From Benghazi to Cairo to Jerusalem to Damascus, a question: Where does America stand? (Updated)
In March 2011, the U.S. and our allies intervened in Libya’s burgeoning civil war to prevent a massacre of civilians by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in the coastal city of Banghazi. Yesterday, militants in that city — including, perhaps, some of the more extremist elements of the rebels whose cause we took up last year — showed their gratitude by killing four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya.
“Lafayette, we are here,” it was not.
The murders in Benghazi followed a siege earlier in the day of the U.S. embassy in Cairo in neighboring Egypt. Both attacks were blamed on Islamic extremists angered by a film hardly anyone in America had heard of, made by someone hardly anyone in America had heard of or discussed, that purportedly insults the Muslim prophet Muhammad. (See screen grab below, a Google search for the name of the movie in question. Note: I stopped at Sept. 5 because results in the days after that date begin to include references to the attacks, which obviously were added as updates after the fact.)
Image: Google screen grab
The attacks came, of course, on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on American soil.
In Cairo, protesters scaled our embassy’s walls, lowered our flag — which was at half-staff in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks — and replaced it with a banner similar to the one used by al-Qaida, and chanted, “We are all Osama,” as in bin Laden. As they did so, some member(s) of the embassy’s staff wrote repeatedly on Twitter — the social media platform that was widely used by young Egyptians during their uprising against Hosni Mubarak’s government — that the U.S. government condemned … the movie. Those tweets were later deleted as the State Department distanced itself from those remarks, but do not believe that the reflexive sensibility on display in the messages came out of the blue: If nothing else, our diplomats, especially three and a half years into a presidency, are well-trained to reflect the prevailing beliefs and sensibilities of the administration in office. That is their job, after all.
The interim president of Libya has apologized for the deaths in his country. As of this writing, there has been no such regret expressed by Egyptian officials. On the contrary, the Muslim Brotherhood, one of whose members is the country’s new president, called for nationwide protests against the film on Friday. At least they said the protests are supposed to be peaceful, I guess.
For his part, the president this morning issued a statement that read, in part: “While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.” The moral equivalence on display here — this is bad, that is bad, and no one should do bad things — is astounding.
But what’s really astounding is that, 11 years to the day after 9/11, our embassies in two Arab countries could be attacked by Islamic terrorists, and our government’s response would include wagging its finger at the people whose non-violent actions allegedly triggered the terrorists’ violence. That, 11 years to the day after 9/11, we still have people who believe these extremists need a reason to be mad at us.
Folks: They don’t need a reason, just an excuse to hand to the useful idiots who will continue to excuse them as people with legitimate religious grievances. (UPDATED at 12:25 p.m.: CNN is now reporting, based on information from “U.S. sources,” that the attacks in Benghazi were planned in advance and used protests about the movie as a diversion.) They just hate us. Period.
Now, “they” does not mean “all Muslims” or “all Arabs” or any such thing. But it does mean a large segment of the populations in the Middle East and North Africa, a relative few of whom trade on the ignorance and pliability of many others to pursue their totalitarian political goals.
Yet, 11 years later, they storm our embassy buildings and kill our civilians, and, 11 years later, our president doesn’t betray an understanding of the cause and effect at play here.
Add to these events and responses the statement from the White House, also yesterday, that the president is not available to meet with the prime minister of Israel, our closest ally in the region and a country known to be mulling military action to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Add to it as well the continuing massacre of Syrians by their own government, in a war eerily similar to the one in which we intervened in Libya, except for the fact that this time even our weakest efforts to stop the government-sponsored killing have been blocked by our supposed friends in Moscow.
And for all the crowing from Democrats, and specifically Obama, at their convention last week about their supposed foreign-policy superiority, the question I keep coming back to is one uttered a week earlier, by Condoleezza Rice, at the GOP convention:
Where does America stand? You see when the friends or foes alike don’t know the answer to that question, unambiguously and clearly, the world is likely to be a more dangerous and chaotic place.
