Detailed information is still coming together this morning, but it appears that four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in Libya by violent protesters. Responding to an obscure anti-Islam video posted to YouTube by some random bigot, and promoted by an obscure Florida pastor, protestors attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
The Romney campaign, which dismissed foreign policy as a "distraction" yesterday, now hopes to exploit the violence to advance Mitt Romney's political ambitions.
Before violence erupted at the American consulate, the U.S. embassy condemned the fringe YouTube video. Romney, in an official statement, said "the Obama administration's first response" to the violence was to "sympathize with those who waged the attacks" on our consulate. That's not what happened.
I genuinely want to know what kind of person sees a foreign attack on Americans -- an attack that has reportedly led to four U.S. deaths -- and thinks it's acceptable to lie about the violence to gain a few points in the polls. The campaign isn't going Romney's way right now, but is that an excuse to exploit the death of Americans with cheap rhetoric? In the face of violence abroad, this was Romney's first instinct?
President Obama issued a statement this morning, "strongly" condemning "the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued her own condemnation of the attack overnight, "in the strongest terms." The White House also rejected some tweets from U.S. diplomats in Egypt that had not been cleared by the administration.
Update: This post originally quoted a statement from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, but he was referring to Egypt, not Libya.
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A prudent and ethical man takes action that is less than that allowed by law or constitution and more than that required by the same. What is allowed under the constitution... free speech... does not mean we are free to endanger the lives of others with our dogmatic perversion of our own religion at the expense of another. The act of creating the video was not illegal, the act of publishing the video was not illegal... but both were immoral and unjust. The act of killing those who are innocent of either immoral and unjust act is certainly illegal and also unjust.
This was a missed opportunity for Governor Romney to show that he is more than an opportunistic threat to our National Security and an obstruction to our economic recovery.
Romney is now talking to the press condemning the WH's statement which he states sympathizes with the attackers. Doubling down on his idiocy!
Obama is still the President and what he does in foreign affairs should not be fodder for someone who knows nothing about foreign affairs. He is losing the race and it shows!
Romney is becoming more and more loathsome as each day passes. It is not enough that he has no thoughts on anything at all, not policies, no platform nothing. Well except the "Lets Get Rid Of Obama By Any Means Necessary" platform. He is a pandering piece of pond scum, who should go back to his car elevators and magic panties and stop repeatedly making an utter ass of himself. Oh and take the ultimate in revolting vomit inducing garbage, Ryan, with him.
Given that their response to a YOUTUBE VIDEO is to kill 4 with rifles and rockets, I'm finding it hard not to become a bit anti-Muslim myself...
It's been common knowledge that many muslims take insults to their religion very seriously. It's an unspeakable and heinous attack to them. To them this act is a physical assault on them personally. So their reaction is to be expected, even though the target of their animosity was grossly misguided. But when you are in a foaming angry mob it's the nearest target which gets hit. It's not like they can attack YouTube.
That's what the scum who made the video want you to do. See my comment below. How does an "Islamic Fundamentalist" suddenly "find" a video that was posted on YouTube a year ago? The Israelis have a long history of planting agents in Islamic fundamentalist movements (the Mossad and Shin Bet created Hamas to weaken the PLO). This is Netanyahu's "fall surprise" of intervening in the US election after the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs told him the US would not be "complicit" in his attack on Iran.
Well said John Jones. It is utter hubris on our part to pretend that WE are the only ones who can cause internet phenomena like viral videos. Meanwhile, pretending shock at the reaction of the Middle Eastern Muslim world to this video can only be chalked up to foolishness.
Let's just get it straight now. No matter how "democratic" an Islamist government claims to be now or in the future, none will EVER defend disrespect towards the Prophet Mohammed. Call it their "yell 'fire' in a theater" line if you must, either way, respecting the Prophet is simply an inherent part of their culture. Just like how politicians here in the US are forced to pay lip service to Christianity regardless of our supposed separation of church and state. Because religious pandering has become an inherent part of OUR political culture.
Along with nonstop Muslim bashing. And I think it's high time we acknowledged this as a nation, and how our one-sided view of such "free speech" continues to endanger US citizens living outside our borders.
Romney used these attacks to falsely Slam President Obama ,And yesterday used 911 to Slam President Obama for his policy Foreign, He's a very desperate man , He will say anything or do anything to win this election , Scary .... What else will he do ?
