Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani characterized Bill and Hillary Clinton's recent criticism of President Bush's efforts to stop Osama bin Laden before 9/11 as a "mistake" and said it's time to "stop this blame thing" over who is responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks."I think the comparison is the mistake," Giuliani told NewsMax and other media during a luncheon Wednesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., while on a campaign stop for Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., who is seeking re-election.
"I don't think the Clinton people should be saying somehow it's more President Bush's responsibility," Giuliani said when asked about Hillary's recent statements about Sept. 11.
On Monday, Sen. Clinton said she defended her husband's outburst on Fox News over criticism he has received for his handling of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.
"I'm certain that if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled ‘Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,'" Sen. Clinton said, "he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests it was taken by our current president and his national security team."
The remark was a direct swipe at President Bush, because in August of 2001 he was given such a report prepared by the CIA. The CIA report, however, never indicated how al-Qaida might strike U.S. targets.
"I know President Bush doesn't say that about President Clinton," said Giuliani. "I think the reality is that any American president, if they had known about an attack, would have done everything they could to stop it."
The real fault for 9/11, Giuliani says, lies squarely with the Islamic terrorists. He added, "I think we should stop trying to blame our presidents for 9/11."
Frequently mentioned as a potential Republican candidate for president in 2008, Giuliani characterized the latest war of words over who is responsible for 9/11 as a distraction. "We should stop this blame thing," he said. "There's no blame to be cast on President Bush or President Clinton."
Giuliani added that he thinks we should stop getting distracted by trying to figure out what American is responsible for the terrorist attacks, saying "Americans didn't do Sept. 11, the Islamic terrorists did."
In his remarks during the campaign stop, Giuliani credited President Bush's aggressive anti-terror policy for the fact the U.S. has not been attacked since 9/11.
"The reality is, thank God, we haven't been attacked in five years," Giuliani said. "None of us thought that was possible. We all thought that after 9/11 we would be attacked. I personally thought that many times."