Evidently so.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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575 comments Add your comment
Del
September 13th, 2012
9:25 am
The facts surrounding this killing of our diplomats in Benghazi should require a full congressional investigation. There’s been disturbing reports that these attacks on our Embassies and consulates in Egypt and Libya were coordinated as part of a plan to assassinate Stevens and the others. There’s been reports that Libyan security forces actually participated in the plan and pointed out the escape route from the consulate. Hillary Clinton stated yesterday that Libyan security forces suffered casualties in their efforts to assist our diplomats attempting to escape. There’s been a report that when the CIA learned about this threat potential before the attacks occurred they we’re told by the administration not to take any further action or it might upset our relationships with the Egyption and Libyan government. There’s a need for an investigation to separate facts from fiction and learn the how, what, who and why associated with this murderous attack on America.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
September 13th, 2012
9:26 am
The reports of Romney’s demise were a bit premature it seems. Rasmussen daily tracking has him up by 1 today. He is hanging tough against a determined media and an ineffective opponent.
kayaker 71
September 13th, 2012
9:31 am
So, Bozo’s “bounce” is gone. Back to dead even. Not so good for an incumbent less than 60 days from a national election.
DawgDad
September 13th, 2012
9:31 am
I see reports this morning Al-Qaida is expressing support for the rebels in Syria. So I have to ask, whose side are we on? If there are multiple factions fighting each other and the established government, what should our policy be?
The Obama administration supported and encouraged and enabled the “Arab Spring”. He owns the outcome, just like they’ve hung Iraq around Bush’s neck forever. It doesn’t take much sense to understand this would not turn out well for America and the West. One wonders what they teach at Harvard.
We are saddled with an Administration that openly alienates and attacks (politically and economically) peaceful, law-abiding, taxpaying native-born Christian citizens, and when some obscure nobody opens their mouth in exercise of their right of free speech, silly and offensive as their speech might be, the Administration publicly disavows our Constitutional rights, effectively inviting the radical Muslim terrorists to use the speech media as a cover for massive anti-American demonstrations and violent political actions. Very, very sad state of affairs, and it’s disheartening to see so many Americans supporting this Administration and their own destruction.
iggy
September 13th, 2012
9:37 am
Hmmm…I understand those peace loving isLambs are now storming our embassy in Yemen. I think its Yemen…at any rate MoHamEds chosen ones are at it again.
Del
September 13th, 2012
9:39 am
DawgDad,
When we have 50% of the American public receiving federal government financial assistance in one form or the other you see the socialist plan of this administration along with the leftist Democrats in congress, successfully unfolding.
MarkV
September 13th, 2012
9:39 am
DawgDad @ 9:31 am
“…the Administration publicly disavows our Constitutional rights”
Lying is certainly in vogue today.
Del
September 13th, 2012
9:44 am
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Appears that the lefts celebrations may have been a bit premature.
cc
September 13th, 2012
10:05 am
MarkV @ 9:39 am:
“Lying is certainly in vogue today.”
Of course! You are blogging here today, aren’t you?
Rush
September 13th, 2012
10:07 am
Good to see Finn on the blog with typical frequency…..didn’t add anything to dispute Tiberius just a comment that it was delusional. I would hazard to guess the US standard of living is greater than that of Egypt, Yemen, and Libya. Actually not a hazardous guess at all…..now get back to studying Finn so you can solve even more of life’s problems.
MarkV
September 13th, 2012
10:09 am
cc @10:05 am
Had I known you were blogging today as well, I would have added “stupidity” to “lying.”
Bruno
September 13th, 2012
10:12 am
Rafe The reports of Romney’s demise were a bit premature it seems. Rasmussen daily tracking has him up by 1 today. He is hanging tough against a determined media and an ineffective opponent.
kayaker So, Bozo’s “bounce” is gone. Back to dead even. Not so good for an incumbent less than 60 days from a national election.
Del Appears that the lefts celebrations may have been a bit premature.
