US Foreign Policy incompetence on display - embarrassing degrees of ineptitude....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/us-withdraws-diplomats-tunisia-sudan?intcmp=239

US withdraws diplomats from Tunisia and Sudan

US state department orders departure of non-essential staff from embassies amid concerns over rising anti-American violence

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• Associated Press in Washington
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 16 September 2012 04.06 EDT

A policemen checks damage to vehicles inside the US embassy in Tunis after it was attacked by protesters on Saturday. Photograph: Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters

The US state department has ordered non-essential staff from its embassies in Sudan and Tunisia to leave with their families and warned its citizens against travelling to the two countries owing to concerns over rising anti-American violence.

"Given the security situation in Tunis and Khartoum, the state department has ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel from both posts, and issued parallel travel warnings to American citizens," said a spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland.

In Tunisia, the warning advised Americans that the international airport in Tunis was open and encouraged all US citizens to depart on commercial flights.

It said Americans who chose to remain in Tunisia should use extreme caution and avoid demonstrations. On Friday, protesters climbed the walls into the US embassy in Tunis, torching cars, attacking the entrance building and setting fire to a gym and a neighbouring American school.

In Sudan, the warning said that while the Sudanese government had taken steps to limit the activities of terrorist groups, some remain and have threatened to attack western interests.

The terrorist threat level remains "critical" throughout Sudan, the department said. It noted that US officials were already required to travel in armoured vehicles and to get permission to travel outside Khartoum, where crowds set alight part of the German embassy and tried to storm the US embassy on Friday.

A US official said on Saturday that Sudan's government was holding up the deployment of an elite marine team it planned to send to Khartoum to boost security at the embassy.

Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, spoke to leading officials from seven countries on Saturday to discuss the situation following a wave of protests and violence over an anti-Muslim film that has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in recent days. An obscure, amateurish movie called Innocence of Muslims, which depicts the prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womaniser and a paedophile, sparked the outrage.

On Tuesday, protesters in Egypt breached the walls of the US embassy in Cairo, then well-armed extremists attacked the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Since then, protests over the video have spread to more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa and south-east Asia. While most demonstrations were peaceful, marches in several places turned violent, including in Tunisia and Sudan.

Clinton spoke to the prime minister of Libya, the president of Somalia, and the foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Saturday, Nuland said.

She spoke to the Libyan prime minister, Mustafa Abushagur, about the importance of bringing the consulate attackers to justice, Nuland said. The prime minister "expressed confidence that the attackers would be brought to justice, noting that the government was already starting to take action", she added.

Clinton thanked the Egyptians, Turks and Saudis for their condemnations of the violence and spoke of the need to ensure security at diplomatic missions, Nuland said. Clinton and the Egyptian foreign minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, also "agreed that while the film may be offensive and reprehensible, it cannot be used as justification for violence", she said.

The state department travel warnings came as President Barack Obama paid tribute to the Americans killed in Benghazi in his weekly radio address and denounced the anti-US protests that have followed.

and.....

http://www.debka.com/article/22360/Al-Qaeda-led-Salafis-hit-three-Egyptian-Sinai-bases-down-Egyptian-chopper-

Al Qaeda-led Salafis hit three Egyptian Sinai bases, down Egyptian chopper

DEBKAfile Special Report September 16, 2012, 6:04 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Al Qaeda   Salafis   Sinai Bedouin   Egypt   MFO   US 

Al Qaeda-led Bedouin fighters in Sinai

Salafi Bedouin and al Qaeda bands Sunday, Sept 16, expanded their Sinai offensive to three Egyptian bases along a 70-kilometer front three days after they raided the US-led Multinational Force base south of El Arish in northern Sinai and hoisted the black Islamist flag. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that at dawn, a small group managed to creep up to the northern Sinai Egyptian command center in al Arish and plant a large bomb against its walls. Because of the total Egyptian blackout on the episode, there is no information on casualties or damage.

The explosion was followed by a horde of heavily armed gunmen firing rocket grenades and heavy machine guns swooping on the center and seizing the rooftops of surrounding buildings to pin down the Egyptian commanders inside the compound. By the end of the day, the Salafi-al Qaeda gangs were in control of El Arish, the key town of northern Sinai.
At a distance of 40 kilometers, a fierce battle erupted at another site, Sheikh Zuwaid, 3 kilometers from the MFO’s northern base which was attacked Friday. The raiders captured the local school and took dozens of children hostage. Using them as human shields, the terrorists advanced on the local police station shooting anti-tank rockets, rocket grenades, automatic weapons and fire bombs.
To repel this attack, the Egyptian army deployed combat helicopters which struck the invaders with missiles and heavy machine guns. One chopper was reported shot down. Due to the Egyptian news blackout, there is no word on the fate of the children, the helicopter crew or whether it was downed by an anti-air rocket or machine gun fire,

The Salafi-al Qaeda terrorists next turned to the Egyptian special forces base at Rafah abutting the Gaza Strip and just across the Israeli border. This is the same base which Salafi Bedouin and al Qaeda gunmen attacked on Aug. 5 killing 16 Egyptian troops and crashing through the frontier barrier into Israel.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the broad al Qaeda-led offensive Sunday marks a major and dangerous escalation in the Islamist terrorist coalition’s war plans for Sinai. It carried four messages:
1.  It is a military force to be reckoned: The jihadi terrorists first displayed their military prowess on Aug. 5, when they took on two armies at once. Sunday, they attacked three military targets along a 70-kilometer front, a feat which even the Afghan Taliban has not mastered.2.  This feat puts the Sinai Army of Islam at the forefront of the violent Islamist protest against the United States sweeping across the Middle East and Asia over a film mocking the Prophet Muhammad. Because it is beyond the horizon of international attention and the Western media, Washington, Cairo and Jerusalem have been able to keep its true impact under wraps.

3.  More than 1,000 MFO peacemakers including hundreds of American officers have been under Salafi-Al Qaeda-Bedouin siege for three days since their Al Ghora base was raided Friday. They have a fleet of helicopters and small reconnaissance aircraft with American crews,  but they don’t dare take off because it is feared that al Qaeda gunmen will shoot them down with FIM-92 Stinger anti-air missiles smuggled into Sinai from Libya.

