White House Stoked Violence with Benghazi Blame Game
But let’s take a look at the deadly and violent consequences that came as a result of the Obama administration blaming the video after the initial planned attacks.
On September 11, the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, were attacked. The United States flag in both locations was torn down and al Qaeda flags were raised in their place. Neither event was a “spontaneous action.” The attack in Libya was pre-planned, with armed Islamic militants wielding RPGs leading the way. The riots in Egypt were pre-planned for 9/11 to protest the imprisonment of World Trade Center Bomber and "Blind Sheikh" Omar abdel Rahman, with al Qaeda sypathizers rallying the crowd.
It was after the initial attack in Egypt that the administration threw free speech under the bus. The U.S Embassy in Cairo released the following statement on 9/11, the same day as the attacks. Notice “the video” isn’t mentioned.
“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.”
A day later, the same argument with a specific reference to an anti-Islam video was used by administration officals to explain the attack in Benghazi, the place Americans were brutally murdered and where they left bloody finger streaks on the walls of the U.S. consulate.
Although the White House initially distanced itself from the embassy statement above, they had their straw man. Obama administration officials decided to push the argument that the amateur YouTube video insulting Islam, with just 300 views at the time, was the reason for the violence. A spontaneous protest of the film that spun out of control was the talking point.
Then, after Obama administration officials repeatedly blamed the YouTube video, the Muslim world erupted, with U.S. Embassies in multiple countries coming under siege, just as we saw with the Danish cartoon fiasco.
On September 14, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “The cause of the unrest was a video," adding, “The reason there is unrest is because of the film.”
In this case, Carney was actually telling the truth. The cause of the unrest was a result of a video, a video the Obama administration cynically promoted.
In its attempt to avoid taking a political hit and to distract away from the fact al Qaeda is getting stronger, not weaker as President Obama has claimed on the campaign trail, the Obama administration successfully enraged radical Muslims around the world in more than 25 countries including Indonesia, Yemen, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Iraq, and London after the planned attacks in Libya and Egypt. The administration’s efforts to blame the video fanned the deadly flames of anti-American sentiment around the world. In Pakistan alone, 17 people were killed.
We now know the YouTube video had nothing to do with sparking the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi or the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on 9/11. However, we do know that the White House narrative of the video being responsible did give thousands of Muslims a reason to riot around the world. The Obama administration’s false talking points, attack on free speech and bogus narrative, put U.S. personnel further at risk, despite President Obama claiming his number one priority is to keep U.S. diplomats safe.
“My number one priority is always to keep our diplomats safe and to keep our embassies safe," Obama said during an interview with Univision on September 20.
The more the video was discussed, the worse the riots became. In front of the U.N. on September 25, President Obama said, “In every culture, those who love freedom for themselves must ask themselves how much they're willing to tolerate freedom for others. And that is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, where a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world.”
President Obama sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world by promoting a film that had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The maker of that video was thrown in jail, and more people died. In the end, the “blame the video” move, or using humans as collateral damage, was one Obama was willing to make in order to save his re-election campaign.
http://townhall.com/columnists/katiepavlich/2012/10/25/the_deadly_consequences_of_the_white_house_blaming_a_video_for_benghazi
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