Rafe, kayaker and Del–All I’ve heard from the Lefties this past 6 months is how Obama is going to sweep the Electoral College, that Romney should start giving his defeat speech now. I’m no political genius, but I don’t see it that way. Simply put, Obama hasn’t earned a second term. IMO, the only thing that might save him is promising more Free Stuff to folks.
Chip
September 13th, 2012
10:13 am
It’s 1979 all over again… Muslim fascist killers running loose, and a wimpy weakling president here who can’t or won’t do anything because he’s too busy hating America.
All of this has happened before… only it’s worse now because the stakes are so much higher. If this country is foolish enough to give this moron a second term, then the urban city dwellers who vote for him will deserve the death and destruction that will come to them on our own soil.
cc
September 13th, 2012
10:14 am
MarkV @ 10:09 am:
. . . and that from the leftists ‘brain trust’ explaining the mentality of the whacky left!
Kyle Wingfield
September 13th, 2012
10:16 am
Now I’m curious, Dog Barks: How exactly did you still have the text of the comment made by the name-jacker, when I removed it from the blog Monday morning?
Never mind. You’re outta here.
iggy
September 13th, 2012
10:22 am
Uh oh…somebody done been caught. LOL!!
Jed Rothwell
September 13th, 2012
10:26 am
You wrote: “As they did so, some member(s) of the embassy’s staff wrote repeatedly on Twitter — the social media platform that was widely used by young Egyptians during their uprising against Hosni Mubarak’s government — that the U.S. government condemned … the movie.”
That is not true. They wrote on Twitter 6 hours before the attack.
Obviously the U.S. government condemns the movie. Who wouldn’t condemn religious bigotry? No one excuses the attack. No one can excuse an event 6 hours before it happens!
You and other right-wing commentators keep repeating this claim. Do you have a time machine? Do you think the Embassy does? I’ll bet Romney wishes he had one, so he could retract without anyone noticing.
XOXO
September 13th, 2012
10:32 am
If this is who the DNC is consorting with then all Americans, Democrats should be concerned…
kayaker 71
September 13th, 2012
10:39 am
Bruno, 10:12,
Romney 320 electoral votes….. Bozo 218. Count on it.
They BOTH suck
September 13th, 2012
10:44 am
kayaker
I will take that bet for a beer and come see you in Macon to collect.
JamVet
September 13th, 2012
10:45 am
Zooks!
Tibs starts out with his very first Day 2 post obsessing over me and my useless opinions???
Good gawd man, what is it going to take for you to FINALLY get enough self-discipline that you can scroll on by my posts without making snarky personal insults?
Is that day ever gonna come, tibs?
After repeated red cards, most people learn from their mistakes, but apparently you are not one of them!
Sad. And funny!
Much too busy to play with you folks today, keep the unprovoked personal insults to a minimum, OK?
mercenary76
September 13th, 2012
10:48 am
hydrogen bombs on their capital cities and smaller nuclear weapons on military targets , cluster bombs on other populated cities should send a very clear message to the world that america does not appreciate their diplomats being murdered . put tactical nuclear devices in the other embassies around the world with a deadman switch attached , if our embassies are overrun or destroyed then they lose a city .
Del
September 13th, 2012
10:50 am
Bruno, At this point neither candidate appears to have the big Mo. It may get down to the “get out the vote” metric that will determine the outcome. I agree with those that say Romney needs to present a cogent plan for turning around the economy the average American can understand and buy into. Hopefully, he’s holding that plan until such time the Obama campaign has little time to discredit it and also catching Obama with no clear counter plan of his own, which to date he really hasn’t put on the table.
They BOTH suck
September 13th, 2012
10:56 am
Del
If he clearly states those plans during the debates or during that time frame, he can win.
If Romney stays status quo, I wouldn’t put any money on Romney. But in politics, we have a long way to go.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
September 13th, 2012
10:58 am
The reports of Romney’s demise were a bit premature it seems. Rasmussen daily tracking has him up by 1 today.
Rasmussen always has the Republican in front. They had McCain in front last time right up until he lost. All the other polls have Obama comfortably ahead.
