U.S. Ambassador Killed by Radicals, Manipulated by Obscure Religious Leaders

J. Christopher Stevens, died of asphyxiation while the U.S. Consulate burned around him, this day, when in America, the nation had finished a reverent day of reflection on the anniversary of 9/11.

U.S.A Ambassador Stevens, had started out as a young member of the Peace Corps. He spoke several languages and as he devoted his life to helping third world nations, became an outstanding career diplomat. He was sympathetic to the plight of the people of Libya, plus he was notably a key part of the efforts to help the nation rebuild, in the aftermath of Omar Gaddafi. He was handsome, bright, progressive and above all, an American Patriot who was admired throughout the Middle East. Perhaps that is why he was targeted. He was too good. We must consider a possibility that he was so effective that someone in the militant Islamic machine decided: "We have to eliminate him." If so they made a mistake.

As Vice President Biden recently said: "It is a mistake to bet against the USA." Whoever initiated this, has made a losing bet that will hound them for the rest of their days. U S A Why? The why of this event is steeped in events of manipulation. You should know that a Coptic Christian, Sam Bacil, associated with a small radical group, produced a third rate film in California, to "Expose the hypocrisy of Islam".

He filmed Muhammad in compromising sexual scenes and characterized him as an opportunist, with more ambition than spirituality. That definition could apply to almost any politician, and a number of religious leaders in the world. It also reflects something dark about this man, that he would make something that would obviously be offensive. If you consider that, you have the dark roots that grow into darker violence. This obscure, unskilled film maker somehow caught the eye of an obscure preacher in Florida, Terry Jones. You will remember him. He is the "crack pot" who wanted to burn the Koran and created such riots in Afghanistan, that many people died before the press realized that he was a kook. Americans around the world were threatened, and some injured in the violence that this preacher caused. This obscure, headline seeking preacher, of a disrespected fringe group of easily manipulated radicals, started promoting the film made by the obscure filmmaker in California.  

An obscure Islamic religious leader in Benghazi, Libya, started whipping up his poor and easily manipulated followers leading to an opportunity for a "co-ordinated" mob of young men, equipped with automatic weapons and rockets to lay siege on the U.S. Consulate. One must wonder how they, and a similarly armed group of men, in Egypt, just coincidentally found sophisticated weapons and almost simultaneously conducted military assaults, on 9/11, the same day, same weapons, same tactics. The U.S. Marines, were reluctant to fire upon the crowd, as they are trained to do, showing restraint to keep from killing innocents and Libyan police stood back and were reluctant to do much either. As the band of young men yelled "Allah Aqbar" (Praise Allah) they burned the U.S. Consulate. There is a strange feeling when you see people saying "praise God" as they do violent and evil acts.

Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans died of smoke inhalation as they waited for the police and Marines to regain control. In a "coincidence" another Islamic group of young demonstrators had just attacked the Embassy in Egypt, scaled the walls, to replace the American flag with a black Islamic flag. They would have done more, except the local police were slightly more active. Again, U.S. Marines were hesitant to shoot and kill young people, and showed restraint. Gradually, U.S. Marines and Cairo police slowly started to take control of the crowd and protect the Embassy there. U S A In the USA…. Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney broke his promise to avoid politics on 9/11 and attacked President Obama for "Sympathizing with those who attacked our Embassy". He had no idea that President Obama was holding back, in respect to the wives and families of those murdered, so they would not hear of their losses on public news. Obama and Hillary Clinton issued statements denouncing the attacks. NBC News called Romney's turning this into election fodder as "The most over the top, out of line political event in recent history."

In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, (a long time Romney friend) got into the political act by releasing a statement that Obama was snubbing him and "throwing Israel away". U S A Response? The Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton gave a public denunciation of the violence, and killing, while honoring the Americans who were killed and offering condolences to their families. She gave a strong tongue lashing to the people responsible. Frankly the last thing the Secretary of State wanted to do is acknowledge a terrorist act on the anniversary of 9/11.  But this event, grew from 2 old religious men, one Christian and one Islamic on opposite sides of the world rattling their mouths when they should have kept quiet, to providing armed and seasoned terrorists an opportunity to attack an American diplomatic building, and they of course wanted this to be done on the anniversary of 9/11.  

President Obama, tried to tamp down Romney's rhertoric and suggested that Romney act with more restraint and deliberation, and similarly issued a statement that those perpetrators would be punished. "Never doubt, they WILL be held accountable." Then as he has proven before, Obama acted: U S A *The Obama administration, immediately initiated a terrorist hunt in Libya. Intelligence suggested that the attacks were perpetrated by well-armed thugs and not an out-of-control crowd.

*The FBI moved to send agents to do a detailed investigation, seeking evidence and clues as to who did this, where the weapons came from and track the enemy down, only as the FBI can do. They will be "covered" by a second US team for their protection.

*As part of the hunt for the attackers, officials say the U.S. has increased its surveillance over Libya, using the "eye in the sky" technology and use of unmanned drones, that the entire Islamic terrorists world, is terrorized by. We can be sure that they are authorized to "take out" terrorists.

