When lies are all you have, you tell lies.

Iggy Junior has a post up where he points out - accurately - that the pundits will use the anniversary of 9/11 as a call for "unity" - by which they mean "Shut up and stop criticizing Bush." While the Republicans use the same anniversary to use Bill Clinton as a whipping boy, and that's just fine.

You have probably heard that ABC intends to run a phony "documentary" called "Path to 9/11" ON 9/11 - a phony documentary whose purpose seems to be to repeat right-wing lies and blame Bill Clinton for 9/11.

AMERICAblog (good posts here and here, but browse the whole blog) and firedoglake own the story, including phone numbers to call and who to email, in a fine activist attempt to blogflood the sons of bitches and make them curse the day of their birth. A worthy and noble cause, and I made some phone calls to today, and encourage you to do the same.

But you will hear, repeated ad nauseam, the phony idea that Bill Clinton is somehow responsible for 9/11. And you will hear it a LOT in the coming weeks. In response, first, may I refer you to the very first post I ever made on this blog?

And second, the following is a handy pocket guide when any right wingers tries to blame Bill Clinton and says "First-WTC-Attack-Cole-Kyber-Towers-Embassy-Bombings" to you (some of this is my writing, and some is cyberspace boilerplate):

Here is only part of the Clinton anti-terrorism record:

- Developed the nation's first anti-terrorism policy, and appointed first national coordinator of anti-terrorist efforts.

- Stopped cold the Al Qaeda millennium bombing plot.

- Tried to kill Osama bin Laden and disrupt Al Qaeda through preemptive strikes, which efforts were denounced by the G.O.P.

- Brought perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing and CIA killings to justice.

- Did not blame Bush I administration for first World Trade Center bombing. Instead, worked hard, even obsessively -- and successfully -- to stop future terrorist attacks.

-Named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism.

Here, in stark contrast, is part of the Bush-Cheney anti-terrorism record before September 11, 2001:

- Backed off Clinton administration's anti-terrorism efforts.

- Shelved Hart-Rudman report.

- Appointed new anti-terrorism task force under Dick Cheney. Group did not even meet before 9/11.

- Called for cuts in anti-terrorism efforts by the Department of Defense.

- Gave no priority to anti-terrorism efforts by Justice Department.

- Ignored warnings from Sandy Berger and Louis Freeh about the urgency of terrorist threats.

- Halted Predator drone tracking of Osama bin Laden.

- Did nothing in wake of August 6 C.I.A. report to president saying Al Qaeda attack almost certain.

- By failing to order any coordination of intelligence data, missed opportunity to stop the 9/11 plot as Clinton had stopped the millennium plot.

-Blamed Clinton for 9/11.

In a nutshell: 1) Clinton created the first anti-terrorism task force in American history. Bush defunded it. 2) Clinton named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism. That report seemed prophetic. It was delivered to Bush and he shelved it. 2) Clinton instituted Predator Drone Tracking of Osama Bin Laden. Bush ended it.

Before 9/11, George W. Bush ended Clinton's executive order stopping all aid and trade to the Taliban for harboring bin Laden. Whereas Clinton ended ALL aid, on May 22, 2001, the press reported that the Bush adminstration had given the Taliban 43 million dollars.

The first attack on the WTC occurred when Clinton was in office only 36 days. Unlike now, the perpetrators of the first attack on the WTC were found, captured and are all in custody. And unlike now, Clinton didn't try and blame his predecessor. He just took care of it.

The bombers of the Cole were identified on December 20, 2000. Bill Clinton had less than 30 days left in office. He delivered a full report on terroism to Bush's transition team, and Bush ignored everything Clinton said.

In 1996, a truck exploded outside the Khobar Towers Apartment Complex, which was housing American military personnel in Saudi Arabia. It killed 19 American and wounded about 300 other people. The Saudi Officials - you know, George W. Bush's best friends - refused to allow the FBI to question any suspects. And those who have been indicted are EVEN NOW being kept in Saudi custody, outside of the reach of the American Criminal Justice System.

The last communication about terrorism from the Bush adminstration before September 11th was dated September 10th, 2001. It was from John Ashcroft, and it denied additional funds to fight terrorism.