4. The IDF high command is tensed now for the jihadis to again turn their guns and rockets on Israel.

and....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/libyan-president-magariaf-military-action

( The  problem in Libya is that the selected government by NATO (  NTC ) is still in place. The NTC which still is  clinging to power  has not  yet been  be replaced by the Elected Parliament - the Elected Parliament ,  but not actually empowered to legally act ,  must rely on  loyal " militia which do not trust the NTC. Therefore , the new PM , who does not yet have an actual Cabinet  in place , must somehow respond to US concerns , while also juggling concerns of overstepping the political boundaries within Libya.... )

Libyan parliamentary speaker hints at military strike after consulate attack

Magariaf confirms US officials intercepted communications that linked al-Qaida in Maghreb to Islamist brigade Ansar al-Sharia

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• Chris Stephen in Benghazi
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 16 September 2012 10.22 EDT

Libyans march to express their sympathy for the US ambassador Chris Stevens and other Americans killed in Benghazi last week. Photograph: Mohammad Hannon/AP

The president of Libya's parliament, Mohamed al-Magariaf, has said military action is being considered against militants blamed for the killing of the US ambassador, Chris Stevens.

Magariaf also confirmed reports from Washington that US officials intercepted communications discussing the planned attack on the UN consulate in Benghazi, which he said linked al-Qaida in the Maghreb to an Islamist brigade, Ansar al-Sharia. "Yes, that happened," he said.

Magariaf told the Guardian the intercepts matched other evidence indicating members of the brigade took part in Tuesday's all-night assault on the compound and an accommodation site.

"It seems there is a division within Ansar al-Sharia about this attack, some for participation, some against," he said. "We are in the process of investigation."

Such transmissions would be powerful evidence linking al-Sharia to the attack, and Magariaf said Libya had been passed the information by the US government. He confirmed that the intercepted communications discussed the timing of last week's assault. But he urged the US not to act unilaterally, fearing that it would antagonise public opinion.

"We will not hesitate to act, to do what is our duty," Magariaf said. "Let us start first by ourselves and if we are not capable then, whoever can help us. My experience with the Americans, they know what they have to do."

His comments came as Libya's interior ministry said that weekend raids had led to the arrest of 50 suspects, but it gave no details nor indicated whether they were Islamist militants.

Tension is building in Benghazi amid speculation that military action is imminent against the al-Sharia brigade, whose commanders deny responsibility for the consulate attack.

Two US warships equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles are stationed off the coast and a propeller-driven aircraft with no lights, thought to be a drone, has spent several hours in the skies above the city for the past two nights.

The brigade remains in its base in Benghazi, and its soldiers are guarding a hospital where medical officials say two wounded militants are being treated. Sharia guards there refused to allow the Guardian access or to comment on the attack.

Magariaf said the attack on the US mission, the fifth attack on diplomatic targets in Benghazi since April, was part of a wider campaign by militants to destabilise Libya, taking advantage of the disorder of a country still without cohesive government.

"This is a turning point for the country. The confrontation is necessary and inevitable with these elements," he said. "[It is] either them, or Libya being safe and united. Today it is the Americans, tomorrow it is going to be Libyans."

Magariaf rose to prominence in the 1980s when, having fled to Britain, he led the anti-Gaddafi National Front for the Salvation of Libya. He won a seat in the new parliament in July in an election in which tribal and liberal parties prevailed against the Muslim Brotherhood.

He said he had evidence "foreign countries" were involved in supporting the attack on the consulate but declined to name them. "It's a deliberate calculated action by a group working in collaboration with non-Libyan extremists. I would not be surprised if it's another country, but it's not Saudi Arabia or Qatar, I'm sure."

In Benghazi, evidence linking members of the Sharia brigade to the attack is growing. The chief of the city's supreme security council, Libya's gendarmerie, said witnesses and mobile phone footage showed members were involved.

This was confirmed by an eyewitness who was among bystanders who turned up to see what began as an anti-US protest on Tuesday night.

The witness, who said he was too frightened to give his name, said he had watched as about a dozen armed men with a black Sharia brigade banner attacked the rear gate of the consulate with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

"The guys were with beards and Kalashnikovs, they were standing there with the Ansar al-Sharia flag. One hundred per cent this was planned, they attacked from both sides [of the consulate] at once," he said.

A Libyan intelligence official told the Guardian at the weekend that a group of between 12 and 14 militants were suspected of orchestrating the attack.

Magariaf said he had held weekend meetings with both the army chief of staff, Yusef Mangoush, and what he called "loyal" brigades from the Libya Shield, in effect a parallel army of former rebel formations who distrust the present government, which the new parliament has yet to replace.

He also said he had the support of the new prime minister, Mustafa Abushagur, although a new cabinet has yet to be appointed and it is unclear whether the present administration, led by Abdurrahim al-Keib, which remains in power, has approved military action.

There are fears that while the Sharia brigade, which has an estimated 100 members, can be subdued, other jihadist groups in Libya, notably those which bulldozed Sufi Islamic shrines in Tripoli last month, may react if military action is taken in Benghazi.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/source-this-is-how-islamists-knew-of-secret-u-s-safehouse/

NEW YORK – An Egyptian security official speaking to WND today said there is information about large-scale infiltration by al-Qaida and its affiliated Jihadia Salafiya groups within the Libyan security apparatus.

The claim comes amid speculation about how Islamists who targeted the U.S. mission in Libya seemed to have inside information about the movement of the American diplomats in the country as well as the location of a supposedly secret U.S. safehouse in Libya.

The attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya came in two phases. The first phase saw a mob arrive at the one-story villa that serves as the consulate, with heavily armed men later coming to the scene with armored vehicles and rocket-propelled grenades. Ambassador Chris Stevens and another American were killed in the initial attack.

Libyan security forces then evacuated the consulate staff to a supposedly secret safehouse located about a mile away. Hours later, a second assault targeted the safe house, killing two Americans and wounding a number of Libyans and Americans.

U.S. backing Islamic groups behind Libya, Egypt attacks?

The claim of al-Qaida infiltration of Libyan security forces comes after WND documented earlier this week how the U.S. supported Libyan rebels amid widespread reports that al-Qaida groups were incorporated in the rebel ranks.

The attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya is being widely blamed on al-Qaida-linked groups.

One witness to the mob scene in Libya said some of the gunmen attacking the U.S. installation had identified themselves as members of Ansar al-Shariah, which represents al-Qaida in Yemen and Libya.

