US Embassies in Egypt, Libya Breached, BO Silent

[deacon blues]

Where is the president today on the anniversary of 9/11? Our embassies are breached and we hear nothing from him! He turns down a request from the Israeli PM for a meeting. Bizarre behavior from a president seeking reelection. He needs the Jewish vote to win Florida. He doesn't seem to care too much aboutntheir support.

Cairo (CNN) -- Angry protesters attacked U.S. diplomatic compounds in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday, citing in both instances an online film considered offensive to Islam.

In Cairo, several men scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down its American flag, according to CNN producer Mohammed Fahmy, who was on the scene.

In Libya, witnesses say members of a radical Islamist group called Ansar al-Sharia protested near the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where NATO jets established no-fly zones last year to blunt ground attacks from then Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

The group then clashed with security forces in the city, blocking roads leading to the consulate, witnesses said.

The Libyan government notified the United States that an employee at the U.S. Consulate was killed, a State Department official told CNN.

The State Department does not have independent confirmation of the death, the official said. The nationality of the worker was not immediately known.

In Egypt, police and army personnel formed defensive lines around the U.S. Embassy in an effort to prevent demonstrators from advancing, but not before the protesters affixed a black flag atop a ladder in the American compound.

The black flag, which hangs in full view from inside the complex, is adorned with white characters that read, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger," an emblem often used by Islamic radicals.

A volley of warning shots were fired as a large crowd gathered around the compound, although it is not clear who fired the shots.

Egyptian groups point to U.S. websites, including YouTube, that have scenes from the film. Some anti-Muslim blogs also have flagged the movie.

In a series of disjointed scenes, filmmakers depict Prophet Mohammed as a child molester, womanizer and ruthless killer.

Most of the Muslim world considers depictions of Mohammed to be blasphemous and deeply offensive.

It was not clear late Tuesday who produced the film and under what auspices.
Embassy officials issued a warning to Americans in Egypt, telling them to avoid the demonstrations which "may gather in front of the U.S. Embassy, or Egyptian government buildings such as the People's Assembly and Ministry of Interior."

"It is unclear if large numbers will take to the streets, but clashes may occur should two opposing groups come into contact with one another," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. "Large gatherings and non-essential travel in and around downtown and Garden City should be avoided this afternoon."
Frenzied protesters could been seen Tuesday afternoon holding up bits of a shredded American flag to television camera crews while chanting anti-U.S. slogans.

An embassy phone operator told CNN that the compound had been cleared of diplomatic personnel earlier in the day, ahead of the apparent threat, while Egyptian riot police and the army were called in.

"This is an expression of a feeling that is thought to be an insult," said Nizih El Naggary, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. "But events like this are extremely deplorable. And we have to work to get things under control."

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement Tuesday, pledging to protect embassies and warning of the protests' potentially debilitating effects on the Egyptian economy.

"There are police forces at the demonstrations," El Naggary said. "They should be protecting the embassy and asking people to leave."

Several individuals claimed responsibility for organizing the demonstrations Tuesday, including Salafist leader Wesam Abdel-Wareth, who is president of Egypt's conservative Hekma television channel.

Mohamed al-Zawahiri -- the brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri -- added, "We called for the peaceful protest joined by different Islamic factions including the Islamic Jihad (and the) Hazem Abu Ismael movement."

"We were surprised to see the big numbers show up, including the soccer Ultra fans," he said. "I just want to say, how would the Americans feel if films insulting leading Christian figures like the pope or historical figures like Abraham Lincoln were produced?"

He added that "the film portrays the prophet in a very ugly manner, alluding to topics like sex, which is not acceptable."

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo announced that it had canceled visa services for Wednesday.

It also said in a statement that it "condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."

"Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy," the statement said. "We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

Demonstrations elicited a mixture of reactions from the Egyptian street, where last year tens of thousands turned out in opposition to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

This summer, Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsy, was sworn into power at Tahrir Square, the scene of the nation's revolution in 2011.

Though Tuesday's embassy protests are the first that Morsy has dealt with, Egypt recently produced similar scenarios when protesters attacked the Israeli and Syrian embassies in unrelated episodes.

