Muslims cannot reconcile the dual nature of the First Amendment, which simultaneously protects someone's right to practice his or her religion and protects someone else's right to ridicule that religion. The events that have unfolded over the past couple of days show that President Barack Hussein Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appear to have the same problem.
The Obama administration initially blamed violent attacks on U.S. embassies in Cairo and Benghazi on a YouTube video mocking Mohammad. The embassy issued an entreaty Tuesday morning meant to deter the impending siege instead of getting permission from Amb. Anne Patterson to allow U.S. Marines guarding the facility to carry ammo so they could effectively repel an attack they had been warned about by Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. Astonishingly, it seems not to have occurred to anyone in the Obama administration to fortify the defenses of our embassies in anticipation of a terror plot on the September 11 anniversary. Consequently, Amb. Christopher Stevens and three other employees were murdered, and Stevens' corpse was defiled and dragged through the streets – a ghoulish trophy.
Although diplomatic personnel in Cairo should have known that trying to appease the mob would only embolden them, the statement and a series of Tweets posted over the next several hours denounced the people behind the video (more on that later) for exercising their free speech rights: “The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.”
While all this was going on in Egypt, news reports began trickling out about the murderous attack on the Libyan embassy. When additional details of the scope of the horrific violence were reported, Clinton issued a statement echoing the language the Cairo embassy had been using: “I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today... 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.”
As the situation in Benghazi deteriorated, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also called FL pastor Rev. Terry Jones – who was promoting the video – to ask him to consider disassociating himself from it so as not to fuel more violence and endanger our troops in Afghanistan. Jones, who had once threatened to burn the Koran to protest Muslim hostility to free speech (eighth item on the page), now found himself being strong-armed by the government of his own country, which seemed uninterested in his First Amendment rights.
Two days after Republican nominee Mitt Romney slammed the Obama administration for reflexively sympathizing with the "feelings" of the violent mobs instead of condemning the attacks, Clinton attempted to diffuse the political fallout by issuing another statement explaining that America’s Constitution enshrines free speech rights – but also suggesting that the people who made the video were wrong to have exercised those rights, Reuters reports:
"The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message," Clinton said at the start of talks with senior Moroccan officials in Washington.
"To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage."
Ironically, though Obama accused Romney of a "tendency to shoot first and aim later," because he criticized the administration’s handling of the embassy attacks "before all the facts were known," he and Clinton were both guilty of making assumptions, casting blame, issuing statements and condemning the exercise of free speech rights before all the facts were known.
You see, the film was not the cause of the attacks, but only a pretext for a meticulously planned terror attack – the real aim of which was to coerce the U.S. to release blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, currently imprisoned for life sentence for masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. And evidence is emerging that the film was made by an Egyptian to protest the denigration of his religion by Muslims in his country.
The video, a 14-minute trailer for a two-hour film called "Innocence of Muslims," was produced by a man who initially passes himself off as an Israeli Jew named Sam Bacile who made his living as a CA real estate developer. He later admits to The Associated Press that his real name is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and that he is an Egyptian Copt who wanted to publicize the mistreatment of Christians by Muslims. He adds that he thinks Islam is a cancer and that his film was making a political statement. (Nakoula, who pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges and sentenced to 21 months in prison, has used several aliases besides Sam Bacile.)
With the film being blamed for the murders of four people and possibly becoming the catalyst for additional murders, the 80-member cast and crew issue a statement insisting that they were “grossly misled about its intent and purpose” of the film – then called “Desert Warriors.” Actress Cindy Lee Garcia tells Gawker that the inflammatory dialogue depicting Mohammad as a fraud and a child molester was not in the original script, and had been dubbed into the film during post production. An excerpt of a version of the video that had been dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube was broadcast on Egyptian TV on September 9th.
Courageous Christians United founder Steve Klein tells AP that he warned, "you're going to be the next Theo van Gogh" when the aspiring filmmaker first approached him for advise on First Amendment issues.