The al-Qaida offshoot released a statement denying its members were behind the deadly attack, but a man identified as a leader of the Ansar brigade told Al Jazeera the group indeed took part in the Benghazi attack.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed the attack in Libya on a “small and savage group,” not the government or people of Libya.

In Egypt, demonstrators earlier this week tore down the American flag outside Cairo’s U.S. embassy and burned it reportedly in protest of a film that depicts the Islamic figure Muhammad in a negative way

According to reports, the crowd of around 2,000 protesters outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo consisted of a mixture of Islamists and teenage soccer fans known for fighting police. The protesters reportedly played a part in the U.S.-supported revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s regime last year.

The revolt was successful largely after President Obama called for Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally in the region, to step down.

However, questions remain about the nature of U.S. support for the revolutions in Egypt and Libya, including reports the U.S.-aided rebels that toppled Moammar Gadhafi’s regime in Libya consisted of al-Qaida and jihad groups. The U.S. provided direct assistance, including weapons and finances, to the Libyan rebels.

Similarly, the Obama administration is currently aiding the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria amid widespread reports that al-Qaida jihadists are included in the ranks of the Free Syrian Army.

During the revolution against Gadhafi’s regime, the U.S. admitted to directly arming the rebel groups.

At the time, rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi admitted in an interview that a significant number of the Libyan rebels were al-Qaida fighters, many of whom had fought U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He insisted his fighters “are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists,” but added that the “members of al-Qaida are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader.”

Adm. James Stavridis, NATO supreme commander for Europe, admitted Libya’s rebel force may include al-Qaida: “We have seen flickers in the intelligence of potential al-Qaida, Hezbollah.”

Former CIA officer Bruce Riedel went even further, telling the Hindustan Times: “There is no question that al-Qaida’s Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition. It has always been Gadhafi’s biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi. What is unclear is how much of the opposition is al-Qaida/Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – 2 percent or 80 percent.”

In Syria, meanwhile, the U.S. may be currently supporting al-Qaida and other jihadists fighting with the rebels targeting Assad’s regime.

Last month, WND quoted a senior Syrian source claiming at least 500 hardcore mujahedeen from Afghanistan, many of whom were spearheading efforts to fight the U.S. there, have been killed in clashes with Syrian forces last month.

Also last month, WND reported that Jihadiya Salafia in the Gaza Strip, a group that represents al-Qaida in the coastal territory, had declared three days of mourning for its own jihadists who died in Syria in recent weeks.

There have been widespread reports of al-Qaida among the Syrian rebels, including in reports by Reuters and the New York Times.

WND reported in May there is growing collaboration between the Syrian opposition and al-Qaida as well as evidence the opposition is sending weapons to jihadists in Iraq, according to an Egyptian security official.

The military official told WND that Egypt has reports of collaboration between the Syrian opposition and three al-Qaida arms, including one the operates in Libya:

• Jund al-Sham, which is made up of al-Qaida militants who are Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese;
• Jund al-Islam, which in recent years merged with Ansar al-Islam, an extremist group of Sunni Iraqis operating under the al-Qaida banner and operating in Yemen and Libya;

Jund Ansar al-Allah, an al-Qaida group based in Gaza linked to Palestinian camps in Lebanon and Syria.

U.S. officials have stated the White House is providing nonlethal aid to the Syrian rebels while widespread reports have claimed the U.S. has been working with Arab countries to ensure the opposition in Syria is well armed.

• and...

• 
  

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57511043/assault-on-u.s-consulate-in-benghazi-leaves-4-dead-including-u.s-ambassador-j-christopher-stevens/

Libya Security forces complicit in attack - are we going to hold the Libyan Government accountable for the murders... )

*  *  *

Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi, said the four Americans were killed when the angry mob, which gathered to protest a U.S.-made film that ridicules Islam's Prophet Muhammad, fired guns and burned down the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

He said Stevens, 52, and other officials were moved to a second building - deemed safer - after the initial wave of protests at the consulate compound. According to al-Sharef, members of the Libyan security team seem to have indicated to the protesters the building to which the American officials had been relocated, and that building then came under attack....

and....










http://www.debka.com/article/22358/Post-Arab-Spring-%22moderate%E2%80%9D-Muslim-regimes-cornered-by-radicals

Post-Arab Spring "moderate” Muslim regimes cornered by radicals

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis September 15, 2012, 12:45 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Islamists   Barack Obama   US Middle East   enbassy attacks   Egypt 

Hopes that deaths of four US diplomats won't be the last

The United States is positioning military forces so that it can respond to unrest in as many as 17 or 18 places in the Islamic world, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced late Friday. "We have to be prepared in the event that these demonstrations get out of control,” he said.
Those words dashed hopes in Washington that the anti-US Islamist rampage by now sweeping 21 countries over a video deriding Islam had passed their peak. In fact, by their sixth day Saturday, Sept. 15,the street protests against American embassies and other US symbols of influence were growing more violent and more organized, threatening not only American lives but tearing up President Barack Obama’s entire outreach policy toward Arabs and Muslims. I

In at least four Arab countries, anti-US protesters were no longer just throwing stones but using firearms. The most serious occurred in Egyptian Sinai, where scores of armed Salafist Bedouin linked to al Qaeda firing missiles, grenades, mortars and automatic weapons were able to break down two guard posts at the US-led Multinational Force near El Arish base in search of American victims. A battalion of Colombian troops fought the invaders off in fierce battle for hours, preventing them from reaching the hundreds of US officers, soldiers and air crews pinned down in fortified quarters.
In Cairo, Islamist demonstrators began firing rubber bullets at Egyptian security forces which have still not succeeded in breaking up the disturbances.
In Tripoli, Lebanon, protesters and the Lebanese army exchanged heavy gun fire. In Khartoum, Islamists shot their way into the US embassy and the American school before setting them ablaze.