"These protests are a bad image for Egypt," said a Cairo street vendor named Ahmed. "Of course I'm against insulting Islam, but it's the undereducated, poor people who are out here causing problems."

"All I want for Egypt is security and stability," he said. "And as you can see this isn't it."

The incident occurred on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as crowds gathered across the United States in somber remembrance of a day that left nearly 3,000 people dead.

Tuesday's focus on the controversial film also drew comparisons to outcry generated from a 2008 movie produced by an anti-Muslim Dutch lawmaker, which then sought to portray Islam as a violent religion.

Geert Wilders' film "Fitna," which he released online, featured images of terrorist acts superimposed over verses from the Quran.

[Nitehawk013]

He's out campaigning. That is far more important than our embassy being breached or takign time to remember the tragedy of 9/11.

[deacon blues]

How's that "Arab Spring" thingy working for you Mr. President? I think about his apology tour to Cairo back in 2009. Talked about a new relationship with Muslim countries. Surprise surprise! These folks don't care about us being their friends! They're nuts!!!

[deacon blues]

UPDATE: Now Obama apologizes!!!!!!

From Commentary Magazine:

Is it possible to learn from history? Apparently not if you are an American president determined to win the love of the Islamic world. Over 33 years ago, Islamist rioters stormed an American embassy. U.S. sovereignty was violated and hostages were taken. The immediate response from America, though, was conciliatory–as if those who had insulted the United States could be convinced to think better of their target if those who had just been attacked made enough apologies. The result was the Iran hostage crisis that helped bring down the administration of Jimmy Carter. You might think American diplomats would have learned the lessons of Carter’s Iran debacle but judging by the statement issued today by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, perhaps that chapter of history is no longer considered required reading in age of Obama.

Today a mob numbering in the hundreds stormed the Cairo embassy on the pretext of being upset about the alleged appearance on YouTube of a film made by Egyptian-American that is derogatory to Islam. The mob scaled the wall of the embassy, entered the courtyard and tore down and burned the U.S. flag that flew over the diplomatic enclave and raised in its place a black Islamic banner that is associated with al-Qaeda. According to the Associated Press, no embassy personnel were hurt since nearly all of them had fled the compound before the mob arrived. Egyptian riot police did not stop the rioters.

In response to this outrage, this is the statement issued by the United States in Egypt:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others


No mention was made to the invasion of the embassy or the insult to the symbol of the United States that is as dear to Americans than Islam is to Egyptians. Rather than making it clear that this breach of diplomatic immunity and common decency requires the apology of the Egyptian government and the punishment of those responsible, the Obama administration bowed and apologized.

Americans do respect all faiths and religious believers including Islam. But we also respect freedom of speech and that gives the person who made the offending film — a member of the Egyptian Coptic faith that has suffered bitter persecution and violence at the hands of the Muslim majority — the right to say what he likes whether the Egyptians like it or not. More to the point, it is not the business of the State Department, the Cairo Embassy or any American official to apologize for or to in any engage in the controversy over this film, let alone issue a statement that appears to rationalize a violent assault on a U.S. embassy on the 9/11 anniversary.

Ruthie Blum’s new book To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama and the “Arab Spring,” traces the eerie parallels between Carter’s Middle East blunders and those of the current administration as it has failed to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat and the Arab Spring. The fiasco in Cairo is just one more piece of evidence proving her thesis.

It should also be pointed out that Democrats have scoffed at Mitt Romney’s criticism of President Obama’s inveterate apologizing for America and claimed it was an inaccurate Republican calumny of the president. Romney, who has been taking an unjustified beating in the press on foreign and defense policy, should have something to say about this latest instance of Obama’s supine attitude toward America’s foes.

[deacon blues]

Now they're walking back the first statement which came from the US Embassy in Cairo. Follow up article from Commentary Magazine:

The Obama administration is attempting to walk back the damage done by the apology issued by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for criticisms of Islam made by American citizens. In the wake of condemnations of the embassy’s shocking statement, which seemed to justify the violence that was directed at the United States, administration officials have now said the apology was not vetted by Washington. Responding perhaps to Mitt Romney’s outrage about the apology, last night Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued her own statement in which she also condemned critics of Islam but added, “There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.” But with the attacks on posts in both Libya and Cairo now having left four Americans dead and with anti-U.S. rioters acting with impunity, the problem here is bigger than one retracted apology.