You would think that Romney's advisers would ADVISE him to reserve any comment till AFTER this international incident was resolved and not before. But I guess that's asking too much of his advisers. They have thus far been inept in doing anything right for his campaign. Why start now?
Islam sucks. As do Christianity, Judaism and every other form of organized superstition, no matter how sophisticated the excuses become. And the fact that people get EXTREMEMLY upset whenever their all-powerful invisible friend is dissed suggest that the practitioners also know, at least on some level, that their bull@!$%# is just that.
Huh. The PC spelling of a well-known slang term for fecal matter is "@!$%#. I did not know that.
Florida pastor Terry Jones needs to have someone's shoe coming out of his mouth via his anal canal. How many people died because of his foolishness last year? A dozen or more? Now he's gotten four more people killed, U.S. citizens this time.
Is it necessary for the pundits to give equal time to Romney who tries to jump the gun and speak before Obama on international incidents. He acts as if he is president already and seeks to twist remarks of the WH to gain some political points. I will be so glad to see Obama win in November and get rid of a man who in his arrogance acts like he knows anything about governing.
This morning I am disgusted with Mitt Romney. Not only does he want to exploit a tragedy for his own political gain, he wants to do it by protecting the religious intolerance of the man who insulted Islam. There is no excuse for violence, no matter what the perceived insult, but there is also no excuse for defending the hate speech of one @!$%#. Yes, we must protect the first amendment. He has a right to say stupid things. We also have a right to call him a dangerous idiot.
"My plan is to make a series of 200 hours” was the comment published yesterday by loyal "American" Sam Bacile. Is he an American? He describes himself as an Israeli Jew and that he has 100 Jews (does not use the word American in his statement) contributing to the making of his film. He says that the purpose of the film was political and not religious. He is not a film maker but involved in California Real Estate. So why would he make a film that he new would enrage and instigate that audience in the Middle East. He claims that the violence that resulted was the result of the religion. Meanwhile, when he was making the film, he was talking to the famous Koran burning "American" that caused death and violence in the Middle East. So who are the 101 Americans that thought this would be helpful to our talks with Israel , thought it would be fun to celebrate the loss of Americans this week by causing a riot in the Middle East and as could be predicted, the death of more Americans? Is this poor judgment? I would like to know if they are Americans and why 100 people -- American or not -- were sold this film project?
See my comment below. This is an Israeli "false flag" operation. It is Netanyahu's "fall surprise" for the American election campaign.
As mush as I personally dislike Terry Jones, his actions here did nothing to kill 4 Americans over there. Those who killed them, made the conscious decision to do so. They could just have easily made the decision to have a peaceful protest...could they not...so because "It's been common knowledge that many muslims take insults to their religion very seriously. It's an unspeakable and heinous attack to them. To them this act is a physical assault on them personally", we can simply dismiss their actions....oh and the Inam that got them going told the crowd that it a a movie being released in THEATHERS....not on youtube (just a SMALL difference)....so either he was/is that stupid, or he had another motive in mind. It's really getting rather annoying how the world seems to be cowering to Islam because they seem to have a penchant towards violence with other non-muslim nations and/or religions. So at what point do we demand that they take accountability for their actions....never...maybe someday....
Follow the money Bacile was given to do this "film" and it will lead straight to the people who said "9/11 is good for Israel". This has all the hallmarks of a standard Israeli disinformation operation. Get all of us riled up so we go fight Iran for them. It's what they do. This is Netanyahu's "fall surprise," the intervention in our politics they've been threatening ever since the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said the US does not want to be "complicit" with Netanyahu's government in an attack. How does an "Islamic Fundamentalist" in Egypt suddenly "find" the YouTube video that was posted a year ago? The Israelis have a long history of planting agents in the Islamic fundamenalist movements. That way it's not traceable to them, but this is definitely another of their "false flag" operations. Bacile will undoubtedly surface in Israel soon, once the Mossad can "rescue" him.
Apparently, so does campaigning...
Can you provide a link for the Romney statement ("Romney, in an official statement, said "the Obama administration's first response" to the violence was to "sympathize with those who waged the attacks" on our consulate. That's not what happened.")? Thanks!