In Tunis, the American ambassador almost suffered the same fate as his colleague, Chris Stevens and three consulate staffers who were murdered in Benghazi, Libya, last Tuesday, Sept. 11. The ambassador and several US diplomats were rescued from the burning embassy building by a special Tunisian counter-terror unit and taken to safety.
Friday, saw the first five fatalities as well the first violent Muslim demonstration in the Australian town of Sydney.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror and intelligence sources draw seven conclusions from nearly a week of surging anti-American violence across the Middle East, South Asia and beyond:
1.  The anti-Islamic video film was not the cause of the upheaval only a pretext.
2.  The outbreaks were orchestrated by a number of radical Islamic organizations ranging from the ultraconservative Salafis to Al Qaeda terrorists. They took advantage of swelling anti-US sentiment in many Arab and Muslim countries to weaken local governments which maintain ties with the United States, including the Muslim Brotherhood.
3.  It is not yet known how the mechanism coordinating operations among those Islamist extremist groups works, but it has already shown to be faster and more efficient than the American intelligence and counter-terror bodies keeping track of them. Day by day, Washington is caught unawares by fresh outbursts.
4.  After firing up Arab and some Muslim streets, this radical coalition believes its component organizations are gathering enough leverage to start pushing out the “moderate” Muslim Brotherhood branches brought to power by the US-backed Arab Spring in order to take their place. The anti-US ferment will therefore not abate, as Washington hopes, until they achieve their goal.
5.  The US has sent two platoons of 50 men each of specially trained Marines to protect its embassies in Libya and Yemen and may send a third to Sudan. Otherwise, the Obama administration dare not send in American troops to prop up the new Arab regimes; any visible US military intervention in those countries would only enhance the radicals’ popularity and weaken the regimes they are fighting to remove.
6.  The new Muslim Brotherhood rulers of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya face a tough strategic dilemma; Lean more heavily on American support to save their regimes, or bow to the Islamist extremists, turn their backs on America and give them a place in government.

7.  Power-sharing with radicals has already begun in some Arab countries, spelling the reversal of Obama’s policies and the goals of the “Arab Spring”

Those policies aimed naively at the removal in the name of democracy of autocratic, secular Arab rulers to make way for “moderate” Muslim Brotherhood regimes elected by the people and ready to work with the United States. This ideal was violently reduced to ashes in the second week of September 2012.It is hard not to recall another debacle of 33 years ago, when President Jimmy Carter helped overthrow the Shah of Persia only to bring implacable ayatollah rule to Tehran.

and not much discussion about protests in India....

http://www.news24.com/World/News/India-86-arrested-in-US-consulate-attack-20120914

India: 86 arrested in US consulate attack

2012-09-14 22:15

Indian protestors climb the wall of the US Consulate during a protest in Chennai, India. (AP)

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Chennai - Eighty-six people were arrested on Friday after a group of several hundred Muslim protesters threw stones and smashed windows at the US consulate in the Indian city of Chennai, police said.

"They smashed the window panes, surveillance camera and tried to scale over the compound wall, but we dispersed them while exercising restraint," a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity. "We made 86 arrests."

The violence flared during a protest organised by the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, an Islamist movement, against an anti-Islam film which has triggered similar protests in large parts of the Muslim world.

The protesters also burnt an effigy of US President Barack Obama and an American flag, police said.

One group hurled stones, while others lifted iron barricades placed in front of the main gate to smash windows, police said.

Hijacked protest

"We have tightened the security and the situation is well under control," JK Tripathy, the police commissioner in the southern city, told local reporters.

One of the organisers said that what had been planned as a peaceful protest was hijacked by militants.

"We wanted to organise a peaceful demonstration to express our dismay over the film, but the youngsters, who could not hold their nerves, ran and attacked the consulate office," Gunangudi Hanifa said.

A spokesperson for the consulate, who did not give his name, said that no staff had been hurt in the attack.

"No one was injured and all the staff members are safe," he said.

and protests also in Australia.....

Anti-Islam film protests spread to Sydney

2012-09-15 08:15

Sydney - Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in Sydney on Saturday, as a wave of unrest against a film that mocks Islam spread to Australia, with bottles and shoes hurled outside the US consulate.

Furious protests targeting symbols of US influence flared in cities across the Muslim world on Friday in retaliation for a crude film made in the United States by a right-wing Christian group that ridicules the Prophet Muhammed.

At least six protesters died in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Sudan as police there battled to defend American missions from mobs of stone-throwers, and Washington deployed US Marines to protect its embassies in Libya and Yemen.

In Sydney, Saturday shoppers looked on in surprise as protesters, including children, shouted "Down, down USA" and waved banners such as "Behead all those who insult the prophet".

"We are sick and tired of everyone mocking our beloved prophet," protester Houda Dib told AFP, as the crowd of about 500 gathered outside the US consulate.

"They have no right to mock our prophet. We don't go around mocking anyone's religion."

"They call us the terrorists," protester Sarah Jacob said. "But everyone is terrorising our people."

Demonstrators were pushed back from the steps outside the consulate by police, provoking anger among some in the crowd, many of whom had brought their children with them.

"They were aggravating the situation by pushing our brothers," Dib said. "This is supposed to be a peaceful protest."

The protesters later moved to nearby Hyde Park, where one speaker called for calm, saying the aim of their protest had been to send a message.

"We are here for the sake of our god," he said. "The message is clear, you cannot mock [the prophet]."

http://rt.com/news/police-australia-protesters-sydney-187/

Australian police tear gas anti-US demonstrators in Sydney (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

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Published: 15 September, 2012, 10:01

Protesters clash with police on a street in Sydney's central business district, September 15, 2012 (Reuters / Tim Wimborne)

Hundreds of demonstrators threw projectiles at officers outside the US consulate in Sydney, shouting “Down, down USA,” AFP reported.

Protesters waved banners calling for the beheading of those who insulted the Prophet Mohammed, news outlet the Australian reported.

image from twitter by user @jttozer

A man and woman struggle with their stroller while other shoppers attempt to move out of the way as police pursue protesters in Sydney's central business district, September 15, 2012 (Reuters / Tim Wimborne)

A protester hits a policeman with a pole in Sydney's central business district, September 15, 2012 (Reuters / Tim Wimborne)

An injured protester is detained by a policeman in Sydney's Hyde Park, September 15, 2012 (Reuters / Tim Wimborne)

Police pushed the protesters back, and the crowd later marched to nearby Hyde Park.­

One protester was reportedly hospitalized with a head injury, and is in stable condition.

Seven ambulances arrived at the demonstration as tensions increased.

Sydney's security forces were prepared for the rally, authorities said, which continued throughout the evening. 

Police arrested several demonstrators, local media reported.

