Few have witnessed as much tragedy and destruction around the globe as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. For the four years that she served as the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government, Albright not only represented America in desperate, war-torn countries but also flew to the sites of terrorist attacks on our embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. She brought home the bodies of Americans killed in Kenya, riding on a cargo plane with the coffins. Days after the horror that befell New York City and Albright's current hometown of Washington, D.C., I asked her to help us make sense of the attack. Could it have been avoided? Why do the terrorists hate us so much? And in the wake of such an unfathomable calamity, can our nation ever truly heal?

Start reading Oprah's interview with Madeleine Albright

Note: This interview appeared in the December 2001 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.