Follow the money Bacile was given to do this "film" and it will lead straight to the people who said "9/11 is good for Israel". This has all the hallmarks of a standard Israeli disinformation operation. Get all of us riled up so we go fight Iran for them. It's what they do. This is Netanyahu's "fall surprise," the intervention in our politics they've been threatening ever since the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said the US does not want to be "complicit" with Netanyahu's government in an attack. How does an "Islamic Fundamentalist" in Egypt suddenly "find" the YouTube video? The Israelis have a long history of planting agents in the Islamic fundamenalist movements. That way it's not traceable to them, but this is definitely another of their "false flag" operations. Bacile will undoubtedly surface in Israel soon, once the Mossad can "rescue" him.
It wouldn't surprise me if the Koch Bros or Sheldon Adelson funded the film. Mitt feeling free to put his foot in his mouth, good lord the man needs a muzzle.
It is unfortunate that any comment on the anti-Islamic video that triggered the protests in Egypt and Libya should be construed as a defense of the brutal homicidal violence which tragically left Christopher Stevens and three of his embassy staff dead. Romney insists that it is an American virtue to protect the right to speak freely at all costs and without question. Nonetheless the perpetrator of the video, an Israeli living in California, Sam Bacile and with the monetary backing of wealthy Jewish individuals produced a hateful, anti-religious video with the direct intent of instigating violence and mayhem. As Americans we do not consider hateful, racist, degrading and inflammatory speech as something which is worthy of protection under the first amendment. Indeed it should be a right of free speech to criticize the video, its maker and its intent. We certainly have no need for more hate mongers.
Stolen from the interwebs.
Free speech does not give us the right to freely broadcast our prejudices, bigotries, biases and "opinions" and then expect them to all be equally and automatically treated with deferential respect. Instead, freedom of speech gives us nothing more than the right to put our opinions, however insane, to the test in a "marketplace of ideas" where truth competes with falsehood and the fate of our opinions rises or falls based on their merits -- not on the fact that we have them.
This idea that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, which are therefore impervious to challenge under terms of a ceasefire agreement in which everyone "agrees to disagree," is a recipe for the mainstreaming of political extremism through a process that exploits liberalism's own values of open-mindedness and tolerance against it.
For those, and I will assume most here are reading US paper's, feeds, etc. Why not broaden your horizon. There are more details about the video over at Al Jazeera, which may put a different perspective on this sad event: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/09/201291214042970150.html
Thanx afisher , aljazeera is always very informative
Yes , get out there and practice your freedom of speech folks , go down to south carolina , get your gun permit , strap on a shoulder holster , put on some arab garb , then make a sign calling the confederate flag a rag , and picket out front of the state capital building , you will learn all about american free speech there
I want to know if any of the people on this blog have actually seen the video. I do not think we should be screaming "hate crime" unless we KNOW what we are talking about. The truth is this is a tragedy due to extremist views. Extremist views are dangerous in Islam and Christianity.
Keith I couldn't agree more.
Acknowledging that the video is free speech is not the same as condoning it or commenting on it's content.
The maker of the video should be shamed and feeling terrible much not jailed or prosecuted because of a bunch of people on this or any other site saying "hey you can't say that, it's his fault these people died"
If I say something and someone else acts based on what I said, I am not responsible for their actions. Especially not when it's out there on the internet.
It's a slippery slope yall are on - when will they come for us, posting this here, because someone read this thread and went out and killed the maker of the video?
Would it be all of our fault that that murder happened?
You can't pick and choose which speech is free, that is what makes its FREE SPEECH and a right.
The only people we should be blaming are the murderers.
We can't silence the pastor, the flock or the video maker.
I'm a firm believer in the 1st Amendment, however I also believe in holding people responsible for their actions.
One wonders if there isn't a civil case to be made against Jones and Bacile by the families of those killed in Libya? Intent should be easily proven as Jones certainly knew that the "film" was inflammatory and the person who produced it, in his own words, did so exactly for that reason.
It's amazing what might come out at a civil trial. For example, those who provided the money would have to be named; if only to give them a chance to prove their own lack of culpability and show that they weren't responsible for the final product. Otherwise, of course, they too could be named as defendents and fined.
I also understand that, provided one has an idea of what one's looking for, emails are very hard to completely be erased. It might prove very...interesting.
Oh, and yeah, Romney's an *ss!