*In addition, the U.S. Navy is positioning two destroyers armed with cruise missiles off the coast of Libya. Libya has felt the sting of US missiles before, for actions of radicals. If these radicals raise their heads again, they might find them gone.

*The investigation will focus on whether the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and not a spontaneous mob enraged over an anti-Islam YouTube video.

*After the attack, an elite anti-terrorist unit of about 40 Marines was flown in to beef up security at the American embassy in the capital of Tripoli. U S A Air Force transport planes flew the bodies of the dead Americans out, along with at least three who were injured and the rest of the approximately 25 diplomats assigned to the consulate.

At the same time, the U.S. State Department urged all non-essential personnel to leave on commercial flights. U S A Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi, said there had been threats that Islamic militants might try to take revenge for the death of al Qaeda's No. 2 commander Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in June, and he said the U.S. consulate should have been better protected. Confirming al-Libi's death for the first time in a video posted online Monday, al Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri called on Muslims in al-Libi's native Libya to take revenge for his death. U.S. officials believe the militants were using the demonstration against the video as a cover to get into the consulate and then take as much revenge as they could on Americans. An hour before the assault began, a stream of cars was seen moving toward the U.S. Consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

By late evening, as many as 50 heavily armed militants had gathered outside its high walls, intermingled with the crowd of protesters. U S A One must wonder about the connection, if there was one, of Netanyahu and Romney. How did Romney get the news so fast? What a coincidence that he and Netanyahu attacked Obama so vocally in the same time span? U S A But, there is another consideration. Those two obscure religious men, one a marginal Christian, leading an extremist church of followers in Florida. One an Islamic cleric, leading an extremist group of followers in Libya. It would seem that in a court of law, these two obscure, manipulative, radical men, would be considered culpable and legally liable, before and after the fact of the killing of people and destruction of property.

Perhaps the leaders of Egypt, Libya and the United States should bring these religious trouble makers in, and try to educate them of the evil of using religion to incite riots, destroy property and murder people. On the other hand, perhaps their "ignorance" just gave terrorists looking for an excuse to attack the US on 9/11, something to gain a crowd with. No doubt the USA should have ready "rescue and escape" plans when terrorists attack our people, and no doubt the USA should have more resources on the ground in places where multiple terrorist factions operate.

No doubt US commanders should give the CIA and other American people on the ground the authority to come to the rescue of Americans under fire.  And there is no doubt that the world has evil, armed warriors intent on killing to achieve their goals.  This is what the USA was dealing with and in my opinion tells us much of what we should learn. U S A Other observations: The film insulting Muhammad was a poorly produced, pile of trash. It was nothing. Something that only 6,000 people had seen on U Tube, and it was of poor quality and the American people ignored and rejected it for what it was. A trash piece produced by someone with a hateful agenda.

Indeed, I checked YouTube's statistics, and a video featured beside this one called "Fart Contest" had 20 times more viewers than this poorly done video with religious and political overtones.  Two obscure religious leaders, opportunists needing attention, used this to whip up emotions from their "flocks". Angry young men, armed terrorists were needing a vehicle to attack the USA, and they jumped upon the opportunity to attack the U.S.Embassy. J. Christopher Stevens, the first Ambassador of the USA to be killed in the line of duty in three decades, died a victim of the acts of multiple groups, all manipulating and being manipulated, to conduct murder and violence, at the behest of those with black motives. It is a true tragedy.

It reminds us of 1979 when the U.S. Embassy in Iran was attacked, and the result was the election of Ronald Reagan. Reagan's simplistic but attractive image and charming personality made for good public speeches, but ultimately was a beginning of the trend of deregulation that brought the USA to the disastrous economic collapse that we experienced under George W. Bush.

USA This event will bring forth some challenges to the Obama Administration.

1. How to keep good relations and strong influence in Libya in the face of bands of street gangs who try to use religion to influence political control.

2. How to show intelligent restraint, balanced with a strong hand of "American Justice".

3. How to show the world that the USA is a strong nation, not to be trifled with, while avoiding the image of "gunslinging unilateralism" epitomized by W.

4. How to provide more security for our patriots who work in our Embassies around the world.

5. How to gain the respect of our enemies, the admiration of our allies, and fear from those who would kill our people.

USA Considering Romney's quick out of the box statement (with factual errors), attempting to turn this into a political event in the USA, makes one wonder about his wisdom and deliberative skills. Times like this call for quiet, well conceived, and well coordinated response. Not knee jerk attacks, making the tragic death of one of America's outstanding diplomats, fodder for campaign votes. U S A Deeper reflections: I think of a young man, so idealistic that he joined the Peace Corps, instead of going to Wall Street. A man with a brilliant educational background, who was so good at helping and relating to people, that he rose to be one of America's up and coming starts in the Diplomatic Corps. A man killed by citizens of the very nation that he contributed so much to. A man, whose widow and children, are mourning, a man whose children will miss their dad, and a wife who has lost her loving husband.

USA We at www.bootheglobalperspectives.com believe that it is appropriate that those who cause these things, understand justice, compassion, love for mankind, and understand that there is a price to pay for actions that kill, murder and destroy. We call for "more light" in these days.