"We are sick and tired of everyone mocking our beloved prophet," protester Houda Dib told the Australian. "They were aggravating the situation by pushing our brothers. This is supposed to be a peaceful protest."

"They call us the terrorists," demonstrator Sarah Jacob said in a separate interview. "But everyone is terrorizing our people."

Protesters pray in front of a line of police officers in Sydney's Hyde Park, September 15, 2012 (Reuters / Tim Wimborne)

A policeman, injured by protesters, is assisted by colleagues in central Sydney September 15, 2012 (Reuters / Tim Wimborne)

image from twitter by user @SamNaz116

image from twitter by user @MediaCircus123

Protesters march through Sydney on September 15, 2012 (AFP Photo / Greg Wood)

Protesters shout slogans in Sydney on September 15, 2012 (AFP Photo / Greg Wood)

Police (below) use capsicum spray during a clash with protesters in Sydney on September 15, 2012 (AFP Photo / Greg Wood)

and.....

http://www.infowars.com/the-western-roots-of-islamic-fanaticism-and-the-betrayal-of-sunni-muslim-youth/

The Western Roots of Islamic Fanaticism And The Betrayal of Sunni Muslim Youth

Saman Mohammadi
Infowars.com
Saturday, September 15, 2012

By now it is common knowledge that U.S. and Western intelligence agencies stoked the fires of Islamic fanaticism and sectarianism in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere in the Middle East to achieve their geopolitical goals.

The same radical Jihadists that NATO backed in Libya are now threatening to consume the region in chaos and blood, all to the benefit of the corrupt military-industrial complex, Western neo-imperialist interventionists, and the extremist government in Israel.

Both sides in the conflict are controlled by the same financial interests that have created the conditions for permanent war between the West and the Muslim world.

In Libya, Washington and its NATO partners raised the political profile of Jihadist terrorists by painting them as freedom-loving revolutionaries fighting a noble war against Gaddafi. It was a total fabrication of the reality on the ground, and it worked for the time being, as it did in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

But a crisis was inevitable. Whether the crisis arose spontaneously or artificially, the consequences of this crazy policy was totally predictable.

The events on September 11, 2012, show that Washington’s covert and illegal activities created a fertile soil for terrorism and anti-Americanism, not freedom and democracy. This scenario is what Washington had in mind all along because the American war machine needs constant enemies to fight. They knew arming radical extremists would backfire on them but they didn’t care.

In fact, Washington’s foreign policy elite depends on tragedies like the murder of Ambassador Stevens because such events allow them to distance themselves from the Islamic extremists whom they previously praised as “freedom fighters.”

Tony Cartalucci gave the best analysis of the crisis in Libya in his article, “US Ambassador’s Death: Fruits of US Foreign Policy.” An excerpt:

“Clearly, those involved in overthrowing the government of Libya, and attempting to overthrow the government of Syria, are not “freedom fighters,” but listed terrorists. The US, UK, and EU are in violation of both their own domestic anti-terrorism laws (and here), as well as international law in their continued support of listed-terrorist organizations.

What was to be a relatively benign public relations stunt to disassociate the US and its “democracy promotion” from terrorist organizations, has now left a high ranking US diplomat dead and the West’s foreign policy narrative in further tatters.”

Nile Bowie also wrote an excellent article called, “Poetic Justice Finds US Enablers of Terror,” in which he drew attention to the irrational nature of U.S. foreign policy. An excerpt:

“For Ambassador Stevens, an early proponent of the no-fly zone and a staunch supporter of NATO’s campaign in Libya, the untimely death he was dealt came delivered by the very militants he enabled in brazen. The pathological reasoning of bombing a country to “save it from destruction” reflects the unrestrained irrationality of the foreign policy direction being taken under the Obama Administration and its rabid Secretary of State.”

The violent reaction to the anti-Islam film this week, which wasn’t a real film and existed only in the imagination of Muslims and of the world’s, is destroying the already damaged reputation of Islam in the West. The false flag 9/11 events were done in part to legitimize the West’s anti-Islam rhetoric, and this strange episode further discredits the image of Islam in the Western mind. But this is not the true Islam on display. Islam is not a religion of fanaticism.

The anti-American protests at various U.S. embassies across the Middle East contain several groups of people who each have their own agendas and reasons for attending the protests: 1) the criminal element, 2) the Islamist extremist element, 3) the genuinely outraged element, and 4) the bored and frustrated element.

I’ve characterized the protesters and flag-burners as “wild fanatics” in a previous article, but this is not fair to them. Protests are a healthy thing, even if it involves burning flags, because at least they’re doing something besides watching television and playing video games. They are tired of Western aggression on Muslim lands and are using this opportunity as a vehicle to express their anger. And they are demonstrating their natural male rage at the right target: the evil U.S. empire.

The covert policies of the evil U.S. empire is the biggest reason for the growth of Islamic fanaticism. Washington funds madrassas in Afghanistan; arms radical Islamists in Syria and Libya; and stages false flag operations such asdiplomatic crises, and terrorist events like 9/11.

On top of that, the U.S. empire’s biggest ally in the Middle East is one of the most despotic and corrupt regimes in history: the Saudi monarchy. Chris Floyd says in his article, “Great Expectations: Benghazi-Style Blowback an Integral Part of Terror War System”:

“No group in the world has done more to spread violent, retrograde extremism than the Saudi royals (whose regime is far more repressive than that of the Persian devils in Tehran or the Hitler du jour in Damascus) — yet at every turn they are courted, coddled, and lavished with billions of dollars in military hardware from the ostensible defenders of freedom in Washington.

The Saudis have had plenty of help in fomenting fundamentalism, of course. Empowering extremists has long been a favorite tactic of our freedom-loving Western elites. These wise leaders have spent 50 years destroying every vestige of secular civic space in the Middle East, every vestige of secular opposition to their favoured dictators, puppets and feudal lords in the region.”

The tyrannical governments in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia feed the flames of Sunni extremism in almost every country in the Muslim world, and then turn around and ask themselves, “Why are these Muslims so riled up about nothing?” What manipulators! What devils!

II. The Betrayal of Sunni Muslim Youth

There are real injustices that Muslims have a right to be angry about: illegal U.S. drone strikes, foreign pillagers in Muslim countries, frequent American and Israeli invasions of Muslim lands, and betrayal of Muslim values by Arab elites.

