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Subscribe to RSSU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice recaps the causes and effects of recent violence against Americans in the Middle East.
The attack that killed four Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, apparently began as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam film before turning violent, Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday.
Rice, appearing in NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said she was citing preliminary information and that the FBI was investigating the Tuesday night attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three others.
Libyan officials are holding 30 to 40 suspecting in the deadly attack of a the US embassy in Libya. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
A wave of protests and violence has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world over an obscure, amateurish movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a pedophile. Anti-U.S. protests in 20 countries led the Pentagon to dispatch elite Marine antiterrorism teams to Libya and Yemen and to position two Navy warships off Libya's coast.
Meanwhile, the State Department ordered all nonessential U.S. government workers and their families out of Sudan and Tunisia. In Lebanon, protesters torched an American fast-food restaurant. Even as tensions appeared to ease over the weekend, al-Qaida's most active Mideast branch was calling for further attacks on U.S. embassies.
"There's no question, as we've seen in the past with things like 'The Satanic Verses,' with the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, there have been such things that have sparked outrage and anger and this has been the proximate cause of what we've seen," Rice said.
“What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video,” Rice said.
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Protesters in Cairo had breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down the American flag.
In Benghazi, Rice told “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, “Opportunistic extremist elements came to the consulate as this was unfolding, they came with heavy weapons, which unfortunately are readily available in post-revolutionary Libya, and it escalated into a much more violent episode.”
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There was “no actionable intelligence” that the attack in Benghazi was imminent, Rice said. The attack overwhelmed security in place at the consulate, she said.
Rice’s comments came a day after Libyan President Mohammed Magarief told NBC News that “foreigners” were involved in the planning and execution of the attack.
He expanded on the assertion Sunday, saying on CBS’ "Face the Nation" that about 50 people, not all Libyans, have been arrested in connection with the Benghazi attack, which he said was planned by al-Qaida-linked foreigners, some from Mali and Algeria.
Magarief said there was little doubt the assault was planned rather than a spontaneous reaction to the video, as came on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.
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He said the security situation in Libya remained "difficult" for Americans, as well as for Libyans. The United States wants the FBI to investigate the consulate attack, but Magarief said it may be too soon to send in investigators.
"It may be better for them to stay away for a little while until we do what we have to do ourselves," he said.
Rice told "Meet the Press" that the U.S. is working with authorities in Libya, which has received $200 million in U.S. aid since 2011, to bring to justice those responsible for the attack.
This article includes reporting by Reuters.
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Leave a Comment:
it was premeditated and they knew about it at least 3 days prior, thats hardly spontaneous. Only in MSNBC land is this true. Grow a pair sheeple. look at whats going on. Obama's not gonna win
Why are they
not burring the TV Station in Egypt which showed this film, People there found
voice over actors to dub the film in Arabic, they could have used subtitles but
decided to dub the 74Minute film in Arabic?
If it is
against Islam to show an image of Mohd. then why did they played it on Egyptian
TV?
They want nothing but killing and roits for their youth.
Muslims go on insane rampages when Islamic clerics tell them to....
She is full of SH*T.
Insisting that the attacks on our ambassador in Libya was spontaneous, Rice continues to hold to the party line, opposed to Libyan President Magarief who states that these were planned attacks. When security forces protecting the embassy suddenly disappear and point out the ambassador to attackers, when the mob has heavy weapons including RPG's, why is UN rep Rice who has been far from the scene, claiming "spontaniety" to the American public? How stupid do they think Americans are? Typical mis-information from this Administration.
Amazing how the administration is trying to lie itself out of this total mess. Even Libya says it was preplanned. Not to mention Obama might have had up to 7 days notice of the entire thing.
Democrats maybe we should just blame Bush!!!!
ummm Aunty!!! - don't mind me, just waiting on my lucky number!!! =)) =)) :D
Aunt - Heard Bush intercepted the warnings and giggled when he burned them. Oh wait a minute . . . that is one of the excuses Obama was thinking about using!
