Ambassador Susan Rice: Libya Attack Not Premeditated
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi was not premeditated, directly contradicting top Libyan officials who say the attack was planned in advance.
“Our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous – not a premeditated – response to what had transpired in Cairo,” Rice told me this morning on “This Week.”
“In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated,” Rice said, referring to protests in Egypt Tuesday over a film that depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud. Protesters in Cairo breached the walls of the U.S. American Embassy, tearing apart an American flag.
“We believe that folks in Benghazi, a small number of people came to the embassy to – or to the consulate, rather, to replicate the sort of challenge that was posed in Cairo,” Rice said. “And then as that unfolded, it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons… And it then evolved from there.”
What a CONVENIENT explanation!
Gracious! I’ll bet that’s it exactly, because we ALL know Obama and Hilary ~ in their combined arrogance, supreme intellectual prowess and hubris ~ could never, EVER blow something completely out their asses.
Benghazi, Libya (CNN) — Three days before the deadly assault on the United States consulate in Libya, a local security official says he met with American diplomats in the city and warned them about deteriorating security.
Jamal Mabrouk, a member of the February 17th Brigade, told CNN that he and a battalion commander had a meeting about the economy and security.
He said they told the diplomats that the security situation wasn’t good for international business.
“The situation is frightening, it scares us,” Mabrouk said they told the U.S. officials. He did not say how they responded.
Egypt intelligence warns of attacks on Israel, US embassies
Egypt’s General Intelligence Service warned that a jihadi group is planning to launch terrorist attacks against the US and Israeli embassies in Cairo, according to a report Tuesday by Egypt Independent, citing a secret letter obtained by Al-Masry Al-Youm.
…Al-Masry Al-Youm reportedly obtained a copy of the September 4 letter, sent to all Egyptian security sectors, warning that Sinai- and Gaza-based Global Jihad cells were planning attacks on the two embassies.
September FOURTH.
But, by God, STILL no bullets in THOSE guns and the Ambassador was out of the country on September 11th, leaving the embassy staff to Tweet platitudes into the savage crowd.
President Obama, stop blaming the victim for Mideast violence
“Disgusting and reprehensible.” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Truly abhorrent,” an outraged White House official told an international conference. Were they talking about the murder of four Americans in Libya? Or perhaps the hoisting of an Islamist flag over the U.S. Embassy in Cairo?
No. For that they stuck to diplomatic speak. For the president, the harshest language was: “I strongly condemn the outrageous attack.” For Clinton it was that the US is heartbroken and she condemned “this senseless act of violence.” But “disgusting and reprehensible” and “truly abhorrent ” were reserved for an amateurish and silly film by someone nobody has ever heard of.
In fact, what is “disgusting and reprehensible” is that there are people in the world who think they are justified in attacking and killing people because someone hurt their feelings or offended their sensibilities. The US government should not act as a validator or enabler of this upside down worldview, which is exactly what the Obama administration has done repeatedly as they have responded to these abhorrent attacks against the United States.
I have defended the Obama administration against the complaints from the right that they have run an “apology tour” in the Middle East because I believe the US should admit when we make mistakes, such as the accidental burning of Korans. But what we shouldn’t do is affirm the wrongheaded view that people should be protected from the free speech of others.
Worse, our leaders shouldn’t let our enemies know that when they kill our people and attack our embassies that the US Government will act like a battered wife making excuses for her psychotic husband. Wake up: we weren’t attacked because of a movie made by an American. We were attacked because there are crazy religious fanatics who hate the United States. We didn’t ask for it.
Man, what a craptastic week, so I rightly decided the only cure was bacon. But I wanted to commune with Mother Gaia and get all cosmically connected to the fruits of the Garden State Soil that I had so diligently worked upon, which left me only one option: ABTs!
So My Bride and I collected some of our jalapenos
and some bacon
as these jalapenos had gotten a tad hotter than I had hoped of late I seeded them and also took out the white rindy stuff
I made a filling mixture of cream cheese, garlic powder, crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar, honey and bbq rub
schmodged that all in the little buggers and wrapped them lovingly in the bacon
aren’t they cute?