But the damage control being performed in Washington isn’t enough to put the administration’s stand in a positive light. If the initial apology resonated around the world it was because it was very much in line with the tone of moral equivalence that was the keynote of President Obama’s speech to the Arab world given in Cairo in June 2009. Having set forth a credo that balanced understanding for grievances against U.S. policies with a desire to conciliate its critics rather than to forthrightly defend America and its allies, the president cannot now be surprised when the instinct of U.S. representatives abroad, and especially those in Cairo, is to apologize first and to be resolute later.


It should be noted that the initial reports about the apology which we noted last night were wrong about its timing. The craven U.S. statement that the administration has now disavowed was issued before and not after the attack on the embassy in Cairo where a mob stormed the compound, tore down and burned the U.S. flag and replaced it with an al Qaeda banner. The embassy later did condemn the “unjustified attack” on its property but said it stood by its apology for those Americans who criticized Islam.

That makes it appear a bit less awful, but for the United States to attempt to conciliate Islamists who are intolerant of any criticism of their faith, even by a small group of extremists on the other side of the world, was clearly a fool’s errand. For it to have done so without defending freedom of speech was intolerable.

The makers of the anti-Muslim film that is supposedly the reason for the violence in Egypt and Libya are being widely condemned. The film, which has reportedly been endorsed by the Rev. Terry Jones, who is famous for burning a Koran, is clearly a provocation. Those who engage in rhetoric designed to promote intolerance are wrong. But given the fact that hate against non-Muslim faiths, especially Judaism, is part of mainstream discourse in the Arab and Muslim worlds and especially in Egypt’s government-owned media, there is no reason for the U.S. to apologize for the actions of a small group of American extremists operating on the margins of our society.

The problem with the Obama administration’s attitude toward the Arab world is that a stance of moral equivalence that posed a false symmetry between the Holocaust and Palestinian grievances against Israel or of an Iranian nuclear threat and past complaints about America’s conduct in the Middle East invites the outrages we witnessed yesterday.

The assault on Americans on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks illustrates the deep-seated paranoia and intolerance on the part of Muslims and Arabs. Theirs is a worldview in which their sensibilities must be guarded at all times and places but that those of Americans and Jews can be abused with impunity.

The Egyptian government of President Mohamed Morsi, which did not act to protect the American embassy, has absorbed the lesson of the president’s Cairo speech. The Muslim Brotherhood, which now dominates Egypt, reacted to the attack on the embassy with a call for a further U.S. apology. Given that the United States has rewarded Morsi with debt relief and a commitment to continuing U.S. aid with no conditions attached, why shouldn’t they expect the sort of supine behavior from Americans that the embassy’s initial apology illustrated?

The spirit of apology and appeasement that often characterizes the Obama approach to critics of America breeds the sort of contempt for the United States that was demonstrated yesterday. It will take more than a Washington edict ordering the Cairo embassy to delete its craven tweets and press releases to erase the problem that the president’s own statements has created.

So the apology came before the attacks, which makes a bit better for BO, but it is still in the spirit of apologizing to Muslims for their irrational sensitivity about their religion.

[Nitehawk013]

I'd apologize by suspending any and all aid to these countries and make it clear to them that if anything like this remotely happens again they will be dealing with a very forceful retaliation.

We really don't need another war, but we also don't need to be backing down liek a bunch of cowards in the face of these psychotic muslims freaks. They want to be so violent in defending Muhammed? Ok...lets send a whole bunch of them to meet Muhammed face to face in the afterlife.

[Cindy]

I believe Mrs. Clinton is holding a press conference on this. Maybe the President is busy.

[deacon blues]

Attacking an embassy is an act of war according to international law. A country's embassy should be as safe as your living room.

[Light]

Originally Posted by deacon blues

Attacking an embassy is an act of war according to international law. A country's embassy should be as safe as your living room.

Who do you want go to war with? Libya? Are you even half of a human, 4 people are dead and you and your kind making this political.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Light

Who do you want go to war with? Libya? Are you even half of a human, 4 people are dead and you and your kind making this political.

Wow, really? You want to speak like this? How is it NOT political?