Does the administration really expect the US people to believe this was about a stupid movie and had nothing to do with 9/11? These people have got to go now. We are not safe with this clown in the Oval Office. The kicker is that the fringe libs are still making excuses for this group of bumbling idiots!
It hac nothing to do with the movie. Obama comes across as weak in the middle east. This is the end result. Heck even the union were over there helping out. Code Pink was there. All the liberal loony toons were involved.
And Ambassador Rice was smoking "what"?
Obama = Jimmy Carter 2
At least Jimmy did not try to lie his way out of it.
He couldn't. Media was honest back then.
Neither Jimmy Carter nor Barack Hussein Obama have met an Islamic terrorist that they didn't like..
Well, I hope that today I was an good example of what freedom of speech and religion should look like and that I displayed responsibility for what I say and write. I hope that anyone from any country who might come across my posts say "I would be proud to be an American!"
Rice is either stupid or very naive and I do not think she is stupid. The attacks did not occur spontaneously. The attacks were so wide spread it is not logical to think they were all spontaneous. The Muslin religion, particularly the radical, believe their belief is the only one that is correct. They allow no tolerance because they are afraid their believes might be wrong. It is time to stand up and fight for what you believe in. It is time to kill or be killed.
spontaneous - - - - In a pigs eye.
This attack was a well planned assault under the cover of spontaneity.
Far too many things occurred for this to have been anything but a will planned attack.
And you know who was caught off guard and doesn't want to admit it.
It says a lot when you try of cover the facts with another story. The facts are the facts. Deal with them. Mistakes are mistakes, but you don't try and hide them. It only makes things worse. Admit it.
I would be more pissed if it were Popeye's they torched.
They targeted KFC because it has the colors, Red, White and Blue.
When was the last time you saw armed Christian mobs running around in a frenzied state assaulting embasssies and murdering unarmed citizens?
Sunni Muslims destroy a Shi'ite mosque with a suicide bomb. In retaliation, Shi'ite Muslims burn down a Kentucky Fried Chicken, killing six people. This one is just as crystalline an example of linear reasoning as the killing of 17 Afghanis because a Gitmo interrogator may have flushed a Qur'an. "Six KFC workers die in Karachi violence,"
Was a little crispy that day.
From all the comments, does me proud that most of my fellow Americans are not fools and know smoke when they see it.
It's not the smoke I'm worried about, it's the Mirrors,..
In the Hall of Mirrors: The Cold War's Distorted Images
Kill all the infidels. The message is clear to me. You don't have to tell me twice.
I don't understand the libs desire to make excuses for Muslims. My nephew lived in the middle east for several years. (luckily not anymore) It took a while but some of the people eventually shared why they hate America. The Palistine issue always came up and many feel like we are evil..... primarily for the acceptance of Homosexuality. Let's see the Libs hate Chik-fila and seem to want to make excuses for Muslims at ever turn. It makes no sense.
"Started Peacefully"?
When have any of these Islamic protests been peaceful?
I've never seen an example that Islam is a religion of peace!
I am proud to be an American and proud of America! She has done so much good for the world.I remember reading a story in the Weekly reader in the 50's about a stranded ship 500 miles off the coast of Japan.The crew had been reduced to skelitons with very little food and water left.Their radio had ceased to function.Many times they saw and tried to get help from other ships using the same sealanes they were using.None stopped and offered to help.Then an American war ship showed up,took care of the sick,took some on baord their ship who were really sick,did repairs to the ship and radios.They followed them into the nearest port.After that,all the crew and captian could talk about was how thankful they were the Americans had found them and how generous they had been.That is who we are! We are kind,generous folks who ,in most cases,just want to be left alone.I don't think most Americans feel comfortable being the leader of the world because we know the consequeneces of being the leader.But, don't tread on us because you will not like the outcome.I love america and all the things she has allowed someone like me to become.Nothing special but special enough to have a little money and support my family.Enough to give to help others less fortunate and enough to leave my kids as a legacy.I'm happy to be an Amercian and everytime I hear or read some disparaging remarks about her I want to hurt that person! God bless America and God bless all Americans!