So the upshot is that Nakoula exercised his free speech rights under the First Amendment in an effort – however misguided – to enable his people to practice their religion freely in Egypt, a country where they have no First Amendment rights. Our government should not have apologized for Nakoula having or using these Constitutional rights. This is not the American Way.
And it is not in the American character to knuckle under to a bully. Muslims consider the ridicule of Allah or Mohammad and the desecration of the Koran blasphemous, but this is not why they explode in a murderous rage at an insult that other societies take in stride. The purpose of the extreme violence is to ensure that their G-d, their prophet and the Koran become inviolate – which means that in countries with a free speech tradition, Islam and the Koran enjoy a special – superior – status to other religions and other holy books, which are subject to criticism and ridicule. This is the preliminary step in promoting Islamic supremacism and training infidels to become dhimmies in their own countries.
Tags: Clinton, Egypt, Embassies, Freedom, Libya, Mohammad, Muslims, Obama, Speech, Video
Permalink Reply by Joseph DeLuna on I Say Free Speech Is Paramount! Muslims Need To Be Tried And Executed For Crimes Against America! The Current Liberal Bed Wetters Must Be Removed From Office And The DemocRat Party Must Be made Irrelavent !
Permalink Reply by Lizzie on Liberal motto: "All religions are equally stupid, except for ONE, because we're scared of it."
Permalink Reply by Dennis Donner on Well said. But I think liberals and Muslims are presently partners.
Liberals are also totalitarian like Muslims
Both are antiFREEDOM
etc etc
Think it's the flow of returning oil money through the mosques that gets politicians in bed with Muslims
They have cash like we've got air
No doubt Muslims strike fear ... like a rattlesnake
Over time the partnership will disolve. The liberals will be dead.
Our job is to make sure we end it
Instead of IT ending us
Permalink Reply by Lizzie on I was thinking of an imaginary dialogue between liberals and muslims:
"Hey, you burn US flags? We do too!
And you think free speech hinders state propaganda? We completely agree!
Hey, your style of violent protest is a LOT like ours! But you go even further!!
Wow, you want to obliterate Christianity from the world! WELL, the enemy of our enemy is our friend! Is there anything we can do to help? We specialize in coopting federal agencies and securing federal funding."
Permalink Reply by Bruce O'H. on Haaaaaaaa!!! If that ain't the darn truth!!!!
Permalink Reply by Linny Redd on I'm NOT (SCARED), but SOMEBODY IS!
Permalink Reply by American Patriot on Great! Who is the worse threat? The muslims or the FED?
“Congratulations Mr. Bernanke. I’m happy, my assets’ values go up. But as a responsible citizen I have to say the monetary policies of the U.S. will destroy the world.” Marc Faber, investor, analyst and writer extraordinaire, September 14, 2012, Bloomberg Television.
...Doug Noland of Credit Bubble Bulletin writes...
"I’ll state what others hesitate to admit: this week our central bank took a giant leap from radical to virtual rogue central banking. If Bernanke’s plan was to leapfrog the audacious Draghi ECB, our sinking currency – even against the euro – is confirmation of his success. If his goal was to provide markets a Benjamin Strong-like“coup de whiskey” – he should instead fear the dangerous instability central bankers have wrought on global markets and economies. And I am all too familiar to the adversities of being a naysayer in the midst of Bubble mania. I’ve read about it, I’ve lived it and I’m ok with it –and actually am motivated by it. I highlighted last week the ominous divergence between world fundamentals and the markets. And this week, well, global markets enjoyed just a spectacular time of it. Away from the Bloomberg screen, it sure seemed like a less than comforting week for the world at large.
As an analyst of Bubbles, I often quip that they tend to “go to incredible extremes - and then double.” Timing the bursting of a Bubble is a very challenging – if not nearly impossible – proposition. Yet this in no way should cloud the harsh reality that the longer a Bubble is accommodated the more devastating the unavoidable consequences. It is, as well, the nature of speculative manias for things to turn crazy in the destabilizing terminal-phase. The past few weeks – with more than ample Bubble accommodation and craziness- really make me fear that eventual day of reckoning."
