Reuters: US ambassador to Libya dead

[Phillip V]

[Jacob]

For those who are interested, here's a blog from someone working at the US Department of State, covering the events: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/12/1130827/-DIARY-OF-A-BELTWAY-FACTOTUM-Libya-and-Romney-from-Inside?showAll=yes

(It's on Daily Kos)

[Razgovory]

TBH, I gotta go with Romney here. I was hoping for an Anders Fogh Rasmussen type reply like from either of the candidates.

"Look, I'm sorry you got your feelings hurt, but in America everybody gets to say what they think, including the stupid people."

You're making Tim and Raz look like Rhodes Scholars in comparison.

Hey!

[Jacob]

Did you read the link in jacob's post?

Link dinnae work.  What's the skinny?

The Post's View
Mr. Romney's rhetoric on embassy attacks is a discredit to his campaign
By Editorial Board, Wednesday, September 12, 12:02 PM

J.CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was a skilled and courageous diplomat who repeatedly placed himself at risk in order to support the cause of a democratic Libya. His death, along with those of three other Americans, during an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday is a tragedy that should prompt bipartisan support for renewed U.S. aid to Libyans who are struggling to stabilize the country. That it instead provoked a series of crude political attacks on President Obama by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is a discredit to his campaign.

Mr. Romney's first rhetorical assault came Tuesday night in response to a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, which was also besieged by demonstrators Tuesday. His statement claimed that the administration's first response was "to sympathize with those who waged the attacks." In fact the embassy statement was issued before the protests began; referring to an ugly anti-Islam film that was the focus of demonstrators, it condemned "those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious belief of others."

Mr. Romney did not then know the extent of the Benghazi incident — his statement referred only to "the death of an American consulate worker." So it was stunning to see the GOP nominee renew his verbal offensive Wednesday morning, when the country was still absorbing the news of the first death in service of a U.S. ambassador since 1988, as well as the loss of three other Americans. Though reports were still sketchy, it appeared that a militant jihadist group, Ansar al-Sharia, took advantage of the Benghazi protest to stage an armed assault that overwhelmed the Libyan security force at the consulate.

At a news conference, Mr. Romney claimed that the administration had delivered "an apology for America's values." In fact, it had done no such thing: Religious tolerance, as much as freedom of speech, is a core American value. The movie that provoked the protests, which mocks the prophet Mohammed and portrays Muslims as immoral and violent, is a despicable piece of bigotry; it was striking that Mr. Romney had nothing to say about such hatred directed at a major religious faith.

Mr. Obama struck the right tone on Wednesday, saying that "we reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others" but that "there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence." Lauding Mr. Stevens's service, the president promised "justice" for "this terrible act" while also committing the administration to continue cooperating with Libya's democratic government — which apologized for the attack.

Since the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gaddafi last year, Libya has been plagued by armed groups that have refused to submit to the new government. Now the United States must press the government to take action against Ansar al-Sharia and other jihadist organizations that have established themselves in the eastern Libyan desert. Security assistance, which has been limited so far, ought to be stepped up, by the Obama administration and by other governments that joined last year's NATO intervention.

As for Mr. Romney, he would do well to consider the example of Republican former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who issued a statement Wednesday lamenting "the tragic loss of life at our consulate," praising Mr. Stevens as "a wonderful officer and a terrific diplomat" and offering "thoughts and prayers" to "all the loved ones of the fallen." That was the appropriate response.

[Admiral Yi]

Interesting.

Not sure we really do reject all attempts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.

[Jacob]

Interesting.

Not sure we really do reject all attempts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.

No I don't think you do, but it seems to me that the idealized America that shines as a beacon to the rest of the world aspires to reject such attempts. So I don't see how the statement should be controversial.

[Admiral Yi]

No I don't think you do, but it seems to me that the idealized America that shines as a beacon to the rest of the world aspires to reject such attempts. So I don't see how the statement should be controversial.

I don't think we even aspire to do that. 

[Ed Anger]

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has called on the Egyptian embassy in Washington to take legal action against the producers of the "Innocence of Muslims" film, the official news agency MENA reported.

Derka Derka.

[Jacob]

Seems like the actors in the film are considering suing the producer too: http://gawker.com/5942748

Probably won't work.

[CountDeMoney]

Mittens' and his campaign's entire behavior, from the initial release to his statement today, simply shows how much of a foreign policy noob he really is. 

It's consistent with his entire foreign policy approach this entire campaign season:  nothing but bluster and blunders, all from trying too hard.

Making inflammatory statements as well as holding an even more inflammatory press conference before the POTUS addresses the issue isn't just bad politics, it's simply poor form.

[jimmy olsen]

TBH, I gotta go with Romney here. I was hoping for an Anders Fogh Rasmussen type reply like from either of the candidates.

"Look, I'm sorry you got your feelings hurt, but in America everybody gets to say what they think, including the stupid people."

You're making Tim and Raz look like Rhodes Scholars in comparison.

My GPA for my Masters was 4.0

[Kleves]

*Then* this evening on CNN Romney's national security dude was on saying that yes, in fact both the Cairo protests and the ambassador's death are symptomatic of the disorder (chaos?) that Obama's foreign policy has created in the region.  To me that was a boneheaded thing to say.  First, you have a chance to disassociate Romney's comment from the death but pass it up, then you want to fault Obama for the end of strongman regimes in the Arab world?

I saw some Republican chick on Fox News this morning while flipping through the channels. She was blaming Obama for removing our "allies" Mubarak and Gaddafi from the region and therefore handing it to the extremists. 

[Jacob]

I saw some Republican chick on Fox News this morning while flipping through the channels. She was blaming Obama for removing our "allies" Mubarak and Gaddafi from the region and therefore handing it to the extremists. 

[Kleves]

I know. It was bizarre - she must have been a tea partyer. Good looking, though.

[Sheilbh]

Douthat pointed out that the GOP attack on Obama's foreign policy is that he's soft on Islamists and that he leads from behind on things like Libya. The two don't seem coherent, if anything they're contradictory.

I think there is a very conservative realist case to be made, but to do that they'd need to dump the past eleven years of rhetoric and policy.

As I say in my view Romney should've taken the chance to look Presidential. He didn't and I think it was a big mistake. What's a shame is that Romney apparently didn't want to release a statement because of 9/11, but his advisers were very gung ho. Again, weak, weak, weak.

Even Peter King (America's most despicable Congressman) said while Romney was right he should've waited a day.

Interesting comments from the Libya protests today. Apparently the chant was 'no to terrorism, this is Libya' and someone commented that they'd all miss the Ambassador because 'he believed in Libya more than Libyans.' The statements from the government seem genuinely heartfelt too.