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 12th, 2012
9:54 pm
Solving problems isn’t worth a $hit, perpetuating problems particularly false problems is where its at for Dems. Perpetuating problems without viable solutions is far more effective for Democrats since for them it’s all about getting elected/reelected. Solving problems for Democrats isn’t a priority but convincing those who’ll buy into it that false problems indeed exist is what keeps them in office.
Linda
September 12th, 2012
9:55 pm
JamVet@8:40, Since you mentioned the Navy, what is the highest level of CO2 considered safe on a submarine? How does that compare with those levels in our atmosphere? Have you really studied the science or are you just accepting what you have heard in the corrupt alphabet media? Do you ever question what is reported as fact?
Don’t feel bad. My husband & I initially believed in the junk science. I have spent countless hours trying to ascertain what global warming is all about. My degree in science helped. It’s the greatest hoax ever brought on global residents.
Even if you believe that the globe is warming, that the warming is caused by man, surely it’s a stretch for anyone to believe that career, professional politicians in DC can “fix” it by trading carbon credits & burying carbon dioxide in the ground at the same time the fast food restaurants are adding it to soft drinks.
@@
September 12th, 2012
9:58 pm
AmVet:
That’s good to know. The carbon market over in Europe is on the verge of collapse. It’s always beem a scheme that would create a new bubble through carbon trading derivatives speculation. Funny that Al Gore would concoct such a diabolical plan. I thought it was all about the environment with him.
schnirt
I don’t know of anyone who’s opposed to alternative energy sources. It’s just gotta be affordable. The $50,000 Volt isn’t affordable. Let the private sector handle it.
I’m assuming you’ll be O.K. if they make a profit off their endeavors? No reason to get into business if there’s no profit in it. It’ll require profit to grow the industry.
You do want the industry to grow, do you not?
No more Solyndras. No government subsidies.
Del
September 12th, 2012
10:01 pm
Time to mosey…y’all have a great evening. I’m out…Taps.
Linda
September 12th, 2012
10:01 pm
JamVet@8:57, That’s one of the reasons Jon Huntsman is not a presidential nominee. I would lift up my degree in science from one of the largest universities in the Southeastern US to his qualifications anytime.
bluecoat
September 12th, 2012
10:02 pm
Hoe with an ax sounds dangerous-TD done lost all his goodness.Where we stand? Who knows we did not support our old friend Mubarak.
Hillbilly D
September 12th, 2012
10:04 pm
Funny that Al Gore would concoct such a diabolical plan. I thought it was all about the environment with him.
The environment is always better…….if you have a lot of money, so he was looking to make his environment better. Go up to Tennessee and talk to the old folks about Al, Sr. The acorn didn’t fall far from the tree.
The $50,000 Volt isn’t affordable.
According to things I’ve heard and read, from what I consider to be reliable automotive sources, GM loses over $35K on every Volt they sell. Not a workable solution, in my opinion.
cc
September 12th, 2012
10:08 pm
Del @ 8:59 pm:
“Obama looked like a weak apologist and an incompetent ass this morning”
So? That’s what he is . . .
JamVet @ 9:10 pm:
“The election is as good as over now…”
You’re absolutely right, the Kenyan is finished!
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:15 pm
Good piece, Kyle. I likes especially this statement: “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.” You cannot reason with a mob or terrorists, and those that imagine you can are deluded.
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:19 pm
“We stand in the post apocalyptic landscape capped off by the “greatest foreign policy blunder in modern American history”. (hat tip the combat veteran Chuck Hagle, R – Nebr.)”
Gee…here I was still thinking it was the Vietnam War. Thanks for straightening me out, JV.
MarkV
September 12th, 2012
10:21 pm
Mitt Romney and Kyle Wingfield, two of the people who have shown no decency the day the US was attacked abroad.
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:22 pm
“I think the verb “said” is bit too mild to describe Jam’s diatribe above, Finn. “Well vented” or “Well spitted” might be more appropriate.”
LOL – that is a funny remark.
Linda
September 12th, 2012
10:22 pm
bluecoat@10:02, Don’t you dare use my phrase without paying some money to my cause. Hoe axe is my patented phrase for Obama’s, the Democrats’ & , of course, the UN’s cap & trade debacle that is bankrupting our country & the world, for that matter.
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:24 pm
“JamVet: So, we’re back to “blame Bush”? Got it. And, assuming you’re talking about Romney’s comments: What, exactly, did he say that qualifies as “depraved”?
