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The latest big lie being spread through right wing media is that Bill Clinton not George W. Bush is to blame for 9/11. On FNC’s Hannity program, Dick Morris said, “The reason 9/11 happened was because Bill Clinton treated the ’93 bombing of the World Trade Center as a crime, not an act of war.”

Here is the video courtesy of Media Matters:

Morris and host Sean Hannity were talking about how Democrats are soft on terrorism, because they treat terrorism like a crime, when Morris added, “You know the other point here is that the reason 9/11 happened was because Bill Clinton treated the ’93 bombing of the World Trade Center as a crime not as an act of war, and now Obama is going through the exact same situation.”

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The reason why the basis for the right wing argument that Bill Clinton should be blamed for 9/11 is such nonsense is because terrorism is a crime. If we accept Morris’ argument that terrorism is an act of war, than we have to ask if all terrorist acts are an act of war, or only the actions carried out by Muslims?

I ask this because the Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by Americans. Did Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols commit an act of war, or was it a crime? If every act of terrorism is an act of war, then this must apply to all terrorists, not only the foreign ones. In order to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11 one has to ignore the fact that the Bush administration received intelligence about a potential attack prior to 9/11 and chose to ignore it.

It is also impossible to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11 because he was not the president when the attacks occurred. Blaming Bill Clinton for 9/11 is a lot like blaming George Washington for the Civil War because he didn’t abolish slavery.

Dick Morris’ point was nothing more than attempt to whitewash the GOP’s responsibility for their biggest national security failure. They can keep repeating their latest big lie, but it is unlikely to gain much traction.