Since 2010 is supposed to be a pretty good year in Freedom Wine Land I picked up a bottle of an old dependable staple
for $8 this is an excellent smooth Bordeaux. Nice flavors of smoke and soft lush fruits with smooth tannins.
anywho, on to the grill went the ABTs for, oh, call it 3/4 of the bottle. As the bacon was approaching the proper crispytude I threw on some Hebrew Nationals and let them mildly charilate and then everything came off in a most pleasing fashion
This is one of those times. The cartoon at this link is completely NSFW, but this should be linked as much as possible
No One Murdered Because Of This Image
WASHINGTON—Following the publication of the image above, in which the most cherished figures from multiple religious faiths were depicted engaging in a lascivious sex act of considerable depravity, no one was murdered, beaten, or had their lives threatened, sources reported Thursday. The image of the Hebrew prophet Moses high-fiving Jesus Christ as both are having their erect penises vigorously masturbated by Ganesha, all while the Hindu deity anally penetrates Buddha with his fist, reportedly went online at 6:45 p.m. EDT, after which not a single bomb threat was made against the organization responsible, nor did the person who created the cartoon go home fearing for his life in any way. Though some members of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths were reportedly offended by the image, sources confirmed that upon seeing it, they simply shook their heads, rolled their eyes, and continued on with their day.
“Every American who’s watching, regardless if you’re Democrat or Republican, if you’re not embarrassed by the buffoon who’s serving as President of the United States after that performance last night, there’s something wrong with you.”
URGENT: Angry Muslim mobs scale walls of US Embassies in Sudan and Tunisia, breaking windows and setting fires as anti-American violence flares in Cairo and throughout North Africa and Middle East following attacks on US diplomatic posts on 9/11. Violence also spread to Tripoli, Libya where a mob burned KFC and Arby’s restaurants in protest of Pope Benedict’s visit.
FoxNews keeps breaking in with video of smoke streaming from within the embassy compound in Tunisia. With. IN.
Your administration’s bloody handprints are ALL OVER THIS, pal. But the world is on fire, our people in the middle and the White House is EMPTY.
So, say hey! Anybody heard from Vegas Guy this morning?
Or last night? And I mean running his mouth in regards to the safety of Americans, not the safety of his temporary office chair.
After an IED attack on the Benghazi consulate in June, the State Department did..er, nuance
An IED was deployed against the Benghazi Consulate on June 6th. This is from a media briefing at that time– when the media was actually still asking questions like this. Probably because it was safe to ask questions like this, as the IED did not kill anyone.
Go to Ace’s and read it. Basically, State did nothing to increase security.
Libya rescue squad ran into fierce, accurate ambush
* U.S. rescue mission to Benghazi hit by ‘professional’ ambush
* Two diplomats killed at consulate, two at ‘safe’ house fight
* Rescue raid for diplomats dogged by miscommunication
By Hadeel Al Shalchi
BENGHAZI, Libya, Sept 12 (Reuters) – A squad of U.S. troops despatched by helicopter across the Libyan desert to rescue besieged diplomats from Benghazi on Wednesday ran into a fierce overnight ambush that left a further two Americans dead, Libyan officials told Reuters.
Accounts of the mayhem at the U.S. consulate, where the ambassador and a fourth American died after a chaotic protest over a film insulting to Islam, remain patchy. But two Libyan officials, including the commander of a security force which escorted the U.S. rescuers, said a later assault on a supposedly safe refuge for the diplomats appeared professionally executed.
Miscommunication which understated the number of American survivors awaiting rescue – there were 37, nearly four times as many as the Libyan commander expected – also meant survivors and rescuers found themselves short of transport to escape this second battle, delaying an eventual dawn break for the airport.
WHAT was Ambassador Stevens doing in the middle of Al Qaeda territory in a COMPLETELY unprotected posture, especially on the most vunerable, begging-for-a-hit day of the year?!? And to only have ‘local’ (read: Libyan) guards, say WHAT? It’s an inordinate breach of common sense, let alone every tenet of basic security planning for your average Joe, less mind a high value target like the damned AMBASSADOR! What a travesty, a disgrace and a tragic cluster fuck.
Holy. Mother. Of God. It boggles the mind.
Whenever Obama finally leaves Las Vegas, someone should…oh, forget it.