Permalink Reply by ANDREW SCHRAG on OBAMA AND HILLARY ARE TRULY DEAF/DUMB AND STUPID.. ALL OF THIS OCCURRING ON OR AFTER ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 ATTACK ON U.SA. IS BEYOND THE PALE OF BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE FOR THEIR MIDDLE EAST FAILED POLICY.. TWO MORE AMERICANS SOLDIERS KILLED TODAY IN AFGHANISTAN. THIS IS ANOTHER CASE OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TRYING TO DISCREDIT AND KILL THE MESSENGER WHILE BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE OTHER THAN THEMSELVES.... WHAT THE HELL EVER HAPPENED TO THE "BUCK STOPS HERE" THAT PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN ---INSTITUTED? THIS ADMINISTRATIONS TO WHAT EVER HAPPENS ON ITS WATCH IS THE RESULT OF SOMEONE ELSES FAILURE---BUT CERTAINLY NOT THERES!
JUST WHERE IN THE HELL IS OBAMA'S CLAIM THE ISLAM IS A TOLERANT RELIGION? THE ONLY THING THAT APPEARS TO BE TOLERANT ABOUT ISLAM IS FROM OBAMA'S MOUTH---AND WE ALL KNOW THAT HE IS A FRADULENT CON ARTIST , A MUSLIM PERMITTED TO LIE, OUR FIRST GAY PRESIDENT STILL IN THE CLOSET,
AND A HABITUAL PATHOLOGICAL LIARS... GOING AFTER GOOGLE IS A KIN TO GOING AFTER STANDARD AND POORS RATING SERVICE.. THEY APPEAR UNABLE TO LOOK INTO THE MIRROR AND SEE ANYTHING BUT HOW CREATIVE THEIR PERSON IDEAS ARE ----NOW, WAITING FOR OBAMA TO ISSUE A EXECUTIVE ORDER GRANTING AMNESTY TO ISLAMIC TERRORIST FOR KILLING AMERICAN CITIZENS---ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
OBAMA THE COWARD IN THE WHITE HOUSE, TAKING CREDIT FOR ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING GOOD THAT HAPPENS ON HIS WATCH AND BLAMING BUSH OR SOMEONE ELSE FOR ANYTHING THAT GOES WRONG ON HIS WATCH.. A COMMAND IN CHIEF WHO REFLECTS THE WORST TRAITS FOR THAT HIGH POSITIONS--
EMPTY SUIT/EMPTY CHAIR/EMPTY PROMISES/DEVOID OF THE MORAL AND ETHICAL CONDUCT EXPECTED BY A PRESIDENT... OUT CAMPAIGNING AND FUND RAISING WHILE AMERICANS AND OUR SOLDIERS ARE BEING KILLED... WHAT A SHAMEFUL DISGRACE HE HAS BECOME!
Permalink Reply by Linny Redd on THIS IS SIMPLY COMMUNIST POLITICS!
Permalink Reply by Kirby L. Vickery on Well written Ms. Knox. Once again the United States of America's administration has backed the wrong pony and now we are feeling the weight of not only that error but of the administration's denial of that fact. Although I wonder if all of this will affect the presidential election at all.
Permalink Reply by Dennis Donner on HOW did Islamic/ totalitarian ideology get in our own government
I say the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia transplanted Islamic ideas into American culture
They bought and paid for the teaching of Islam in our colleges/ universities/ high schools/ middle schools
We know they and their ideas are in there
WHEN did free speech threats BEGIN to arise
I say it was during the 1960s
Permalink Reply by Ronald Sorrells on ALRIGHT SPORTS FANS......IT IS TIME TO SIDEUP ! YAHWEH, JESUS, ALLAH, BUDDAH, "HAIRY" KRISHNA, ETC. !?
Semper Fi,
Ron
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