Giuliani said the terrorists declared war in the 1990s, but the American government, “during the Clinton administration, didn’t hear it,” he said.

“They were in denial. A lot of people think the first attack on America was on September 11, 2001. It wasn’t. It was back in 1993 while Clinton was the president and we responded to it by treating it as a criminal case, not as an act of war.”

Then, Clinton didn’t respond to a host of attacks, Giuliani said, beginning with the 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudia Arabia that killed U.S. troops.

“I don’t blame him for that [lack of response] because, you know, hindsight is a powerful weapon, a powerful device. He didn’t have the benefit of hindsight back then,” Giuliani said.

“But now we have the benefit of hindsight. We see that they were at war with us. … We have to be clear. These people are at war against us, we have to evaluate Iraq from that situation, Iran from that situation, the preparations we have to make at home, and I think that’s the defining decision for the American people in 2008.”

Giuliani made his remarks as their subject, former President Bill Clinton, was the guest at a fundraiser across town for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate.