Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Thursday that, unlike Republican rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he will not take part in the execution of Osama bin Laden if the terrorist leader is caught.
“I do not have an interest in personally participating in such an execution and I wouldn’t make a comment of that nature,” Romney said in response to questions from The Examiner on the campaign trail.
On Tuesday, during a visit to a New Hampshire gun manufacturer, McCain told workers: “I will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will shoot him with your products.” He later said he had been “speaking rhetorically.”
But Giuliani was serious when he asked President Bush three days after the Sept. 11 attacks for the privilege of personally executing bin Laden, who masterminded the attacks.
“I told him, ‘If you catch this guy bin Laden, I would like to be the one to execute him,’” Giuliani wrote in his 2002 book, “Leadership.” “I am sure he thought I was just being rhetorical, but I was serious.”
Giuliani argued that his own involvement in bin Laden’s execution would be perfectly “appropriate.”
“Bin Laden had attacked my city, and as its mayor I had the strong feeling that I was the most appropriate person to do it,” he wrote.
Asked by The Examiner about the California wildfires, Romney said it was “unfortunate” the state’s lieutenant governor, John Garamendi, criticized Bush’s visit to the ravaged area Thursday. The Democrat called it a “public relations” stunt that would distract firefighters and urged Bush to bring National Guard troops home from Iraq to help fight the blazes.
“He’s going at a time when his presence will not have a major impact on the firefighting efforts there,” Romney countered. “But it will show to the nation and the people there that are suffering that he cares. And I think that is an appropriate step.”
Romney said one his five sons, Matt, and his wife were forced to evacuate their home in Rancho Bernardo, Calif., which he called “one of the areas very significantly hit” by the fires.
