Reuters: US ambassador to Libya dead

[Tonitrus]

I'd hope that someone you give $1billion a year to is an ally...otherwise we might look like suckers.

[jimmy olsen]

Two of the victims were ex-Navy Seals working as security. The attack must really have been well planned and executed.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/13/13847618-two-killed-in-libyan-consulate-attack-identified-as-ex-navy-seals?lite

[derspiess]

So then I take it you disagree with Obama's clarified position?

The "clarified position" is not a contradiction of his original statement.  So solly.

Yes it is.  They have officially been a "Non-NATO ally" since the late 80s.  Obama yesterday incorrectly said they were not an ally, and his spokesman today said Egypt's status is not changing.

So either you have to agree with Obama's statement yesterday that Egypt is not an ally, or agree with today's "clarified" statement.  You can't agree with both, as much as you'd love to, being an unquestioning Obama worshiper.

Where is it written that Egypt is "Officially a non-Nato Ally"?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2321k

Looks like Obama can remove that designation, but he needs to give congress 30 days notice before he does so.

[KRonn]

So, how's that Arab Spring and Democracy thing all working out?? I remember during the Arab Spring demonstrations how so many people thought that a better day, democracy and human rights, would spring up. Yeah, right. With the Muslim Brotherhood, and various other extremist groups that were in line to gain power, what were any of us thinking? I even thought, at first, that maybe something good would come out of it. But no, we threw Mubrarak under the bus and sang Kumbaya.   

Even Libya might have been better off with Ghadafi as a strongman holding the nation's factions together. Now they'll be a factionalized nation, probably just a different group opressing the people, and who knows who will actually fill the power vacuum. The extremist groups still have their pipe dream of resurrecting the Caliphate across North Africa to Turkey. And we see even Turkey going through some unsettling changes.

[DGuller]

So, how's that Arab Spring and Democracy thing all working out?? I remember during the Arab Spring demonstrations how so many people thought that a better day, democracy and human rights, would spring up. Yeah, right. With the Muslim Brotherhood, and various other extremist groups that were in line to gain power, what were any of us thinking? I even thought, at first, that maybe something good would come out of it. But no, we threw Mubrarak under the bus and sang Kumbaya.   

Did we really throw Mubarak under the bus?  My recollection is that he was ripped out from our embrace and placed under the bus by the Egyptian military, and we actually earned enmity for supporting him for too long.

[CountDeMoney]

Well then, I guess our rendition program to Egypt is all shot to shit now.

[KRonn]

DG, you may be right. He was already partly under the bus, and I think the US just went along with the flow of the protesters. Maybe not much the US could do. I do wonder though if the US had another choice to try and prop him up, to avoid the radical elements from taking over. But then the US would have been seen as supporting another dictator. But instead what Egypt really got, so far it seems, was another form of totalitarianism in another name. And as that faction gets stronger, who knows where Egypt will wind up.

[Ed Anger]

Well then, I guess our rendition program to Egypt is all shot to shit now.

We still have our boys in the GCC. All hail the sheiks.

[jimmy olsen]

Libya and Tunisia seem to be doing fine, it's Egypt I'm worried about.

[KRonn]

So WTF was an Ambassador doing wandering around Benghazi on the anniversary of Sept 11? That's a date when radicals seem to try and attack US interests. And were all Embassies heavily defended for that date? It now seems quite obvious that the video was just a prop for a well orchestrated attack on the anniversary of Sept 11. I'm sure this has already been said in this 24 page thread, but I haven't read all of it.

[derspiess]

So WTF was an Ambassador doing wandering around Benghazi on the anniversary of Sept 11? That's a date when radicals seem to try and attack US interests. And were all Embassies heavily defended for that date? It now seems quite obvious that the video was just a prop for a well orchestrated attack on the anniversary of Sept 11. I'm sure this has already been said in this 24 page thread, but I haven't read all of it.

IIRC, he was trying to help the Benghazi consulate evacuate.

[Razgovory]

So then I take it you disagree with Obama's clarified position?

The "clarified position" is not a contradiction of his original statement.  So solly.

Yes it is.  They have officially been a "Non-NATO ally" since the late 80s.  Obama yesterday incorrectly said they were not an ally, and his spokesman today said Egypt's status is not changing.

So either you have to agree with Obama's statement yesterday that Egypt is not an ally, or agree with today's "clarified" statement.  You can't agree with both, as much as you'd love to, being an unquestioning Obama worshiper.

Where is it written that Egypt is "Officially a non-Nato Ally"?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2321k

Looks like Obama can remove that designation, but he needs to give congress 30 days notice before he does so.

Okay, next time one your GOPtard pals goes on about Pakistan being the enemy you set them straight as they are a Non-NATO ally.

[Habbaku]

NSFW.  At all.  Seriously.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-this-image,29553/

[Solmyr]

NSFW.  At all.  Seriously.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-this-image,29553/

[Martinus]

The "God hates fags" Phelps idiocy is widely discussed around the world. The Jack Chick tracts that call the Pope an Antichrist are widely discussed around the world.

Under what circumstances would an American embassy be in a position to comment on this, though? 

For example, yes it is true that Fred Phelps does outrageously offensive things like picket funerals and claim that Obama is the Antichrist.  I suppose the White House could issue a press release expressing strong disagreement with the notion that the President is the Antichrist, but it shouldn't be difficult to grasp why they don't do that.  Nor would there be any reason for the US embassy in Warsaw (or anywhere else) to issue statements on that matter, or about Phelps' pickets of military funerals, or his backing of anti-gay ordinances in Topeka.  If the US had an embassy to Kansas, perhaps that might be different . . .

Ok, I'm at loss here. I don't understand how anything you said is relevant and really do not know how to respond. Why is the "if the US had an embassy to Kansas" relevant here? I thought the offensive film here was made by a Texan (or a Californian) - so why the US embassy to Egypt and not the US embassy to California or Texas is making a statement? 

The film that offended muslims was not specifically broadcast in Libya and Egypt - it was made available on the internet, by a US citizen, and uploaded from the US. How is that different from the offensive stuff posted online by the Phelpses?

Or are you saying that if Polish GLBT organizations staged a protest in front of the US ambassy in Warsaw, protesting the shit Fred Phelps says on the internet, there would be an apology forthcoming? Or would they have to murder the ambassador and drag his body through the streets first?