In this environment, anger at America and the West is completely justified. But how is that anger being channeled on a political level?

The Shiite youth are represented by Iran and Hezbollah, but who represents the interests of the Sunni Arab youth? No one. The Al-Qaeda agitators are Western intelligence agents, not real leaders to be followed. An independent anti-imperialist Sunni Arab leader has not emerged on the Middle Eastern political landscape since the false flag events on 9/11.

Some people thought Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood would be a strong Sunni leader, but he sided with the United States and Israel in Syria, so he obviously isn’t interested in opposing Western imperialism and Israeli aggression against Muslims.

In this leadership vacuum, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have stepped in and taken advantage of Sunni resentments towards the status quo. They have misdirected their righteous rage against dictators like Gaddafi and Assad, and indoctrinated them to hate Iran and Hezbollah.

The Sunni fighters who make up the so-called Free Syrian Army are fierce and savage, but they are not led by visionary leaders who take into consideration their long-term interests so their fighting potential is being wasted. They are cannon fodder who are used in NATO interventions, and the ones who survive are then successfully re-branded as fanatical anti-American enemies.

The idea that Al-Qaeda is Washington’s enemy is a joke. So it shocked me when I read that the protesters in Egypt chanted, “Obama, Obama there are still a billion Osamas.” Really? There are a billion CIA agents in the Muslim world? There are a billion dupes willing to lay down their lives to promote the CIA’s agenda in the region?

Regardless of the true causes for the protests and attacks on American embassies, the reality is that emotion is trumping reason, as it did on September 11, 2001, when the traumatized American people reacted to the attacks by demanding not an investigation into the intelligence failure, but a declaration of war.

Once people collectively break from reality, and join the mania of war, it is almost impossible to persuade them to think clearly and rationally. The 9/11 truth movement is having a difficult time trying to persuade liberal and libertarian intellectuals that 9/11 was an inside job. They’re irrationally defending the myth of blowback and denying the truth by calling it a “conspiracy theory.”

and...




http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/09/14/state_department_sets_up_24_hour_monitoring_team_for_embassy_crisis

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/09/14/ansar-al-sharia-blamed-for-benghazi-attack-who-are-they/

Ansar al-Sharia Blamed for Benghazi Attack: Who Are They?

Very Little Background Information Is Available on 'ASB'

by Jason Ditz, September 14, 2012

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One of the Libyan security guards wounded on the site at Tuesday’s attack against the US consulate provided new details, denying that there was a “protest” against the consulate before the attack, as officials pointed the finger at a heretofore virtually unknown militant faction for the strike.

“There wasn’t a single ant outside,” the guard insisted, saying that 125 armed attackers showed up from all directions and attacked with no advanced warning, storming the main gate before fanning out inside the compound.

Officials are blaming “Ansar al-Sharia” for the attack, which appears to be entirely separate from the Ansar al-Sharia group in Yemen, which occupied the Abyan Province of that nation for over a year.

This Ansar al-Sharia seems to be confined to the Benghazi area, with some referring to it as Ansar al-Sharia Benghazi (ASB). There are some unconfirmed claims that it has “online connections” to a third Ansar al-Sharia group operating out of Tunisia. The Tunisian government is blamingthat Ansar al-Sharia for today’s attack on the US embassy in Tunis.

This particular group is one of several Islamist factions which have set up shop in Benghazi during and after the US-backed Libyan civil war. After the installation of a pro-NATO government, mostly made up of former Gadhafi regime officials, several of the Islamist factions have tried to carve out a measure of independence.

and US drones being attacked real reason Benghazi Airport shutdown - another reason why the so called rebels should not have been allowed by NATO  to completely loot Gaddafi weapon stores during the Libyan War...

Attacks on US Drones Shutter Benghazi Airport

Heavy Anti-Aircraft Fire Over Libyan City

by Jason Ditz, September 14, 2012

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The Benghazi Airport was closed overnight and remained closed for much of the day because of heavy anti-aircraft fire around the city by various Islamist factions targeting the US drones that have been looming overhead since the attack on the US consulate earlier this week.

Libya’s Deputy Interior Minister said the US had authorization to use the drones over Benghazi, and initial speculation was that the airport was closed just to all the drones to operate without anything else in the air.

The government’s statement was ambiguous, saying that it was done for “security reasons,” but Deputy Interior Minister Sharif later said the decision to close the airport was directly related to the anti-aircraft fire and the fear that they might hit civilian aircraft.

Libya had one of the largest anti-aircraft stockpiles in Africa, and this was almost entirely looted after last year’s regime change. Many of the weapons have ended up abroad, but various factions inside Libya have loaded up on armament as well.

and better later than never I guess.....

State Department sets up 24-hour monitoring team for embassy crisis

Posted By Josh Rogin  Friday, September 14, 2012 - 2:21 PM   Share

The State Department has gone into full-blown crisis mode, organizing a round-the-clock effort to coordinate the U.S. government's response to the expanding attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East and North Africa.

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"The State Department has stood up a 24-hr monitoring team to insure appropriate coordination of information and our response. In addition, our consular team is working with missions around the world to protect American citizens and issue appropriate public warden information," a senior State Department official told reporters Friday afternoon.

"We have been monitoring events in the Middle East and North Africa intensively today, and working with our personnel and missions overseas and host governments to strengthen security in all locations and to respond effectively where protests have turned violent," the official said.

The official noted that U.S. embassies in Libya and Yemen have been reinforced with Marine FAST teams and noted that other unspecified measures are being taken to strengthen embassy security around the region. The State Department is working with the governments in Tunisia and Sudan to increase security at the U.S. embassies there as well, the official said.

The U.S. Embassy in Tunis was breached by rioters who replaced the American flag with the black banner of al Qaeda. According to Tunisian state television, at least three Tunisians died when security forces open fire in an effort to disperse the crowd; another rioter was killed in Sudan, Reuters reported.

"The secretary, other department principals, and our ambassadors and charges in the field have been in constant contact with regional leaders, and we appreciate the many public statements that leaders have made in recent days condemning the attack in Benghazi, denouncing violence and calling for calm," the official said.

The White House said in a memorandum to Congress Friday that the Marine FAST teams will be there are long as they are needed but will be limited to the mission of protecting U.S. assets and personnel.