And as I have stated many times. The electoral map is where Romney has an even bigger problem.
He must win all the toss ups to win. Obama only needs one or two.
ATLien
September 13th, 2012
10:58 am
that’s wishful thinking Del. Romney has no plan. He’s hoping the business cycle just improves under his watch, if he were to win somehow. The fact that you and others would trust him with your vote despite not having displayed ANY plan whatsoever speaks to your blind ideology. Seriously he hasn’t told you one concrete thing about his economic plan
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
September 13th, 2012
11:00 am
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map_no_toss_ups.html
This is what your electoral map will most likely look like on Nov 6th.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
September 13th, 2012
11:01 am
Notice none of the southern states went for the black guy.
Shocking I know.
MarkV
September 13th, 2012
11:11 am
Kyle never retracted the charge of moral equivalence, the big, bold face lie. Both Secretary Clinton and President Obama in their statements emphasized that there was not and could not be any justification for the attacks.
iggy
September 13th, 2012
11:12 am
mercenary76
September 13th, 2012
10:48 am
I like it.
iggy
September 13th, 2012
11:13 am
“Notice none of the southern states went for the black guy.”
Clearly a bigoted statement which should read…Notice none fo the southern states want for the democratic party guy.
See previous elections stats.
You clearly have presented your bigoted views, my friend.
NEXT!!!
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
September 13th, 2012
11:15 am
You clearly have presented your bigoted views, my friend.
No
Just pointing out that racism is alive and well in the south.
If you think it isn’t you are a fool.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
September 13th, 2012
11:16 am
Notice none fo the southern states want for the democratic party guy.
The south used to vote Democrat.
Right up until LBJ signed the Civil Rights Bill.
The south then went Republican pretty quick.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
September 13th, 2012
11:26 am
“Rasmussen always has the Republican in front. They had McCain in front last time right up until he lost.”
Actually, Cheesy, according to a comparison I saw yesterday, they were the most accurate poll along with Pew regarding the 2008 election.
Del
September 13th, 2012
11:28 am
TBS,
I don’t think the debates will turn much for either candidate. I know in the past they have, Kennedy vs. Nixon and Reagan vs. Carter but typically those who view debates have already chosen a candidate they plan to vote for. Unless one of them makes a huge gaffe and I don’t expect to see that from either one, you’ll only see the pundits making judgement calls. Timing is everything and I think Romney should unveil a clear plan for job creation and tuning around the economy around the last month of the race. He should invest in ad after ad in the swing states detailing the plan and challenging Obama to do likewise. Obama attacking Romney on his moral character hasn’t worked for Obama and Romney attacking Obama only on the economy hasn’t worked for Romney.
iggy
September 13th, 2012
11:28 am
The South is anti-discrimination. You dont understand that civil rights, quotas etc are discriminatory.
NEXT!!!
iggy
September 13th, 2012
11:32 am
Voting for someone because they are black is no reason to vote for them. This being the case and part of your argument the we could state that since the South didnt vote for the “black guy” then the rest of the Country did vote for the black guy that the Country, other than the South is bigoted ie they voted for the black buy because he is the black guy.
NEXT!!
They BOTH suck
September 13th, 2012
11:34 am
Del
Romney has the “war chest” to use now that the conventions are over.
We will not see much of it because GA is in the bag, but the swing states are probably already seeing ad blitzes, which will really ramp up in the coming weeks.
I could be wrong but I think OH will be the “Waterloo” for either Romney or Obama.
While there are other paths each could still take to victory, I highly doubt the winner will not have OH in his camp.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
September 13th, 2012
11:36 am
My father in law voted for McCain in 2008 and was planning to sit this one out. But after the asinine comments from the Bully in Chief, he says if it helps keep that guy out he will vote Obama.
1776
September 13th, 2012
11:39 am
We currently “stand” as doing the bidding of the Globalist Elite & their agenda. Where we should be standing is under the Constitution…NOT getting involved in these endless foreign entanglements. We should extract all troops (+ funding) from the middle east & let the muhamedans & z10n1sts fight it out amongst themselves.
