Here are a few of the 9-11 victims opinions on dealing with terrorism
KING: Nobody can speak more about terrorism than victims of it. Joining us now, David Beamer, his son Todd Beamer died on United flight 93 on September 11th. Todd was among those passengers who fought back against the hijackers before the plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Also Debra Burlingame, she's the sister of Charles Burlinghame III. He was the pilot of American Airlines flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon. She is also the co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Strong and Safe America. And Alice Hoglan, her son Mark Bingham also died on United flight 93. Alice as well is a former flight attendant.
What is your reaction, David, to what happened Christmas day?
DAVID BEAMER, SON DIED IN 9/11 ATTACK: Well, Larry, it was a terrible event and I'm certainly pleased that the mission was not successful. I'm very thankful for the fellow that was referred to as the flying Dutchman for leaping to action and preventing that plane from being blown up.
So I'm very pleased with the outcome and of course disheartened about the fact that it happened at all. And it clearly points out from the enemy's point of view, they believe that there is a war going on and for them, it's an absolute passion and an absolutely priority. And I'm not convinced that for us, that the war is really -- has either of those. For us, it seemed to be more of one of the agenda items but not one that we are pursuing with real passion and an absolute priority. I'm concerned about that.
KING: Debra, do you agree with that, Debra?
DEBRA BURLINGAME, BROTHER DIED IN 9/11 ATTACK: I completely agree. I think that in some ways, this young man from Nigeria may have done us a favor because he pointed out that we have a policy of denial now about who this enemy is. The fact that this man would try to blow out the side of an airport and that the response of this government would be to put him into criminal custody, that man should have been taken after he was stabilized medically and interrogated for every bit of intelligence we could get from him.
The Yemeni government is saying they are cooperating, but the fact of the matter is, this is the new center of gravity in Yemen and we need to know who is behind this, who helped him. All of the information that would have come out is now lost to us because he is lawyered up and we will now have to put him through the criminal system where we are negotiating with the terrorists to get this information.
KING: Alice, the same thing occurred though in the Bush administration with the shoe bomber.
ALICE HOGLAN, SON DIED IN 9/11 ATTACK: Yes, in his own perverse way, this fellow Abdulmutallab has done us a favor. He has given the American people a gift. We are now focused on two important issues that we have somehow lost track off. Those are deficiencies in aviation security and the proper courts for trying terrorists.
KING: David, do you ever forget that day?
BEAMER: Never forget it, Larry and I'm reminded of it always, every time I see our grandchildren, clearly reminds what we're all missing. And I think the gift, if you will, that has happened during this Christmas season has really also been a gift to our enemies. In that here, they had a plan. And even though, even though we had intelligence, we had the terrorist's father trying to warn us, and the fact that we still couldn't prevent him from getting on the airplane, I think they must be saying, wow, this is easier than we thought. I think they're encouraged by it.