That would be anything he said, Kyle. Come on, smarten up
@@
September 12th, 2012
10:27 pm
A real Catch-22.
EU Gropes — in Vain — for Carbon Price Sweet Spot
@@
September 12th, 2012
10:29 pm
Dog Bark:
That wasn’t my post. It was a namejacker, you dingleberry.
Maybe YOU!
Linda
September 12th, 2012
10:30 pm
Kyle, I think Dog Bark@10:25 just went too far. I’m out of here.
@@
September 12th, 2012
10:31 pm
I’m outta here too. Not because of Dog Barf though.
It’s my bedtime.
JamVet
September 12th, 2012
10:33 pm
Linda, it’s all good.
You are brilliant, everyone you disagree with is not and the United States military and 98% of the climatologists from the world’s most prestigious scientific organizations are all a bunch of misguided, globally warmed commies, socialists and Marxists.
Great American, you are.
And Del and Dusty are reduced to sniping and cc is in denial about Romney’s upcoming McCaining.
The GOP nightmare continues.
Sweet dreams, all…
@@
September 12th, 2012
10:34 pm
Oops! Did it again.
Dog Barks.
schnirt
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:36 pm
“Also, of course we know where America stands when the likes of Condoleezza Rice is in charge: Ready. Fire! Aim…and throw in a little waterboarding while you’re at it. She shouldn’t be speaking at party conventions. She should be relaxing in a small cell in The Hague for her part in violating the Geneva Conventions. For the record, I’m not trying to be provocative. Simply put, she’s a war criminal.”
And an accomplished pianist – you left that out. And, of course, the part about her amazing rise to Secretary of State (the first such African-American to do so) from Birmingham where a classmate of hers was killed in a church bombing (but maybe that event is what turned her into a “war criminal”).
Hey (tell me true) if she is a war criminal (for “water boarding”), what in the world was LBJ – Stalin reincarnated? Or just one of the “War Pigs” Black Sabbath sang about?
Oh, and news flash: the Geneva Convention does NOT technically cover terrorists (unless you are a liberal and want to extend the Constitutional rights of Americans to non-citizens in the world, wherever they might be).
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
September 12th, 2012
10:43 pm
Dog – The next time you contribute anything of substance to the conversation will be the first time you contribute anything of substance to the conversation.
Just sayin…
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:43 pm
“Kyle, you should be vary familiar with hate. It’s the driving force of the GOP these days. How dare you try to label all Muslims as “they hate us.” You sound like any other semi-literate red neck around here that passes of fear and hate as justifications for racism, bigotry or homophobia.”
Is this satire, Kyle? Otherwise, the unintended irony is astounding – to from calling you a bigot to actually being one in the space of one paragraph. Now THAT is talent.
Hillbilly D
September 12th, 2012
10:47 pm
PROVE IT………..
Kyle told us the other day that the post in question was a name-jacker, so consider it proven.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
September 12th, 2012
10:47 pm
An airburst cruise missile about, oh, let’s say, two hundred meters away from the US Embassy in Cairo right now would serve notice to a bunch of bloodthirsty savages that if you want it, we got it.
Have some.
But, unfortunately, we have a spineless koward in the white house, so we fiddle.
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:51 pm
“America does not STAND for Bush’s or Condi’s policies anymore– OK? War-mongering and nation-building (or “spreading democracy” as the Cons prefer to call it) is no longer the automatic response to the problems in the Middle East. Diplomacy and compromise are now the policies of America — but I understand your confusion Kyle, because that’s what Romney likes to call taking “an apology tour”… to hell with the whole “diplomacy” thing, I guess!”
Wait…no…are you…one of those 9/11 conspiracy believers? You know, that GWB caused the single greatest attack on America soil to go get us some oil? And how is the old “diplomacy and compromise” thing working out these days? Looks like the “Arab Spring” has sprung and there is now less queziness over the Middle East than ever. Theocratic democracy is NOT, after all, an oxymoron.
WiseJustModerate
September 12th, 2012
10:52 pm
Man up Kyle. Don’t hide behind some abstract question about where America stands. Where do you as an American stand? Are you ready to enlist or at least pay more taxes so others can back up another round of “bluster and blunder”? Freedom is not free you know.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
September 12th, 2012
10:54 pm
Dog – I’m surprised you can spell “substance.”
