White House jaw-droppingly denies that Osama Bin Laden masterminded 9/11

Incredible. The White House is trying to cover its ass for its 7-year failure to find the person who made 9/11 happen by baldly asserting that Osama Bin Laden wasn't the person who made 9/11 happen.

From the horse's assmouth on 10 September 2008:

I will remind you that the top deputies have had a very tough time of it. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, is in jail today, and he is awaiting trial. That is something we should all be thankful for, not only just for the fact that he is no longer out, able to plot and plan, but we should be very thankful for the work that our intelligence community has done to bring some of these people to justice.

When a reporter called out the Dana Perino on this outrageous statement, she stood by it (video).

I see two possibilities here. Either the White House is a 9/11-truther organization that denies the findings of the 9/11 Commission, which clearly explain that "[t]he 9/11 attack was driven by Usama Bin Ladin" (Executive Summary, page 3). Now that would be ridiculous. Or it's an attempt -- and the phrase cynical attempt doesn't begin to approach the level of despicableness I intend to convey -- an attempt to make it OK to the American people that the Republican administration has wasted thousands of lives, trillions of dollars, and almost 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan failing to capture Osama Bin Laden.

Who, and let's be completely clear about this, was the mastermind of 9/11.

To the Republicans, 9/11 is nothing but fodder -- background material, theatrical props -- for their PR machine of propaganda and lies. At the convention, they'd have used footage of the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, only it's not in color. And not as many Americans were killed.

I didn't lose anyone on 9/11; I've never lived in New York; and as far as I can tell I have no personal interest in anything or anyone surrounding the events of 9/11. But 9/11 is a big reason why I moved back to the East Coast in 2002, and I'm not the only American who had no involvement in 9/11 but still felt it deeply. The attackers couldn't have chosen any target that was more of a fundamental symbol of the U.S. and all it stands for. Other people have written more eloquently than I possibly could about all that stuff, so I'll wrap up with my final point:

You don't use dead Americans to try to get yourself elected, and you don't lie about who was responsible for killing those Americans in order to cover your ass for 7 years of one hell of a fucked-up administration.