"Although these security forces are equipped for combat, these movements have been undertaken solely for the purpose of protecting American citizens and property. These security forces will remain in Libya and in Yemen until the security situation becomes such that they are no longer needed," the White House memorandum stated.

and after giving arms , training , fighting side by side - Nato and GCC Special Forces troops  with Libya rebels known to be Islamists / Al Qaeda , here's what that got the US....

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/09/201291512714470776.html

Libya says US consulate attack 'pre-planned'

President Magarief, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, says he believes al-Qaeda is responsible. Yasmine Ryan Last Modified: 15 Sep 2012 09:41 inShare3 Email Print Share Feedback

Benghazi, Libya - The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans and ten Libyans was the work of "experienced masterminds" that had been planned well in advance, the Libyan president says. "I think this was al-Qaeda," President Mohamed al-Magarief told Al Jazeera's Roving Correspondent Hoda Abdel-Hamid on Friday, in his first interview with foreign media since the violence three days earlier. "If you take into account the weapons used like RPGs and other heavy weapons, it proves that it was pre-planned," he said. "It's a dirty act of revenge that has nothing to do with religion." Click for in-depth coverage of Muslim world embassy attacks His comments to Al Jazeera marked the first time his government has openly attributed acts of violence to religious extremists. Libya's deputy interior minister had blamed the attack on Gaddafi loyalists on Wednesday. While Gaddafi loyalists maintained a presence inside Libya, Magarief said, there was no chance that they were behind the attack that killed four US consular staff members. There were only a few al-Qaeda members active in Libya, he said, but they were profiting from the security vacuum and had managed to infiltrate the security forces. Arms proliferation One of the biggest factors contributing to the ongoing instability in Libya is the proliferation of arms left over from the 2011 conflict that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, combined with a central government severely weakened by tribal rivalries. Magarief told Al Jazeera that he would be taking action to disarm the militias."Definitely we have to depend on the militias themselves [to co-operate with being disarmed], and of course, before that, the army," he said. Many of the protesters in Benghazi’s Tahrir Square called for militias to be disbanded [Yasmine Ryan/Al Jazeera] Around a hundred people protested in Benghazi's Tahrir Square on Friday evening, with many of them calling for the country's security forces to be strengthened and the militias to be disbanded. Khalid El Kadiki, who had helped organise the protest, argued that the government needed to do more to empower the army and the police so that extremist groups would not be free to carry out further violent attacks.Asked if he had faith in the president's promises to disarm the militias, he said that Magarief "makes lots of promises, but does nothing". Khadija Fitour, who was attending the protest with her two teenage daughters, was carrying a sign demanding that the government assert its authority over armed groups. "We're against the terrorism and the violence against the US consulate," she told Al Jazeera. "We need to maintain good relations with the American people. They helped us with our revolution." In another example of the state's vulnerability to the armed groups, the airspace over Benghazi was closed for several hours on Friday morning after opposition fighters allegedly threatened to shoot down US drones flying over the area. Investigation under way The Libyan authorities began examining the scene of Wednesday's violence late on Friday afternoon, a military spokesperson told Al Jazeera, while Libyan soldiers stood guard outside the US consulate. Ahmed Faraj, the spokesperson, told Al Jazeera the investigative team had arrived at around 4pm local time (2:00 GMT). The Libyan authorities arrested four people in relation to the killings on Thursday, according to reports by Reuters news agency.  The bodies of Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone arrived in the US on Friday, news wires reported. "They had a duty and they believed in it, they lived the American ideal with courage, the hope and the ideals of the fundamental American beliefs," President Barack Obama was quoted as saying at a ceremony in Andrews Air Force base in Maryland, in honour of the victims. "Their sacrifice will never be forgotten, we will bring justice to those who took them from us." and apparently the US slept on warnings of potential attacks ..... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/revealed-inside-story-of-us-envoys-assassination-8135797.html Revealed: inside story of US envoy's assassination Exclusive: America 'was warned of embassy attack but did nothing' 1 / 3 Related articles British, German and US embassies targeted as protests against anti-Islam film continue to spread throughout Muslim world 5,000 protesters try to storm German and British embassies in Sudan Egyptian protesters clash with police over Mohamed film US defends itself to world – but back home it's war Search for mystery director leads to Egyptian fraudster Ads by Google FHA Streamline Refinance 3.5% (3.99% APR) No appraisal. Customers saved $181/month! freedommortgage.com/no-lender-fees Ask a Lawyer Online Now 12 Lawyers Are Online. Questions Answered Every 9 Seconds. Law.JustAnswer.com/Employment Buy This "Gas Killer" Now The stock that could end the gasoline engine is already up 34%. www.StreetAuthority.com The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach,The Independent can reveal. American officials believe the attack was planned, but Chris Stevens had been back in the country only a short while and the details of his visit to Benghazi, where he and his staff died, were meant to be confidential. The US administration is now facing a crisis in Libya. Sensitive documents have gone missing from the consulate in Benghazi and the supposedly secret location of the "safe house" in the city, where the staff had retreated, came under sustained mortar attack. Other such refuges across the country are no longer deemed "safe". Some of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyans who are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist groups, while some of the other documents are said to relate to oil contracts. According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under which movement is severely restricted. Mr Stevens had been on a visit to Germany, Austria and Sweden and had just returned to Libya when the Benghazi trip took place with the US embassy's security staff deciding that the trip could be undertaken safely. Eight Americans, some from the military, were wounded in the attack which claimed the lives of Mr Stevens, Sean Smith, an information officer, and two US Marines. All staff from Benghazi have now been moved to the capital, Tripoli, and those whose work is deemed to be non-essential may be flown out of Libya. In the meantime a Marine Corps FAST Anti-Terrorism Reaction Team has already arrived in the country from a base in Spain and other personnel are believed to be on the way. Additional units have been put on standby to move to other states where their presence may be needed in the outbreak of anti-American fury triggered by publicity about a film which demeaned the Prophet Mohamed. A mob of several hundred stormed the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday. Other missions which have been put on special alert include almost all those in the Middle East, as well as in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Burundi and Zambia. Senior officials are increasingly convinced, however, that the ferocious nature of the Benghazi attack, in which rocket-propelled grenades were used, indicated it was not the result of spontaneous anger due to the video, called Innocence of Muslims. Patrick