On a pretense of anger about an anti-Islamic film,
“ultra-conservative” Muslim “protesters” attacked the U.S.
embassies in Cairo, Egypt, and Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday. (Short
video of the Cairo mob here.)
In Egypt, some of the protesters scaled the embassy walls, went
into a courtyard, and took down the American flag. They tried (and
failed) to burn it, then tore it up, and then put up a black
Islamic flag.
My immediate question is this: Why did the first terrorist to
touch our flag not have his head blown off? Or perhaps: Why did the
first terrorist to touch our flag not receive a “warning shot” to
the arm or leg, and the second terrorist, who presumably was not
impressed by the admonition, not then have his head blown off?
The
AP reports that the attack in Libya was far worse:
In the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, a large mob stormed the
U.S. Consulate, with gunmen firing their weapons, said Wanis
al-Sharef, an Interior Ministry official in Benghazi. A witness
said attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled
grenades at the consulate as they clashed with Libyans hired to
guard the facility.
Outnumbered by the crowd, Libyan security forces did little to
stop them, al-Sharef said.
The crowd overwhelmed the facility and set fire to it, burning
most of it and looting the contents, witnesses said.
One American was shot to death and a second was wounded in the
hand, al-Sharef said. He did not give further details, and there
was no immediate U.S. confirmation of the death.
On Wednesday morning, we learned that the U.S. Ambassador to
Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other embassy staff members
were killed in the attack. President Obama and Secretary of State
Clinton offered
statements of outrage and condolence, but some of the blame can
be found when they look in the mirror.
Again, I ask, why are there not dozens of dead Libyan radicals
lying on the American sovereign territory they were invading?
The offending film, of which you can see a 14-minute clip
here, is a pathetic
farcical joke of a film which comes across as more like Monty
Python than a serious critique of Islam or anything else.
Furthermore, it was posted to the web two months ago.
Much as radicals used the Koran burning incident to justify
murder in Afghanistan early this year, there can be no doubt that
Tuesday’s protest used this ridiculous movie as a pretext to attack
America on September 11.
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo offered an apology for the film
that it claims was issued before the protest started. Color me
skeptical on that aspect, but even so the statement was a pathetic
embarrassment — and perfect reflection of the thinking of the
blame-America-first Obama administration:
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.
This is, not surprisingly, a remarkable misstatement of the
First Amendment. Saying something offensive is not “abusing” free
speech. And what about the Islamic world, or even much of Europe,
makes them claim that the right of free speech is “universal”?
Perhaps they meant in theory rather than in practice, in which case
our Founders might agree, but what is the point of making a
statement like that to people who will never believe it, and who
will take such a statement as incitement to further violence simply
because it proves that we have decided on a suicidal strategy of
Islamic rope-a-dope… from which we will never suddenly hit
back.
The White House said that it had not approved the embassy’s
statement prior to its release…but so what?
Even if you take the embassy’s word that it put this note out
before the protest started, it restated its support for the
statement well into the night, well after the protest began, and
presumably before it ended.
On the Cairo embassy’s Twitter feed were posted
the following “tweets” which appear to be in response to others
(numbers are part of the tweets, not added by me):
1) Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
2) Of course we condemn breaches of our compound, we’re the ones
actually living through this.
3) Sorry, but neither breaches of our compound or angry messages
will dissuade us from defending freedom of speech AND criticizing
bigotry.
And then they followed up with this gem:
This morning’s condemnation (issued before protest began) still
stands. As does our condemnation of unjustified breach of the
Embassy.
As of Wednesday, the US Embassy in Cairo has deleted the last
“tweet” quoted above as well as a prior tweet linking to their
longer statement, yet again showing their muddle-headed thinking
during these days where everyone knows that a tweet is
forever.
Wow, the hateful, violent radicals must be shaking in terror at
the fearsome response of the world’s only superpower. An
“unjustified breach”! Sounds like something that needs a little
Preparation H.
But in fact, it needed a few U.S. Marines with HK416s
and a set of rules of engagement designed to actually deter those
who would do us harm. Fox News has
reported that early reports of two US Marines being among the
dead were incorrect.
These radicals are made that much braver by the obvious timidity
and pro-Muslim bias of Barack Hussein Obama. Can you imagine what
the Islamic world is thinking after we react to attacks on our
embassies with soft words and apologies on the same day that it is
reported that Barack Obama won’t meet with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu because it’s just too inconvenient for Obama’s
campaign schedule? (I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that Obama’s
campaign advisers, desperate to win Florida in November, find a way
to make the meeting happen.)
None of this is an accident or coincidence. It is our enemies
testing us and finding us weak. And it is the surest way to
embolden Islamofascists to test us further with more aggressive and
more deadly attacks on American interests in the Islamic world, not
least because the local police and military forces were unwilling
or unable (most likely the former) to defend our embassy. Indeed, a
CBS News
report on Wednesday details a Libyan government official as
saying that Libyan security forces seem to have told the terrorists
where to find the Ambassador after he and other embassy staff had
moved to another building “deemed safer.”
It is only the Obama administration that doesn’t not realize
that we are at war with “radical” Islam. Not only do the
“protesters” know it, but the President of Egypt knows it; after
all, he is just one of them in a more expensive suit.
Speaking of Islamic wolves in sheep’s clothing: On Wednesday,
the Afghani President Hamaid Karzai issued a statement denouncing
the “inhuman and abusive act.” But he was not talking about the
killings in Libya. He was referencing the making of the
anti-Islamic film. Karzai, whose rhetoric after the Koran burning
incident in February probably led to some of the subsequent murder
of Americans, added that “Such an obscene act of an extremist
filmmaker should not be allowed to hurt the feelings of Islamic
world.” Apparently, if censorship isn’t possible, the proper
response to “hurt feelings” is murder; after all, what else does
“should not be allowed” mean in a part of the world where the wrong
haircut
can earn you a severe beating?
The Obama team doesn’t even recognize radical Islam. So here’s
an easy test that Hillary Clinton can order embassy staff to try:
Say to someone that you are not sure that Mohammed is a prophet. If
that someone responds by shooting you, you know he is a radical
Islamist. But then, Hillary would say that the person shot deserved
it for being so insensitive.
Tuesday’s actions in Egypt and Libya were acts of war against
the United States. By allowing the terrorist “protesters” to fly a
black flag on our territory, the Muslim world and perhaps our
allies elsewhere see us as waving the white flag of surrender. And
who can blame them?
