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
F. Sinkwich
September 12th, 2012
7:20 pm
“America has NEVER BEEN America to some of us.”
Well, if one, like you, is a euro-socialist O’bozo sycophant, I can understand that sentiment.
You should go over to Jay’s blog. He’s down with you.
ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:25 pm
February 14, 1979 – US Ambassador to Afghanistan is murdered by Islamists during attempt to kidnap him
Nov 4, 1979 – Islamist mob seizes US Embassy in Iran, takes 63 hostages
Nov 21, 1979, Islamist mob seizes and burns US Embassy in Pakistan.
Current events: seems like a trip down memory lane. Does anyone remember what the economy was like in 1979?
ATLien
September 12th, 2012
7:25 pm
@ragnar
Spot on? You’re laughable
If she issues a retraction then her credibility is in question. Fact is, the timeline is well documented so I will take it that she’s under pressure from Fox News to toe the company line at the expense of facts. But that’s what that network specializes in so I shouldn’t be surprised.
A Dog Barks When His Master Is Attacked
September 12th, 2012
7:25 pm
@JamVet
September 12th, 2012
7:16 pm
Flip’s fumblerooskie vis vis the embassy murders.
What a big mouth cad.
Sure he beat the six stooges in Division 3 of Republican football, but now he’s in the FBS.
And he is a big underdog…
**********************************************************************
He’s a light weight.
He’s a rookie.
He’s a fumbling flip flopper.
He has soft hands and he always drops the ball.
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
7:27 pm
The media once again shows its hand…….
How the media turned Obama’s foreign policy bungle into a Romney gaffe
http://washingtonexaminer.com/how-the-media-turned-obamas-foreign-policy-bungle-into-a-romney-gaffe/article/2507779#.UFEZvLIiaSo
ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:28 pm
Dear ATLien @ 7:25, next you will be telling us the US Embassy in Cairo did not apologize for the offense against Islam. Romney nailed it, and even the Obama administration is now backing off what the Obama administration said.
A Dog Barks When His Master Is Attacked
September 12th, 2012
7:28 pm
@ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:25 pm
February 14, 1979 – US Ambassador to Afghanistan is murdered by Islamists during attempt to kidnap him
Nov 4, 1979 – Islamist mob seizes US Embassy in Iran, takes 63 hostages
Nov 21, 1979, Islamist mob seizes and burns US Embassy in Pakistan.
Current events: seems like a trip down memory lane. Does anyone remember what the economy was like in 1979?
****************************************************************************
Good lord.
What is your point?
No one wants to go back to 1979.
Heck some of us can’t remember 2011………….
heeheeheeheeheeheehee
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
7:29 pm
which goes along with this:
Open mic catches reporters coordinating questions
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/press-coordinates-question-ask-romney_652241.html
Hillbilly D
September 12th, 2012
7:30 pm
He has soft hands and he always drops the ball.
As a sports metaphor, that one misses the mark. In sports, a person who is referred to as having “soft hands” is always better at catching a ball (be it baseball, football, whatever) than someone who doesn’t, i.e. “hard hands”.
JDW
September 12th, 2012
7:30 pm
@kyle…the blog is eating posts again.
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
7:31 pm
“Nailed it” is now the Republican euphemism for lied?
Who knew?
ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:33 pm
Dear Dog Barks @ 7:28, “Good lord. What is your point? No one wants to go back to 1979. Heck some of us can’t remember 2011………….heeheeheeheeheeheehee”
Isn’t it obvious? The truth underlying your laughter is that Obama IS the second term of Jimmy Carter. Might as well laugh; otherwise you would have to cry.
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
7:33 pm
Hillbilly is correct.
Hands of steel may be a compliment in boxing, but not in any other sport…
HD, did you ever read Ball Four?
I was probably 12 and that was probably the first time I encountered that concept…
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
7:34 pm
Thanks Jesus and Allah that he is NOT the third term of George (W)orst Ever Bush!
Hillbilly D
September 12th, 2012
7:35 pm
HD, did you ever read Ball Four?
I did but it was probably 40 years ago. I hope there’s no pop quiz later.
ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:37 pm
In all fairness to President Carter, he got three and one-half initiatives right during his mostly unlamented term. He deregulated interest rates; he deregulated the airlines; and he deregulated interstate trucking. I give him a half point for the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel, which held until the current administration abandoned the government of Egypt.
In contrast, every Obama initiative has added burdens to the economy. He is just a bit slower (intellectually – that was not a jab about the famous Obama tendency to dither when a decision is needed) than was Mr. Carter.
ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:38 pm
Dear JamVet @ 7:31, I am aware that for you Clintonistas, “nailed it” has a completely different meaning.
A Dog Barks When His Master Is Attacked
September 12th, 2012
7:44 pm
@ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:28 pm
Dear ATLien @ 7:25, next you will be telling us the US Embassy in Cairo did not apologize for the offense against Islam. Romney nailed it, and even the Obama administration is now backing off what the Obama administration said.
******************************************************************************
“Romney nailed it?”
Who says he did?
New Yorker
September 12, 2012
“Libya Surprise” Could Be Death Knell for Romney Campaign
Bloomberg
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Phil Mattingly – Sep 12, 2012 5:34 PM ET
Romney Criticized for Handling of Libya Protests, Death
New York Times
By DAVID E. SANGER and ASHLEY PARKER
Published: September 12, 2012
Behind Romney’s Decision to Attack Obama on Libya
By Wednesday morning, as the sequence of events and the scope of the tragedy in Benghazi became more clear, Mr. Romney’s initial statement and ensuing comments were coming under attack as clumsy at best.
By later in the day, even SOME REPUBLICAN ALLIES WERE DECLINING to follow his lead, and some acknowledged that he looked as if he was trying to score points in the middle of a crisis.
HE NAILED IT?
Not.
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
7:51 pm
Gee, Obama didn’t take any questions at his “press conference” today on the subject. Go figure.
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
7:53 pm
Not that there would have been any hard or condemning questions asked like the ones the press coordinated with each other to ask Romney. Anything they can do to protect Obama I guess.
Del
September 12th, 2012
7:55 pm
“sniff….sniff…..I smell a lie.”
Disengage your head from where you sit down and you might find the air a bit fresher.
A Dog Barks When His Master Is Attacked
September 12th, 2012
7:58 pm
@ragnar danneskjold
September 12th, 2012
7:37 pm
In contrast, every Obama initiative has added burdens to the economy. He is just a bit slower (intellectually – that was not a jab about the famous Obama tendency to dither when a decision is needed) than was Mr. Carter.
******************************************************************************
The Trouble With Ragnar Danneskjold?
Ragnar Danneskjöld (born 1980), in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, was a philosopher who became a privateer.
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
7:59 pm
rags, good one! (in the fifth grade.)
Even our host had no reasoned rejoinder after I pointed out that your RINO candidate lied through his teeth on the Libyan embassy murders matter.
But least he did not try to dance off onto some other topic after being show the truth in black and white.
Perhaps you could learn from him?
gm
September 12th, 2012
8:00 pm
Since Romney and the right wing nut jobs love wars so much, I wonder how many of his sons are going to sign up to go fight, oh, thats right he going to have poor, middle, class conservatives to do it for him.
Thank you Mitt for showing the world and independent voters that you dont have what it takes to lead this country anywhere, I dare you insult the President who has killed more terrorist then any President.
Whats amazing his own party leaders are not backing him on this, no one but these stupid bubbas conservatives who Obama has kept safe for 4 years go figure these idiots”””
Goldie
September 12th, 2012
8:04 pm
How can any self-respecting American still support the Romney/Ryan ticket for November? Reckless, incompetent and desperate at this point. Convention speeches — a great opportunity to reveal what’s inside their hearts and minds, and yet no mention or recognition of our fighting troops in Afghanistan! How can it be that they would forget to even mention them?
So I would like to know why you Cons hate America so much that you would stand by this terrible slate of candidates now???
