Giuliani: Slavery Apology Up to States

ATLANTA (AP) -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, making a swing through the South on Wednesday, ducked the racially charged issue of whether Georgia should apologize for slavery, saying it was up to individual states.

"States like Georgia should decide that for themselves," Giuliani said at a stop in Atlanta.

"I read the Federalist papers and there's a great deal of wisdom in the idea that most of these issues should be decided locally," Giuliani said.

"Different states are going to have different views on that, just like they're going to have different views on guns, just like they're going have different views on controversial social issues."

The mayor made a similar response when asked about another hot racial issue - the Confederate flag.

Georgia is one of several states where lawmakers are considering proposals to offer a formal apology for their role in the slave trade. The Virginia state Legislature has already offered a statement of regret and the North Carolina state Senate has followed suit.

The Georgia arm of the NAACP is pushing for the Peach State to apologize as well. State Rep. Al Williams, leader of Georgia's Legislative Black Caucus, said Wednesday negotiations over language continued and he was confident a proposal would be ready before the end of the Georgia legislative session next Friday.

Giuliani has had a rocky relationship in the black community. During his tenure as mayor of New York, police shot and killed unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo and Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was beaten and sodomized with a plunger in a Brooklyn station house. Black leaders lambasted the mayor for refusing to meet with them and for supporting the police.

Wednesday marked Giuliani's first swing through Georgia since declaring his candidacy for the White House. He met with soldiers about to deploy for Iraq at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and called the experience "moving."

"These are our heroes," he said.

Giuliani was also scheduled to meet privately with Georgia's Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue before headlining a fundraiser in the tony Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead. The fundraiser is being hosted by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. In the most recent campaign filings Giuliani reported $15 million in his warchest. He trailed only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the race for GOP cash.

Meeting with reporters briefly, Giuliani called Democrats in Congress "highly irresponsible" for including a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq in their funding bill for the war. He said President Bush should follow through on his threat to veto the spending measure.

"To me, it's mind-boggling," Giuliani said. "It does not make sense to me to announce your retreat to your enemy and hand over to them, a printed list of how you're going to withdraw and a schedule."