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
10:57 pm
“I am not projecting anything other than fact. Spreading hate and lies only encourages psychopaths to act on it. Fact: Georgia, despite modern times, is filled with a (thankfully) dying breed of red necks, racists, bigots and homophobic brainless wonders. I guess you don’t get outside of Atlanta too often. Their xenophobia gave us this wonderful new policy at the DMV. ”
And this from a poster sporting a moniker of “Gravy Train”. Again, the unintended irony is remarkable. This just HAS to be satire. Please tell me it is.
redneckbluedog
September 12th, 2012
11:01 pm
Romney’s “Mccain Moment”……
I wonder if Mitt is going to “suspend his campaign” to “work on Libya”…!?!?
C’mon Mitt….Lose like a man…!!!!!
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
11:02 pm
“Any fair look at history will show that Christians have dished out much more persecution than they have received through the years. Richard Feynman, for example, was prohibited from joining any non-Jewish fraternities at MIT and was almost barred from acceptance to Princeton in the 1930s due to being Jewish. To his credit, he never whined about the discrimination he faced in college and early in his career.”
That would not be true. It might be true perhaps of self-styled Christians, but surely you must not suppose that everyone who calls himself a singer is really one.
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
11:10 pm
“The German census of May 1939 indicates that 54 percent of Germans considered themselves Protestant and 40 percent considered themselves Catholic, with only 3.5 percent claiming to be neo-pagan “believers in God,” and 1.5 percent unbelievers. This census came more than six years into the Nazi era.” Nazi Germany was a far more Christian country than the United States is today. In fact, “According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian.”
Well I know at least one person now who has never apparently read the New Testament. Why don’t you check out this verse and see if you can figure out why I pointed you to it: Acts 11:26? Hint: do you really think Biblical faith is some kind of mental assent to a proposition?
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
11:12 pm
“Like it or not, the words spoken and written by our diplomats are considered representative of the administration. And the idea that this is a “death knell” for his campaign exists only in the minds of liberals intent on wrapping up this contest well ahead of time.”
I would agree.
WiseJustModerate
September 12th, 2012
11:12 pm
Kyle, let me make it simpler for you. In your informed opinion, which of these are friends and which are foes? No nuance please, just put “friend” or “foe” next to each one. Remember now, “unambiguously and clearly” is how it’s done.
Benghazi
Cairo
Jerusalem
Damascus
Russia
China
Iraq
Afghanistan
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
September 12th, 2012
11:17 pm
Can you say “Hostage Crisis?”
Bruno
September 12th, 2012
11:21 pm
HD–Just wanted to update you on the Phillies. 3.0 games out of the wild card now with 19 games left to play. Doesn’t look like such a long shot now, especially since they just won 7 in a row.
Move over Miracle Mets……
Bruno
September 12th, 2012
11:22 pm
In your informed opinion, which of these are friends and which are foes?
Simple—Put “friend” next to Jerusalem, and “foe” next to the rest.
Next question??
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
11:30 pm
“How can any self-respecting American still support the Romney/Ryan ticket for November?”
It is called a choice between the lesser of two evils and it is frequently what we are presented with in presidential elections. My alternative is to not vote.
“So I would like to know why you Cons hate America so much that you would stand by this terrible slate of candidates now?”
See above. I plan to vote for Romney because 1) he is likely to nominate justices for the SCOTUS who don’t view the Constitution, unlike every other legal contract, as a “living document” – a mentality that has given us, for example, widespread pornography in the guise of “free SPEECH” (you have to love the wonders pornography alone has done for marriages in America) and a generalized right to privacy not actually found in the Constitution, 2) he actually has considerable executive experience coming into the job and 3) he can, in my opinion, do no worse than Obama in handling the economic mess we are in and may well do a whole lot better – I do not believe he is a spendthrift as was GWB and he operated within a framework in MA that required he balance the budget (so the concept is not foreign to him).
David R. Boag, DDS
September 12th, 2012
11:31 pm
Buckeye @ 12:41 pm
“@Bruno, a Bible burning wouldn’t motivate me to violence, but I’m sure there are people in this country that are the opposite, heck there are people that kill doctors who perform abortions.”
So Buckeye, I’m confused. In the case of violence by others in response to Bible-burning, then, since you, yourself, are responding appropriately, do you condemn the others who do the violence or the Bible-burners for causing the violence?
