"Basically, if you have to select, who do you trust here — Hillary Clinton or General Petraeus?" Mr. Giuliani asked. "I kind of think I'd go with the general, who's got a record of honesty and integrity. And here he's subjected to their attacks on his character at a time in which he is putting his life at risk for his country.

"Who is [Mrs. Clinton] to be attacking the integrity of an American general? I know she desperately wants to be president of the United States, but you have to have some standard, some decency," he said, adding that "the panic came about a couple weeks ago, when she made the astounding statement that if there were an attack on America, it might help the Republican Party.

"Do you see how these people look at the world? I wouldn't think that way in a million years," Mr. Giuliani said. "And the reality is if the [Iraqi] surge is successful, it's not a problem for the Democratic Party, it's good for America. We're Americans, after all. And if there's an attack on America, it's not good for Republicans, it's bad for all of us.

"The Islamic terrorists are attacking Republicans and Democrats," he said. "They're not making distinctions, and we shouldn't do it."