As with all things Obama Administration, two words describe it perfectly: Complete Cluster F*ck
Inside the public relations disaster at the Cairo embassy
One staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was responsible for the statement and tweets Tuesday that have become grist for the presidential campaign, and that staffer ignored explicit State Department instructions not to issue the statement, one U.S. official close to the issue told The Cable.
Two additional administration officials confirmed the details of this account when contacted late Wednesday by The Cable.
The statement, issued as a press release on the U.S. Embassy website, has been attacked by Republican challenger Mitt Romney, lawmakers, and conservatives around the country as an inappropriate “apology” and a failure to stand up for American principles such as freedom of speech.
…But Romney was, and is, right. As events in Benghazi and Cairo unfolded, the Obama administration’s first instinct was to apologize for any offense Muslims might have taken from an Internet video, made in America, that mocked and ridiculed the prophet Mohammed, and which the radicals cited as the cause for their actions. In his original statement last night, 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.” Then, on Wednesday morning, Romney said the administration “was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions.”
And that is exactly what the administration did…
…That was before the most serious problems. Afterward the radicals had breached the walls, torn down the American flag and replaced it with an Islamist banner, the embassy sent out a tweet (now deleted), which said: “This morning’s condemnation (issued before protest began) still stands. As does our condemnation of unjustified breach of the Embassy.” It is not clear if the embassy actually sent out a statement condemning the breach, but it most certainly sent out a statement condemning any possible offense against Muslim sensibilities.
Then, early Thursday morning, after the extent of the violence in Libya and Egypt was known, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a three-sentence statement, the first two sentences of which addressed possible offense to Muslims. “The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others,” Clinton said. “Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.”
Clinton’s statement was: Regret, affirmation, condemnation, in that order.
The only thing missing was Obama bent over on front of someone, but I know ~ give it time…
Ellison: ‘Stupid video’ induced deadly mayhem in Libya
I am deeply disturbed by the attacks on our diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt. Four Americans have now been killed, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. My heart goes out to their families. They were brave public servants working tirelessly to improve relations with Egypt, Libya, and the rest of the world. This is a tragic loss.
The amateurish and stupid video that sparked these riots was deeply offensive not only to Muslims but also to anyone who respects the faith of others. It was designed to provoke, and sadly, the provocateurs successfully induced some people to take the bait. Instead of ignoring or peacefully condemning the film, they resorted to violence and mayhem.
Yes, the film’s creators hatefully attacked what so many people hold most dear: their relationship with the Divine. But responding with violence is never justified. And those who think they are doing so in the name of Islam are wrong and ill informed. The abuse of free speech rights, no matter how offensive, does not give license for senseless acts of violence…
And though I in no way shape or form feel reasonable right now I agree with them
The fact is that the First Amendment, no matter how embattled, protects a range of expression unthinkable even in Western Europe. Because of that unique position, and because the U.S. seems doomed to play an outsized diplomatic and military role in the tumultuous Muslim world, it behooves the State Department to constantly explain the vast differences between state-sanctioned and legally protected speech in the so-called Land of the Free. If the U.S. government really was in the business of “firmly reject[ing]” private free-speech acts that “hurt the religious beliefs of others” there would be no time left over for doing anything else.
It’s really not that hard. The values in that film (or “film”) are not our values; our government respects religion, religious expression, and religious pluralism (including and especially that of Muslims, even in the wake of murderous Muslim-led attacks on American soil); and we are not in the business of approving or (for the most part) regulating the private speech of our citizens. To the extent that that message is not sufficient for rioters, the problem is theirs.
Some liberal Tweeters this morning are pointing out that, hey, the Bush administration condemned the Mohammed cartoons, too!, but this mostly goes to illustrate how bipartisan cravenness can be. We know that this issue will keep coming up; maybe it’s about time the American government, and the rest of us, develop a more American response.
The Morning Jolt has the link to a horrific cell-phone picture. Our prayers to his family and the loved ones of the others caught in this mind-bending exercise of malignant, feral 12th century tribal insanity.
DEAR GOD ~ that the SAVAGES who could do this over whispers.
Barack Obama is a disgrace.
His STATEMENT is a DISGRACE and an affront to everything these individuals WERE SLAUGHTERED over.
Fun | tree hugging sister | 
September 16, 2012 3:59 pm | 
Comments (6) 
Subscribe