Linda
September 13th, 2012
11:41 am
Kyle@10:16, Thank you! Some liberals just don’t understand the difference between rights & privileges.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
September 13th, 2012
11:56 am
Rights and privileges, Linda?
They don’t understand the difference between leadership and sound bites!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
September 13th, 2012
12:01 pm
Florida, NC, and VA are southern states. Didn’t VA go for the black guy? I know NC and FL did.
Rush
September 13th, 2012
12:03 pm
Cheesey:
This racism thing…Is it a one way thing? Are you saying white people believe in the superiority of their race over blacks? Could the same thing be said in reverse? Inquiring minds want to know.
PROUD NAVY VET
September 13th, 2012
12:10 pm
All I can say is no person outsiude the government is privy to what is truly taking place. No one has any idea!! Why do people who have never been in that environemt feel they are qualified to pass judgement? Let me tell you this, because ki have been there, the U.S. already knows who they are, where they are, where they are going and a plan is already in place to kill them. Plain and simple. As you can see today, everybody is keeping their mouth shut as they should. Everyone learned a lesson yesterday. So sit back, chill out and let our military do what they do. hese events unfolding can not be stopped because look at who we are dealing with. The Midde east is the Middle East. anything we did and are doing means nothing. It makes no difference who is in the oval office. They are already dead. ((% of you have never served and you haqve no idea of how things are done. If I need my car worked on I don’t go to a plumber. Support all of our citizens working around the world do their job. just shut up and support. It’s gonna get a lot worse, believe me. It’s just getting started. SHUT UP!!
Linda
September 13th, 2012
12:13 pm
The day after the DNC, the Democrats were having a fire sale on all their left-over gismos, gimmicks & gadgets at their souvenir shop In Charlotte. All of a sudden, their phones started ringing off their waistbands, calls coming from all over the Middle East for orders of cases of bumper stickers. Extra money was paid for fast delivery by the end of the 1st week in September.
What a surprise it was to watch on TV our embassies being attacked & our citizens being murdered with RPGs, rocket-propelled grenades & AK47s with those bumper stickers attached to them that read: GM IS ALIVE & OBL IS DEAD!
Jose
September 13th, 2012
12:14 pm
OBAMA BY THE NUMBERS:
4 YEARS
$5+ TRILLION IN NEW DEBT
14+% UNEMPLOYMENT
100+ GOLF ROUNDS
150+ FUNDRAISERS ATTENDED
1 JOBS COUNCIL MEETING IN 2012
md
September 13th, 2012
12:14 pm
Condemning the movie ahead of time? There in lies the problem, we have 300 million free speaking Americans and we are supposed to condemn everything they say or do in order to not upset the bad guys???
Makes no sense…….I do believe Hitler was able to get as far as he did because of all the tip toeing.
iggy
September 13th, 2012
12:20 pm
BTW…The State of NC has gone Red. I guess Obamas/clintons words of inspiration failed in NC, anyway. Long way to go before Nov.
Dusty
September 13th, 2012
12:31 pm
Reading the posts this morning, it seems to me that everyone here needs to read and reread some of the latest reports, consider the time line, and understand that some Libyan security guards were also killed. This is not to excuse terrorism. It is to understand better how to fight it.
Americans are usually fair and indicting a whole country for the actions of a terror fed mob is not fair. The tragedy of our ambassador’s death is tragic and maddening. He died of asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalation in the attack.. He is said to have been working very hard helping Libya develop a democratic government. Perhaps his foresight was somewhat better than those here..
We do not need to develop our own mob reaction.
As to the president and Romney, neither is very pleasing. Romney ’s words came before he knew of the attack, so they seemed inapporpriate when they appeared at a time of tragedy. President Obama took off for a fundraiser and would not meet with the leader of Israel, the only truly stable country in the Middle East. That too seemed inappropriate during a Middle East conflagration.
“Things” just never go right, do they? .