The man at the helm of the Big Apple during the 2001 terrorist attacks on that city, yesterday called Bermuda ?a haven? during New York?s time of need.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was on the Island yesterday as a guest of the World Insurance Forum which has been taking place this week at the Fairmont Southampton.

Speaking to hundreds of insurance executives gathered for his lunchtime speech, Mr. Giuliani said that his thoughts immediately after the 9/11 attacks were to guard against further attacks, and the safety of the city.

But he said it did not take long for thoughts to turn to insurance, and praised the Island?s insurance sector for its quick response in paying millions of dollars in claims after the tragedy.

?By the second day we had to address ourselves to the insurance issue,? he said, adding that insurers had played a ?very significant role and continue to.?

Indeed, Mr. Giuliani called the Island?s insurance sector ?a haven after 9/11?.

?Bermuda played a big role,? he said, adding that many Americans ?feel like the Island was the fifty-first state when they come here?.

For his part, he said he was ?more than willing to come back whenever you invite me?.

He also shot down the Bermuda-bashing rhetoric that has come from US presidential hopeful, Democrat Senator John Kerry, who has said along the campaign trail that he would, if elected, take measures against companies that have inverted their place of incorporation offshore, like Bermuda, for tax reasons.

?You can never put me on the spot with John Kerry,? said the confirmed Republican and consummate politician. And he cited Sen. Kerry as not knowing his own mind. ?He voted for the war on Iraq but voted against funding it,? he said.

Mr. Giuliani said Sen. Kerry?s view of Bermuda and the companies that moved here, was a ?very narrow? take on how economics work.

Were he in the same shoes, he said he would ?take a look at why companies feel so comfortable here and try and replicate that in America?.

He said he had done something similar while Mayor of New York, in looking at why businesses might move to New Jersey or Philadelphia. He said luring them back into the city sometimes meant tax breaks or similar measures, but he created jobs that way. ?I did that by being accommodating to businesses rather than trying to regulate.?

Mr. Giuliani said though that his mind set was different from Sen. Kerry?s way of thinking.

?John Kerry does not have that mind and that is why I think he would be very damaging to my country if elected.?

But he had only glowing words for current US President Bush, giving him credit for being, ?in a limited amount of time ...remarkably successful. ?We still have a long was to go but I do not think anyone could have accomplished more in two and a half years.?

He said that he had ?no doubt? if Bush was given the chance of a second administration he would continue on that ?successful? track record.

He also had only good to say of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying he was a hero to many in the US for the support he had shown during the war on terrorism. ?I don?t know if he can get re-elected in the UK but he could run for anything in the US.?

He said that Mr. Blair understood what needed to be done ?like his predecessor Winston Churchill, which was just to stand up against evil?.

When someone from the audience suggested that Mr. Giuliani infiltrate the White House and help him to do his job more ?delicately?, Mr. Giuliani said he did not think there was anything that President Bush needed to learn from him. ?We have to be realistic, and I think he is doing as good a job as anyone could do.?

Turning to the subject of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Mr. Giuliani said he felt the world was actually a safer place following the events of that tragic day. He said in the time since the attacks there had been two wars and the terrorist attacks in Bali and Madrid, but that the war on terrorism was being fought.

Mr. Giuliani said that for too long the world had been living in this cloud, and it was really a case of history repeating itself.

As an example he spoke of the time between the first and second World Wars when America ?withdrew? while Europe adopted a policy of appeasement to Hitler and his growing hold on Germany then Eastern Europe.

He said that this had gone on ?in spite of the warnings of Churchill?. But despite coming through World War II, he said the lesson really had not been learned until now with the Bush administration, which he praised for taking an offensive stance against terrorism.

?We repeated that same (mistake) with terrorism,? he said, and said the birth of international terrorism could be traced back to the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.

He said the world?s previously defensive, rather than offensive, reaction to terrorism had allowed terrorists to grow their organisations.

Mr. Giuliani claimed that through the years any number of nations had caught terrorists but then let them go - and cited Italian authorities catching the terrorists responsible for the attack on the Achille Lauro but then letting them go four hours later ? which was allowing terrorists to achieve their objective of making a political statement with their attacks, and without any action to stop them.

A Republican, Mr. Giuliani stood fast in support of President Bush and said he was doing a stellar job, and had done a better job than anyone could have.

To make his point, he said that his company, Giuliani Partners - which was he set up in 2002 after his second term as mayor and being unable to run again - had been doing work in the last year in Mexico City to help reduce crime levels.

He said that one of the real problems in Mexico were kidnappings, but that was not a problem in the US, primarily because American authorities had years ago when the baby son of Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow was taken in 1932, by not playing into the hands of the captors by discouraging the payment of ransom demands and harshly dealing with the perpetrators once caught.

Mr. Giuliani said that same approach was the only way of dealing with terrorism and although he said the battle had not yet been won - and predicted that there may be more terrorist attacks, especially around world events, such as the upcoming Olympic Games, and also at political events in this election year for the US - he said the situation could be in hand in the next two to three years.

?After 9/11. Bush decided to do something different with terrorism. He decided to go on the offensive,? he said.

Mr. Giuliani said going after the terrorists was the right approach, otherwise you were just waiting for them to come after you again.

?I must tell you, on 9/11 the response, probably from the first minute, was to protect ourselves. We believed we would be attacked again and we believe we have not been because we went on the offensive.?

Mr. Giuliani said there continued to be up to ten ?pillars? of international terrorism but that Bush?s war on terrorism was chipping away at that in several ways. He said Saddam Hussein had been a supporter of terrorism, and that was now gone. He added that that show of brute force against the Hussein regime in Iraq had also brought alleged terrorist supporter Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to his knees, because he wanted to avoid the same happening in Libya.

He estimated that the war on terrorism was ?one-third of the way there? and that two or three more years on the offensive should greatly reduce the chance of future terrorist attacks.

But his call for diligence in fighting terrorism was not directed only at Government, but also the private sector. Mr. Giuliani said that corporations must be ready for any disaster, criminal or natural, and must have systems in place to be able to manage through a catastrophe.

He said this was how New York had got back on its feet as quickly as it had after the attacks, with Mr. Giuliani saying that Y2K preparations costing $350 million had meant the city was able to replicate the information that had been held in its command centre within 30 minutes of it having been destroyed by the 9/11 terrorists.

?The world is safer now as we are prepared for whatever may happen,? he said.

But he cautioned that the next attack could well be made on the private sector, and could be biological or chemical in nature.

He also said there was evidence that terrorist organisations were ready to take aim at company?s I.T. systems.

?They are more capable of a sophisticated than a mass attack,? he said.

He said he thought biological or chemical attacks could be next, because this was an area that was more vulnerable as less had been done in preparing for that kind of terror.

?I am speaking directly to company leaders. The next attack will probably be in a private place not one owned by Government. Be prepared. This is something you should focus alot of attention on,? he said.

Remembering former president Ronald Reagan, who died last week-end, Mr. Giuliani said he became emotional. But he added that it was not only because President Reagan had died, but that he had long been emotional when thinking of the man who he thought of as a mentor. Mr. Giuliani said he had under President Reagan and would not forget the lessons he had learned under him.

He said the enduring lesson was it was much better to deal with situations than to ignore them.

?So we are much safer if we are realistic about terrorism and stand up to it. I feel alot safer for it.?

An insurance executive in the audience asked Mr. Giuliani if he thought there would some extension on the Terrorism Risk and Insurance Act (TRIA) that is set to expire in 2005.

Although Mr. Giuliani did not seem familiar with that piece of legislation he said he thought the 9/11 Commission would call for it to be renewed, at least during the next few years.

?If we back off, it could send a signal that would provoke more attacks,? he said.

But Mr. Giuliani cautioned that America could not control the actions of the rest of the world, and cited Spain as not having dealt well with the terrorism risk after the recent terrorist train bombings in Madrid.

He also said that on American shores things might have been handled better. In particular he said the 9/11 Commission had seen too much politicking and assignment of blame. He said he wished the members would have ?subjugated their desires for publicity in the best interest of the nation.?

But he said that no one was to blame for not warning the nation of the 9/11 attacks. He said the only ones to blame were those who were in charge of the aeroplanes and masterminded the attack.

?Nobody deserves the weight of guilt that would come from blame for what happened on 9/11,? he concluded.