Killing of US envoy to Libya underscores threat of unchecked religious fanaticism

[rug]

US ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens was killed when Islamists attacked the Benghazi consulate in reaction to a video produced in the US that insulted the prophet Muhammad.

By Kristen Chick, Correspondent / September 12, 2012

Cairo

The US ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three diplomatic staff members were killed last night when Islamists attacked the American consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the State Department confirmed today.

Coupled with the overrunning of the US embassy in Cairo yesterday, the incident illustrates the challenge that post-revolution governments face in reining in newly empowered hardliners.

The armed Islamists who attacked and burned the consulate in Benghazi were reportedly angered by a film mocking the prophet Mohammed that was produced in the US. International television channels like Al Jazeera aired footage today of the burned and ransacked consulate building. A US official in Tripoli confirmed that the bodies of the four were flown to Tripoli today and pictures circulated on Twitter of the apparently lifeless body of a man who resembled Mr. Stevens, being carried by crowds of men.

An angry crowd also protested the video at the US embassy in Cairo yesterday, scaling the wall to enter the compound and tearing down the American flag to replace it with an Islamist flag. No one was hurt in that demonstration, and protesters eventually left the embassy compound.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0912/Killing-of-US-envoy-to-Libya-underscores-threat-of-unchecked-religious-fanaticism

[cbayer]

1. Holy shit. I wasn't aware of this.

There doesn't seem to be an easy way out of this. Was a vacuum left that allowed this groups to flourish. In how many places are US diplomats in danger?

[rug]

2. I think there were demonstrations in Tunisia as well.

There's definitely a vacuum. The new Egyptian constitution is coming up for approval. There's a lot at stake, hence, extreme measures.

[onager]

3. Egyptian embassy in Cairo also attacked, walls scaled

Egyptians angry at film scale U.S. embassy walls

(Reuters) - Egyptian protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy on Tuesday, tore down the American flag and burned it during a protest over what they said was a film being produced in the United States that insulted Prophet Mohammad.

In place of the U.S. flag, the protesters tried to raise a black flag with the words "There is no God but God, and Mohammad is his messenger", a Reuters witness said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/us-egypt-usa-protest-idUSBRE88A11N20120911

I still have friends in Egypt and heard about that attack pretty quickly yesterday.

Some people are probably saying: "WTF? All this over a movie?"

When I lived in Alexandria, Egypt in 2005, there was a rumor that a Coptic church had produced an anti-Muslim play two years before.

Alleged copies of the play, on DVD, circulated thru the radical storefront mosques in Alex. One day in Nov. 2005, after Friday Muslim prayers, a mob attacked St. George's Coptic church. The riot lasted several days and killed several people.

So yeah. "Just a movie" can do that.

[rug]

4. What do you think is going on over there right now?