I am about to lay down some historical and actual truth on your knuckle heads that are correctly placing blame on the ME for these attacks but fail to understand why these attacks have happened and why the video and things like what a lot of you have been saying are only adding fuel to the fire.
In order to understand this though there is something that you have to understand about the Middle East. There is no such thing as Democracy there; not in the way in which we live it. Here you can say what you want and, most of the time, do what you want and no one stops you. We have very liberal definitions of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. We allow our citizenry so much freedom that historical dictators might claim that a system like ours is doomed to anarchy because there is not enough control.
Here we start to breach into the subject. The Middle East is not a free region. There are no democratic Governments, there are no bills of rights, there is no freedom of religion nor speech. Governments control everything from the laws, as they should, to the press, and to some extent even religion.
For millennia the Middle East was home to tribal societies where your village elder was your leader and you did and believed as they told you to. Villages were so small that you could not do otherwise and to do so meant that you were usually banished from those societies either in actuality or were socially isolated.
Another point here is religion. In Islam you have a much stricter set of rules than you do with Christianity. Even in the times of the Old Testament you would freely do what you wanted to and not do what you did not want to and no one would say anything about it. No one was told nor forced to live every commandment and almost no one did. Islam is much different, you might say it is more extreme in in way that its practitioners are more fanatical about it. That is not to say the religion is extreme, only that the practitioners are more dedicated to the religion and follow it more strictly.
This is where the problems begin. Unlike in Western civilization where religion was stripped of its political power early on to prevent such issues, Islam was embraced as a political ideology as well as a religious one. This is because adherents are much more faithful or rather much more zealots towards their religion. They had no issue with their religion becoming a political tool because of the way it had always been used in tribal societies. This, to them, was the logical next step.
In a society where Islam is both the government and religion there is no freedom of speech in regards to political and religious areas. You cannot speak out against either because they are one and the same and to do either is to go against the teachings of the Qua'ran. To do so, in ancient times, meant death. Now, however, you usually will not be killed for it but you do get ostracized or even kicked out of your home as an outcast.
This has gone on for centuries, ever since Islam became a political tool for modern day politics. It, like the nomadic way of life in the ancient Middle East, has become a part of the fact of life in the Middle East and many have resigned that it shall always be so. It was not until last year that, that way of life had ever been questioned at large.
Even in countries that we see as democratic, like Egypt, this is not the case. Egypt is still ruled under a somewhat Islamic system. Sure leaders like Mubarak have kept Islam from directly influencing politics however they did so with oppression and repression of their people. The only way the could accomplish this faux democracy was to become dictators. And this repression is what, among other triggers, lead to the Arab Spring.
Now, hopefully you understand a bit more about why topics such as religion are much more protected in the Middle East than in the West. And now we can discuss this topic.
Here in the West we prize our freedom to say whatever we want above most of our other rights because this gives us a voice to project our opinions and to also have a say in our politics and other goings-on. In the Middle East no such idea exists. In the ME what you say is what the Government says is correct to say. The Government controls the media, really controls it and not in the conspiracy theorist style many idiots claim that is done in the US, they can arrest you for speaking out against them, you can even be killed if your opinions are of a certain voice in some of these countries.
This is a key point because many Arabs cannot understand this about the United States and other freer nations around the World. They do not understand that our Government does not sanction what we say and what we say is not a Government position. To them this video on YouTube is the same as if our Government came out and said what it said about Mohammed.
Now here is also a key point. This is to some extent false as well. Many Arabs know that our Government does not speak for us all of the time and vice-versa however we come back to extremism. Since Islam is much more revered than our own religions, this is because it is the only religion, not to say there are not different sects, they are allowed to practice in most cases. This gives Imams incredible powers to form public opinion and most of them are controlled by one of two groups: the Government or the extremists. It is not uncommon for those two groups to be either the same or at least related to each other.
This is what happens when you allow your religion to take over your Government, it becomes a dynamo for control. These imams can say just about anything and most of the time, if they are highly respected, their followers will listen, obey, and believe. So, if one of these imams said "See, this is how the West really feels about our profit" they can start a frenzy.
