we should see that as normal for democracies. I mean after all, any disagreements you might see between the United States and the United Kingdom or between the United States and Europe exist within our own domestic politics. We have the same disagreements within our own domestic politics. You do and we do. And we look at Europe—when we started in Iraq for the purpose of removing one of the most horrible tyrants in the world, Saddam Hussein, about which I think we should be proud that we removed this tyrant and gave the Iraqi people a chance for freedom, there were people who disagreed with that. But now we look at France and Germany, we've got fairly pro-American governments there now. So things shift and change. You know they'll be some disagreements, but the basic fundamental relationship between the United States and Europe and the United States and the United Kingdom, particularly, is one of enduring friendship—even if they're somewhat contentious issues sometimes. …"

Mayor Giuliani On British Presence In Iraq

"I think Britain has to make that decision. I think that'll be coordinated very, very closely with the United States. The Prime Minister told me he just met with Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus. He was very impressed with them. Had a very good meeting with them. So I'm sure whatever Britain decides, it will be coordinated with the overall effort there. I'm very, very much encouraged by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker's testimony. I think realistic progress has been made. I say realistic because this is a very difficult thing that we're trying to do in Iraq. It is very, very hard to bring about, as quickly as we're trying to bring about, a stable situation, a government of laws, a democracy in a country that was beset by oppression and tyranny for so long. But I think realistically—and we've both made as much progress as we can make. It isn't to say, after all, why we had a special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. Because we want to share the blessings of liberty with the rest of the world because if we can succeed in that, we're going to have a peaceful world. And to the extent that we don't, we have these kind of hostilities."