Linda
September 12th, 2012
8:06 pm
Michael Smith, & at least 2 other Americans, want us to utilize our own natural resources, but what he forgets are those Global Cooling warnings from the ’70s, the Global Warming warnings from the ’90s & the Climate Change (All of the Above) warnings from the ’00s. What about the hoe axe that Obama & the environmentalists perpetrate on the American people? What about the bugs & toads in Texas & the fearful moose in Alaska? Are we to deny them their civil rights?
We need to spend more trillions of dollars that we don’t have, that we can easily borrow from China, who we give foreign aid back to, to continue to suck oil from our enemies, who use both our oil money & our foreign aid to kill our military in the Middle East.
Michael, please!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
September 12th, 2012
8:06 pm
I’d like to see anyone post EXACTLY what Romney lied about. Thus far, we have AmVet coining such, but considering his views and unreliability regarding facts, he really hasn’t made the case with data – just faulty opinion.
Del
September 12th, 2012
8:07 pm
Evidently many are concluding that this was a coordinated attack with radical Islamic elements in Cairo planning with their fellow Jihadists in Libya to murder our Diplomats. The lefts politically correct appeasement philosophy that Obama also adopts has only put us behind an enemy that’s sworn to destroy us. No one knows the ratio of moderate Muslims to radical but we do know that the radicals are an enemy, which we need to destroy before they destroy us.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
September 12th, 2012
8:11 pm
Gee AmVet. I didn’t realize Obama gave up golf and campaigning to go all Rambo and kill terrorists. Don’t you mean “ordered” the killing of terrorists?
Interested Observer
September 12th, 2012
8:12 pm
Kyle wrote, “‘[Condoleeza Rice:] 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.”
For perspective, here’s a reminder of a few incidents that took place during the clarity that we enjoyed under Condoleeza Rice years–
June 14, 2002, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide bomber kills 12 and injures 51.
February 20, 2003, international diplomatic compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Truck bomb kills 17.
February 28, 2003, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Gunmen on motorcycles killed two consulate guards.
July 30, 2004, U.S. embassy in Taskkent, Uzbekistan
Suicide bomber kills two.
December 6, 2004, U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Militants stormed and occupied perimeter wall. Five killed, 10 wounded.
March 2, 2006, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide car bomber killed four, including a U.S. diplomate directly targeted by the assailants.
September 12, 2006, U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria
Gunmen attacked embassy with grenades, automatic weapons, and a car bomb (though second truck bomb failed to detonate). One killed and 13 wounded.
January 12, 2007, U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece
A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the embassy building. No one was injured.
July 9, 2008, U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
Armed men attacked consulate with pistols and shotguns. Three policemen killed.
March 18, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana’a, Yemen
Mortar attack misses embassy, hits nearby girls’ school instead.
September 17, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana’a, Yemen
Militants dressed as policemen attacked the embassy with RPGs, rifles, grenades and car bombs. Six Yemeni soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Sixteen more were injured.
@@
September 12th, 2012
8:13 pm
Dog’s posts are looking familiar…a blast from the past.
Anyhoo, today’s Voltaire doesn’t get many hits on YouTube. Probably because his music and message SUX.
But ain’t it grand he has the freedom to express himself without fear of being murdered?
Yes it is.
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
8:13 pm
There are ONLY two organizations in the world that deny anthropogenic climate change – the Republican Party and the North Korean government.
Every scientific organization in the world along with the United States military is on the correct side in this matter.
Good job, GOP and DPRK…
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
8:14 pm
OBAMA WENT TO SLEEP NOT KNOWING WHAT WAS HAPPENING THERE
nice…………..
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
8:16 pm
Poor tibs, go back and read the confab between Kyle and myself.
It is all right there in black and white.
Or don’t.
Ignorance, especially of your willful variety, is bliss, huh?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
September 12th, 2012
8:17 pm
When caught in his all too usual mistakes, AmVet resorts to climte change deflections.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
September 12th, 2012
8:18 pm
The Obozo administration took their eye off the ball in the ME. They thought Obozo’s Nobel and his apology tour had made it all better. Actually, our enemies in the ME correctly see Obozo as weak, or perhaps even sympathetic to the cause of the Islamofascists.
