Two American Embassies Attacked, U.S. Ambassador Dead

Those promoting radical Islam are known to be fond of symbolism used in their attacks on westerners.  The eleventh anniversary of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 was one such symbolic date.  First the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt came under attack by an angry mob who scaled the walls of the embassy and tore down the U.S. flag, replacing it with their own.

Anti-American Islamists clambered over the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and ripped down the U.S. flag, replacing it with a black flag bearing the Islamic inscription “There is no God but Allah,” commonly flown by al Qaeda.

Earlier in the day, the embassy issued a statement apologizing for hurt feelings caused by a film that has been released in America - only the 13 minute trailer is on the Internet - made by an Israeli American denouncing Islam.  The U.S. ambassador in Egypt apparently wanted to make a statement condemning a lack of empathy for all religions. Needless to say, this apology didn't sit too well back home, here in America.


This is the statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo that started the hubbub:

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.

 

Then the attack on the embassy, if the timeline from the reporters is correct, happened and the incident with the flag.

Also reported briefly by the media was the death of an American in Libya. There was no immediate conclusive report on that, though.

In the Libya attack, armed men stormed and burned the American Consulate in the eastern city of Bengazi, fatally shooting one worker and injuring another.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who confirmed the death, condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack.
“We are heartbroken by this terrible loss,” she said.
There were warnings late Tuesday of the potential for more attacks on Americans.
“There is a high threat of additional attacks against U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world,” warned IntelCenter, a private-sector firm that tracks jihadi messaging for clients including U.S. agencies.
“Countries with organized jihadi rebel groups face the highest threat of organized, armed assaults over the next 72 hours,” the firm’s CEO, Ben Venzke, said in a statement Tuesday night.


 

No public condemnation was issued by President Obama, as we waited and waited for some kind of acknowledgement of the day's events.  Then this from Mitt Romney:

Late Tuesday, after eschewing hard-edged political statements in observance of the 9/11 anniversary, Romney released a statement on the violence. "I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi," Romney said. "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."
 

As we awakened Wednesday morning, we learned more about the facts in Libya. The U.S. ambassador, Chris Stevens, was killed in a rocket rifle attack as he attempted to evacuate some staff members by automobile as the circumstances at the embassy degraded.  Three staff members died with him.  So, in fact, the warning of more attacks came to fruition.

"The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over a film ridiculing Muhammad produced by an Israeli filmmaker living in California and being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States. Excerpts from the film dubbed into Arabic were posted on YouTube.
Stevens, 52, was a career diplomat who spoke Arabic and French and had already served two tours in Libya, including running the office in Benghazi during the revolt against Gadhafi. He was confirmed as ambassador to Libya by the Senate earlier this year."

For the political side of all this, the lapdog media in America are busy criticizing GOP candidate Mitt Romney for weighing in with his condolences on the news of the death of Ambassador Stevens and the others. This is to be expected. They, along with the candidate of their choice, President Obama, are hoping that these events don't throw the campaign off track. That is what it comes down to. Barack Obama was elected in 2008 largely due to the economic crisis in the last weeks of the campaign. Before the economic crisis, John McCain enjoyed a lead in the polls. Team Obama now is fearful that world events will now derail his re-election plans.

President Obama has been slow to act throughout the turmoil in the Middle East as country after country attempts to find freedom from vicious dictator. He is often accused of being a apologist rather than a leader. His actions now are under the microscope.