Excerpt:
The former mayor who helped lead the city through the tragic aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, came out in opposition of building a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero.
"This project is divisive," Rudy Giuliani said on the "Today" show this morning as he commented for the first time on the debate that has swept the nation. "This project is creating tremendous pain for people who've already made the ultimate sacrifice. All you're doing is creating more division, more anger, more hatred."
NBC's Matt Lauer reminded Giuliani of comments he made roughly 14 months after 9/11 in which he evoked freedom of religion as one of America's founding principles, and asked how Giuliani reconciles his opposition to the mosque with his espousal of the idea that "no one's going to interfere with you" because of that principle.