Quick Fact: NY Post's Goodwin falsely claimed Bush had “a record of zero successful attacks on America after 9/11”

In his January 6 New York Post column, Michael Goodwin advanced the false claim that former President George W. Bush had “a record of zero successful attacks on America after 9/11.”

From Goodwin's January 6 New York Post column:

The images that stick are the ones out of Hawaii, with the president in vacation mode -- no tie, a perfunctory appearance on Dec. 28, no questions, then off for more fun in the sun. Behavior doesn't get less serious or more callow.

The images accurately reflect a troubling mindset that borders on religious faith about how to combat terrorism, with Obama himself the high priest. He is a war president who defiantly shuns the mantle.

So be it. The Oval Office and the choices are his. And so is the responsibility.

If America gets hit again, it's on him. All of it.

Obama often complains about the problems he inherited from George W. Bush, but he also inherited a record of zero successful attacks on America after 9/11. If Islamic terrorists succeed on his watch, he can't blame Bush.

Fact: Islamic terrorist attacks took place under Bush after 9-11

2002 attack against El Al ticket counter at LAX. In July 2002, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet opened fire at an El Al Airlines ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, killing two people and wounding four others before being shot dead. A 2004 Justice Department report stated that Hadayet's case had been “officially designated as an act of international terrorism.”

2006 UNC SUV attack. In March 2006, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill graduate Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove an SUV into an area of campus, striking nine pedestrians. According to reports, Taheri-azar said he acted because he wanted to “avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world.” Taheri-azar also reportedly stated in a letter: “I was aiming to follow in the footsteps of one of my role models, Mohammad Atta, one of the 9/11/01 hijackers, who obtained a doctorate degree.”

Fact: Other terrorist attacks also took place under Bush after 9-11

2001 Anthrax attacks. A March 2004 State Department report on “Significant Terrorist Incidents, 1961-2003” quotes then-Attorney General John Ashcroft saying of the letters containing anthrax mailed to various targets: “When people send anthrax through the mail to hurt people and invoke terror, it's a terrorist act.” Five people were killed as a result of those letters in the autumn of 2001.

2002 DC-area sniper. The state of Virginia indicted Washington, D.C.-area sniper John Allen Muhammad -- along with his accomplice, a minor at the time -- on terrorism charges for one of the murders he committed during a three-week shooting spree across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Muhammad was convicted, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed for the crime.

Fact: Other conservatives have also denied existence of terrorist attacks under Bush

Frederick, Perino, Crowley ignore attacks that occurred during Bush term. As Media Matters for America has documented, other conservative media figures also have denied that terrorist attacks occurred under Bush after 9-11. Bush White House Press Secretary and current Fox News contributor Dana Perino falsely claimed on the November 24, 2009, edition of Fox News' Hannity that "[w]e did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term." In a January 3 column, Las Vegas Review-Journal publisher Sherman Frederick falsely claimed that “the two cases of domestic terrorism since 9/11” happened “on Obama's watch.” And on the January 5 edition ofThe O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Monica Crowley asserted that "[a]fter 9-11, President Bush and Vice President Cheney had a 100 percent perfect track record in keeping the homeland safe from an Islamic terrorist attack."