This is because Islam is a strict religion, you are not allowed to defame it's deities and these riots start because Islam is so tied into the every day lives and into the every day politics. Because of all of these issues Arabs do not comprehend the full extent of how we live our lives and that we have almost complete freedom to say whatever we want without Government approval and so things are misinterpreted and then distorted by those that have agendas.
This is why things we say that we find insignificant can have huge impacts on the Middle East. Something as stupid as this video, which nearly everyone in the USA dismisses as crap, can cause such unrest in the Middle East when it is taken out of context by those who would distort it and point to other such distortions of past issues.
Muslims and Islam are not the problem in and of themselves. The problem is, as it always is with all religions, the extremists that use their religion as an excuse to commit violent acts or to further personal or political agendas: every religion has been used this way, even Christianity with the anti-Gay Rights and anti-Abortion movements and other such groups.
Actually you are wrong there is one Democratic Government Israel.
well said.
USA is not the ME for sure. 1st amendment and 2nd to uphold first.
Geowil! First off,America is a Republic based on democratic ideals but first and formost a republic.Secondly,Islam has n=more factions than does christianity with each one calling the other names and each believing their decendent is the true decendent of Mohammed.They are fiercely opposed to each other.Some refuse the points of respect of other groups and in many cases consider these places heritical.The current basis of Islam is the belief that all muslims will someday come together and form what would be a United States of Islam.They already have draw up the maps.The grand Caliphe! Only problems are those stickly,pesky decisions as to which group would run this Caliphe,the Sunnis or the Shiites or even a faction promenent withinh one of these two factions.These two factions have fought each other for centuries.I wouldn't worry too much about these ignorant aholes doing more damage to anyone than they do to themselves.They have been great in the past at committing geopolitical suicide!
USAF,
Israel is not a Muslim nation, so it does not apply in this context. There are no, that are what we consider to be democratic, Muslim nations. Even then we have a much freer way of life than even Israel does. Our closest cousins in regards to personal freedom are, in fact, Britain, Canada, and possibly Japan.
We have been showing weakness to the Muslims and they are taking advantage of it. We seem to be able to strike out with drones and they take it for an unwillingness to meet on the battle Field. While we try to limit collateral death they see glory in it. The Muslims claim they will win because they love death more than we love our children. I say if they love death give it to them. Blockade the ports roads and air space of those who want to kill our people. No trade at all no food medicine money utterly destroy their wealth. I don't care about what Russia or China says lets see if they have the nerve to come against us.
Since the property that the embassies occupy is considered a part of the U.S., we should just pull our people out, and send the Air Force in and bomb every every compound where the protest have occurred. When the muslims start protesting the strikes, we should just tell them that we decided to remodel our embassies. Any casualties would be considered invaders on American soil and good riddance to them !!!!
maddog - They won't think twice about it. They know Obama has decimated our military and divided this country into races, religions, pay levels etc. We would be a sitting duck.
I do not understand how people can be so stupid to continue to buy into the lies of this administration. Obama policies have caused this they see us as weak and that is a fact when we have a president who apologizes to the scum of the middle east for our freedom of speech.
I think it still remains to be discovered with certainty whether this was organized or spontaneous. I don't think we can make the determination based on the scale of the attack. Let's not forget that this whole country was just in the middle of a civil war, and the dictatorship overthrown. Benghazi was besieged with conflict.
Having stated that, I think we need to be MUCH more concerned if this was spontaneous. A spontaneous event proves that this was not carried out by an organized militant faction. Rather this was carried out by common Libyan street thugs with readily available weapons caches. This proves much more wide spread and deepened animosity by the populus at large.
Regardless of being organized or spontaneous, I think ebough evidence proves that the administration knew of the threat or should have known. Either way, it's the current administrations fault for not beefing up security for 9/11 with so much volatilty already in the ME.
But, make no mistake all Muslims. The Unites States constitution will never be trampled on by Shariah law.