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
8:18 pm
On a side note:
Survey: One-Third Of Americans In ‘Lower Classes’ Since Obama Took Office
“In the course of Obama’s presidency, people saying they are in the “lower classes” have risen from one-quarter to one-third of the adult population”
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/09/12/survey-one-third-of-americans-in-lower-classes-since-obama-took-office/
@@
September 12th, 2012
8:18 pm
Goldie:
‘Ya know what’s funny. The DNC convention honored our troops with a video of Russian vessels. They apologized and then followed the apology with “But Romney didn’t even mention the troops.”
It was an unforced error on Romney’s part. After reading today’s posts, he’s probably reluctant to mention anything military. You guys have him pegged as a warmonger.
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
8:20 pm
Tibs, quit obsessing over me. I know it is damn difficult for you and always gets you in trouble. (grin)
Linda brought up the climate change topic.
Are you even reading this forum or just jumping in from time to time like some deer running through the woods?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
September 12th, 2012
8:20 pm
As I wrote, AmVet, and Kyle’s responses to you seem to back up, your opinion was (as usual) formed with faulty information.
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
8:22 pm
Libs always say they want to go back to the Clinton years:
US median income lowest since 1995
“The median income of American households dropped to its lowest level since 1995 last year, extending its decline during President Barack Obama’s tenure and highlighting the depth of the damage to the middle class inflicted by the recession and weak recovery.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ed14fc70-fc51-11e1-aef9-00144feabdc0.html#axzz26IwqnX5J
Del
September 12th, 2012
8:24 pm
The morons are aplenty on Jay’s blog this evening. A recent poster recants all of the heavy lifting and grief the Bush administration went through to rebuild our intelligence and military from his predecessors lack of attention to national security concerns. Unfortunately, his successor has squandered all of that hard work to once again put us into jeopardy.
Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
8:25 pm
CONVENTION BOUNCE GONE: O 46% R 45%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
8:25 pm
Good grief, tibs.
Reading is fundamental.
To @@’s point, the man is better off keeping his mouth shut…
Free at last, Free at last
September 12th, 2012
8:25 pm
Did terrorism world wide go down when Bush was in office?
I remember once when Powell attempted to claim that it had, but had to back away because his own State Department’s analysis said different.
Reading some of these posts, it would appear the world was as secure as it ever was before Jan 09.
If anyone has substantiated information that verifies we are safer or weaker, please post.
Thanks in advance.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
September 12th, 2012
8:28 pm
If anyone has substantiated information that verifies we are safer or weaker, please post.
Thanks in advance.
—————-
Never heard of the googles?
Del
September 12th, 2012
8:30 pm
“Poor tibs, go back and read the confab between Kyle and myself.”
AmVet I think you believe yourself to be a blog legend only in your own mind. I don’t think Kyle cringes at the sight of your postings on his blog. Go back to Jay, he’ll pamper you.
A Dog Barks When His Master Is Attacked
September 12th, 2012
8:32 pm
@Stephenson Billings
September 12th, 2012
7:51 pm
Gee, Obama didn’t take any questions at his “press conference” today on the subject. Go figure.
*************************************************************
That was not a time for questions.
A husband, father, son, uncle was killed.
It was a time for condolences.
Joe the Prophet
September 12th, 2012
8:33 pm
BREAKING NEWS….!!!!!!!!
Mitt’s plan for Libya…..BUY THEM OUT in a leveraged transaction…..SHIP ALL THEIR JOBS TO CHINA…..Take their money and invest it in Grand Cayman and Switzerland so it’s tax free…!!!!
Paul Ryan…..!?!?!? He really doesn’t have a plan, but he can see Canada from his house..!!!!
Linda
September 12th, 2012
8:33 pm
If the left (Democrats, liberals, socialists, Marxists, Communists, progressives, nationalists, statists, American bankrupters, etc., whatever you want to call them) believe that our breath (what we exhale)(carbon dioxide) is causing global warning/climate change, why do they continue to breathe & buy soft drinks from fast food joints?