Hillbilly D
September 12th, 2012
11:32 pm
Bruno
They can’t stay hot forever.
I’m sticking with my prediction, come hell or high water.
Bruno
September 12th, 2012
11:35 pm
That would not be true. It might be true perhaps of self-styled Christians, but surely you must not suppose that everyone who calls himself a singer is really one.
Crier–”Christians” like to make a lot of noise about how persecuted they are. In the early, early days of Christianity, prior to Constantine, there was some truth to that statement. Since that time, however, the roles have been reversed, with the abuse given far outweighing the abuse taken. I particularly laugh at the contrived “War on Christmas” since the fact is that Christmas is completely non-Biblical to begin with.
Per your point about self-identification, the same could be said over on the Muslim side. By definition, terrorists who target innocent people can’t be true Muslims, since the Q’ran specifically prohibits such a tactic. However, we in the West still identify them as Muslim terrorists since they identify themselves that way. As such, it’s just as fair for the Christian faith to have to take responsibility for all of the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity.
independent thinker
September 12th, 2012
11:37 pm
Romney campaign goinjg down like the Titanic.Most Repubs running from his statements today. Even liyan Ryan jumping ship and running ads to keep his house seat! Those tax returns come out and all that will be left is air bubbles.
Bruno
September 12th, 2012
11:38 pm
I’m sticking with my prediction, come hell or high water.
I’m not making any predictions, HD. Just having fun watching them try. I haven’t watched hardly any baseball this year except for a few Braves games. I hardly recognized any of the names on the roster. In the old days, you could count on basically the same guys year after year. Now, almost half the positions turn over each spring.
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
11:39 pm
“Gov. Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later, and as president, one of the things I’ve learned is you can’t do that,” Obama said during an interview with CBS. “It’s important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts and that you’ve thought through the ramifications before you make them.”
Nice quotation, JV. How about applying Obama’s words to his own conduct to see how he fares in this regard? If you are honest, you will admit that he is guilty as charged on more than one occasion.
Bruno
September 12th, 2012
11:47 pm
do you condemn the others who do the violence or the Bible-burners for causing the violence?
David–I doubt if you will get a straight answer from any of the Libs to that question. Earlier today, Buckeye, MarkV and JDW all seemed to put a substantial part of the blame for the attacks on the Americans on some inflammatory anti-Muslim film, and felt that it was appropriate that we condemn the film as a nation. In light of their double standard toward Islam and Christianity, however, they would likely condemn the Christians while excusing the Muslims.
Bruno
September 12th, 2012
11:49 pm
BTW, David, I work in healthcare as well, and agree with your remarks yesterday about people being responsible for their own health care costs. I’ve written at length in the past about the many flaws of Obamacare.
Hillbilly D
September 12th, 2012
11:50 pm
Bruno
Don’t think you were here earlier in the day but many of us viewed the film as just an excuse. They were going to do it anyway, and the film was just something they came up with for justification. And as I said, my feeling was that doing it on 9/11 was basically just an extended middle finger.
Towncrier
September 12th, 2012
11:51 pm
“Per your point about self-identification, the same could be said over on the Muslim side. By definition, terrorists who target innocent people can’t be true Muslims, since the Q’ran specifically prohibits such a tactic.”
I disagree. Have you read the Koran? It is an unstructured, historically vague, rambling and highly repetitive text. But that is not my point. There are perhaps a score of passages commanding that non-believer (”infidels”) be either harmed or killed. These are open-ended and universal commands (not time specific commands that apply to specific people as in the OT). Any serious believer who believes the Koran is the inspired word of God cannot just dismiss these verses (since they do not readily lend themselves to figurative interpretations). Now, the prohibition against killing innocent people may apply so long as they are not infidels. So, in short, I would say that those who do NOT follow the Koran closely in every way is a nominal Muslim and not the reverse.
Bruno
September 12th, 2012
11:52 pm
Don’t think you were here earlier in the day but many of us viewed the film as just an excuse. They were going to do it anyway, and the film was just something they came up with for justification.
I was here earlier, and agreed with that sentiment, HD. The roots of the discontent throughout the Middle East have basically nothing to do with religion, IMO.
Hillbilly D
September 12th, 2012
11:54 pm
I was here earlier, and agreed with that sentiment, HD.
Oh, well, the memory is the second thing to go, they say. Sounds like it’s time for me to call it a night.