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Mobs hit U.S. buildings in Libya, Egypt; American diplomat killed
Egyptian protesters chant anti-U.S. slogans in front of U.S. Embassy in Cairo Tuesdat / AP Photo
(CBS/AP) CAIRO -- Protesters angered over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad fired gunshots and burned down the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing one American, witnesses and the State Department said. In Egypt, protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, tearing and replacing the American flag with an Islamic banner.
Tuesday's attacks were the first such assaults on U.S. diplomatic facilities in either country, at a time when both Libya and Egypt are struggling to overcome the turmoil following the ouster of their longtime leaders, Muammar Qaddafi and Hosni Mubarak, in uprisings last year.
The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over a film ridiculing Muhammad produced by an American in California and being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States. Excerpts from the film, dubbed into Arabic, were posted on YouTube.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed that one State Department officer had been killed in the protest at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. She strongly condemned the attack and said she had called Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif "to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya."
Clinton expressed concern that the protests might spread to other countries. She said the U.S. is working with "partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide."
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said in the statement released by the State Department. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. 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."
Sam Bacile, an American citizen who said he produced, directed and wrote the two-hour film, has gone into hiding, The Associated Press reports.
He told the AP from an undisclosed location that he had not anticipated such a furious reaction.
"I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad," Bacile said.
The incidents also led to an exchange between the campaigns of Republican standard bearer Mitt Romney and President Obama.
In Benghazi, a large mob stormed the U.S. consulate, with gunmen firing their weapons, said Wanis al-Sharef, an Interior Ministry official in Benghazi. A witness said attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate as they clashed with Libyans hired to guard the facility.
Outnumbered by the crowd, Libyan security forces did little to stop them, al-Sharef said.
The crowd overwhelmed the facility and set fire to it, burning most of it and looting the contents, witnesses said.
One American was shot to death and a second was wounded in the hand, al-Sharef said. He did not give further details.
The violence at the consulate lasted for about three hours, but the situation has now quieted down, said another witness.
"I heard nearly 10 explosions and all kinds of weapons. It was a terrifying day," said the witness who refused to give his name because he feared retribution.
Hours before the Benghazi attack, hundreds of mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters in Egypt marched to the U.S. Embassy in downtown Cairo, gathering outside its walls and chanting against the movie and the U.S. Most of the embassy staff had left the compound earlier because of warnings of the upcoming demonstration.
"Say it, don't fear: Their ambassador must leave," the crowd chanted.
Dozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the American flag from a pole. They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that tore it apart.
The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith, "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet." The flag, similar to the banner used by al Qaeda, is commonly used by ultraconservatives around the region.
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Every single one of them.
If so you will have to forget your SUV and buy a bicycle!
Good thing President Obama gave that speech in Cairo a couple of years ago.
I also see the State Department under Hillary Clinton is on top of the issues and expresses freedom of religion, expression & speech.
Welcome to Obama's world.
The following is a text of President Obama's prepared remarks to the Muslim world, delivered on June 4, 2009, as released by the White House.
I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.
I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect;
Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html?pagewanted=all
Are you grateful now President Obama and the greetings of peace from Muslim communities around the world?
How is that mutual respect working out for you President Obama?
I wonder how those Chicago communities are doing know? Shall we take a peek and see?
Cut the apoligizing and the blaming and get yourself a wider history book.
And is it not the truth that the so called mohammed the prophet was not a very nice person at all?
It is truly regrettable that an American was killed, but the reaction of those muslims was truly disproportional.
Free Speech, according to the supreme court ruling, has limits. One cannot yell, "Fire" in a crowded movie house.
The producers of this movie are not entitled to the same rights as a critic who makes Islam a religion, historically speaking, where fundamentalism dominates.
By the same token, a Florida Church pastor has no right to burn a copy of Koran in public or an Afghan soldier to burn it.
To keep a dialog alive without invoking US constitution, let us find out who is doing it first. Naturally, if unpublished yet, how come foreign countries' mobs got the details?
I see a rat smell, aka PR job by the producers. Throw them in jail for inciting violence in foreign countries where our citizens' lives might be endangered.
Not to speak of our carefully arranged international relations.
...and I am Sid Harth@mysistereileen.com
I'm tired of this Jewish/Islamic BS war spilling into our politics. I wish we would just allow them to kill each other and get it over with. Then maybe the rest of us could live in peace.
I'm tired of lazy bums like yourself who can't do any fact checking before spouting lies on the internet.