If you believe the administrations fairy tail of a film causing this can I sell you some swamp land in louisanna.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/15/world/meast/libya-diplomats-warning/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2012/09/libyan-president-no-doubt-consulate-attack-preplanned-135664.html
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/09/16/BREAKING-Video-Purports-To-Show-Ambassador-In-Libya
I personallly do not believe the film is the cause which is why I mentioned 9/11. I think the film was exploited. I think the culture in the middle east is that of senseless violence by default. These countries are still reeling from the "Arab Spring" which was not a forward step to democracy in any way regardless of what Obama pronounces from his whitewash podium.
They will never have democracy because they dont believe in it. OBama's polices are naive at best and damn near dangerous at worst.
USAF,
are you of that opinion about Bush's policies as well? Bush was the one that originally stated that a goal of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan was to promote Democracy in the Middle East. I agree with you that we cannot inject our style of democracy into those nations, however I do think we can try to help them along and get out of the gutter that they seem to be stuck in between Islamic extremist and faux-Democratic dictatorship Governments. They key step is that they have to want to take that move forward though, we cannot force them to.
To force them to only promotes more violence and more negative feelings towards the West. This is the key point I make in stating why Bush's wars were a mistake in terms of trying to institute Western democracy into the Middle East. However it was not fruitless. Enacting voting systems is a step in the right direction however protecting that voting system from fraud is something they also have to be willing to undertake because in those nations those that seek power and those that seek to install extremist Governments will manipulate the system to win.
The only way to break this cycle is for the people of the Middle East that are not extremists to stand up against those that are and keep them in check in a similar manner as we do here in the USA and other Western civilizations: respect their opinions but do not let them gain power to use those opinions to change laws or take over the Government through the use of a voting system.
It will be much harder for them to do so because of what I posted earlier and because they are not starting from scratch. They have a completely corrupted system and the only way to fix that system is to remove those who are corrupt from power whenever they appear and to replace them with someone who is not corrupt. I think it was Jefferson that said at time the tree of Liberty has to be watered with the blood of patriots, which posits the key point that in order to have freedom you have to be willing to die to obtain it and defend if from anyone that would take it away from you.
As such I do not think we will see peace or pseudo-Democracy take hold of the Middle East until they have had their civil war. Some may say that the Arab Spring was the start of that process, issues have been brought to light but now it is up to the people living there to decide if they want to continue living in the same way that they have been under ruler-ship of extremist tyrants and dictators, or are they willing to cast aside the status-quot and attempt something new.
At the moment is looks like Human-nature to resist change is winning in several areas but winning in others. Time will tell with Egypt but so long as the Muslim Brotherhood continues to allow elections they are on the right path and the people have to decide if they want that ability to change their Government by voting or return to an Egypt ruled Mubarak style with a multi-decade leader. Syria on the other hand is on the wrong path. Assad is not listening to his people who have told him they want a new leader. Instead of saying I accept your opinion and stepping down he is sending tanks, soldiers, and bombs against them.
Authoritarianism and Democracy cannot co-exist without checks and balances. So long as a pure form of one or the other exists the other cannot take hold without revolution.
She is just like Obama, lies right to your face and don't care if you know it! He has made a deal with the devil and it backed fired!
Don't let the crazy talk that Robme and Rydiculous throw around daily, get confused with Obama... try to discontinue your hatefulness for one minute.... the right wing toxic talk does not serve this country and this tragic situation. Right wing hacks... GO AWAY!
I can see that most of you on the right did your usual. Turned on talk radio, and let them tell you what's in the article and video clip, and went typing away.
Some of you are so stupid, you thought the article was about Condoleezza Rice
Leftward let me guess this is Bush's fault.
Just like I said. You can't read.
Right Ms. Rice, just like a spontaneous abortion in which forceps are found on the fetus. People like this bozo really do need to experience one of the government's future re-education camps.
Liberal Trolling COME OUT COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE :)
Question - What is the difference between a liberal and a puppy?
Answer- A puppy stops whining after it grows up.
Question - What is the only thing worse than an incompetent liberal President?
Answer - A competent liberal President.
All dogs are Liberals, you can tell because they lick their butts.
Not even a little clever... stupid, yes.... but not clever.
It was funny.