Kennedy, Under-Secretary at the State Department, said he was convinced the assault was planned due to its extensive nature and the proliferation of weapons. There is growing belief that the attack was in revenge for the killing in a drone strike in Pakistan of Mohammed Hassan Qaed, an al-Qa'ida operative who was, as his nom-de-guerre Abu Yahya al-Libi suggests, from Libya, and timed for the anniversary of the 11 September attacks. Senator Bill Nelson, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: "I am asking my colleagues on the committee to immediately investigate what role al-Qa'ida or its affiliates may have played in the attack and to take appropriate action." According to security sources the consulate had been given a "health check" in preparation for any violence connected to the 9/11 anniversary. In the event, the perimeter was breached within 15 minutes of an angry crowd starting to attack it at around 10pm on Tuesday night. There was, according to witnesses, little defence put up by the 30 or more local guards meant to protect the staff. Ali Fetori, a 59-year-old accountant who lives near by, said: "The security people just all ran away and the people in charge were the young men with guns and bombs." Wissam Buhmeid, the commander of the Tripoli government-sanctioned Libya's Shield Brigade, effectively a police force for Benghazi, maintained that it was anger over the Mohamed video which made the guards abandon their post. "There were definitely people from the security forces who let the attack happen because they were themselves offended by the film; they would absolutely put their loyalty to the Prophet over the consulate. The deaths are all nothing compared to insulting the Prophet." Mr Stevens, it is believed, was left in the building by the rest of the staff after they failed to find him in dense smoke caused by a blaze which had engulfed the building. He was discovered lying unconscious by local people and taken to a hospital, the Benghazi Medical Centre, where, according to a doctor, Ziad Abu Ziad, he died from smoke inhalation. An eight-strong American rescue team was sent from Tripoli and taken by troops under Captain Fathi al- Obeidi, of the February 17 Brigade, to the secret safe house to extract around 40 US staff. The building then came under fire from heavy weapons. "I don't know how they found the place to carry out the attack. It was planned, the accuracy with which the mortars hit us was too good for any ordinary revolutionaries," said Captain Obeidi. "It began to rain down on us, about six mortars fell directly on the path to the villa." Libyan reinforcements eventually arrived, and the attack ended. News had arrived of Mr Stevens, and his body was picked up from the hospital and taken back to Tripoli with the other dead and the survivors. Mr Stevens' mother, Mary Commanday, spoke of her son yesterday. "He did love what he did, and he did a very good job with it. He could have done a lot of other things, but this was his passion. I have a hole in my heart," she said. and.... http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/9/14/middle-east-seeks-to-transform-the-united-states.html Middle East Seeks To Transform The United States FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012 AT 12:13PM Contributed by Chriss Street. Specialist in corporate reorganizations and turnarounds, former Chairman of two NYSE listed companies. His latest book, The Third Way, describes how to achieve management excellence and financial reward by moving organizations from Conflict and Confrontation to Leadership and Cooperation. Chriss lives in Newport Beach, CA. We warned early this year in “Arab Spring Turns To Winter” and numerous other articles that the Obama Administration initiative to put the full-force of America’s military and diplomatic clout behind leveraging “Arab Spring” protests to transform the Middle East into progressive democracies would lead to a disaster for the United States.  The deaths of four diplomatic personnel during coordinated attacks by Sunni Muslim Jihadists on American Embassies in Cairo, Egypt and Benghazi, Libya confirms that U.S. policy has been the change agent that converted stable dictatorial regimes into impoverished hell-holes.  Run by murderous tribal thugs, their only common interest is hatred of America as the Great Satan. It was well known that the eleven year anniversary of the “911” terrorist attack on the United States would present an excellent opportunity to stage a highly visible attack on an American soft target.  Middle Eastern papers were running inflammatory headlines and articles, such as Al Jazeera’s lead picture of a bound and blindfolded Arab under the headline: “Iraq Execution Spree under the Spotlight.”  In Cairo, approximately 3,000 Islamist supporters of the Salafist Sunni Muslim movement gathered at the US embassy in supposed protest against the amateur English language film, which had recently been dubbed into Arabic.  Although there were “thousands of riot police guarding the American embassy,” protestors stormed into the inner wall of the embassy, tore down an American flag and put a black flag adorned with white characters that read, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger," an emblem often used by Islamic radicals.  Egyptian police eventually intervened without resorting to force, but the black flag remained up the rest of the day for all to see. For the Salafist radicals, the political and recruiting value of demonstrating they can overwhelm the symbol of United States at the same location where last year tens of thousands turned out in opposition to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is invaluable.  The U.S. Cairo Embassy compounded the perceived defeat of American power by issuing a statement that seemed to echo fear of radical Islam: "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," In Benghazi, Libya, where the United States militarily first intervened last year under the guise of a NATO humanitarian mission, which allowed the U.S. Air Force to bomb Western Libya and U.S. Special Forces “boots on the ground” to supervise Colonel Gadhafi’s execution, a radical Islamist group calling themselves: “Islamic Law Supporters," but known to be Ansar al-Sharia, planned and organized another attack on a U.S. consulate from their Libyan government sanctioned military compound in Benghazi.  The US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, had travelled to Benghazi from the capital city of Tripoli in what was described a short visit.  But the trip may have been an effort to move to the birth-place of the revolution against Colonel Gadhafi as a safe-haven from expected protests in the capital city of Tripoli.   When the embassy came under attack, the Ambassador was moved by security personnel to a secret “safe-house.  The location of the safe-house was leaked to the Salafists and thepictures of the ambassador appear to indicate he was beaten to death and his body dragged through the streets. The propaganda value of the successful attacks on the U.S. embassies and the first murder of a U.S. ambassador in 33 years are astronomical.  As CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend stated:  "One such breach of an embassy or consulate's walls or security on any given day would be tremendous news. ... The fact that two of them happened on the same day that is the 9/11 anniversary where Americans are remembering those that we lost, you have to ask yourself, what are American officials trying to understand about this and whether or not these two are related?" President Obama and his supporters celebrate the Arab Spring as a wonderful geo-political success and they have cranked up the Central Intelligence Agency to fund and equip a brutal civil war in Syria.  Their Middle East initiatives may have sought to liberate tens of millions of oppressed people from stable dictatorships, but it delivered the people into the hands of barbaric butchers.  With the transformation of the Middle East almost complete, the butchers are now ready to try to transform the United States. Cross-posted from Chriss Street's blog.