The deaths of embassy officials in Libya and Egypt came
about because of a crude video posted on the Internet that depicted Islam and
Prophet Muhammad (saw) in a negative light. There are fringe groups in Muslim
countries waiting to exploit things like this for political gain, always in the
name of Islam. Because they have no political legitimacy, they resort to murder
and mayhem to convince Muslims that they are acting to protect the honor and dignity
of Islam. The majority of Muslims have rejected them again and again and stand
united today in unequivocally condemning them.
Mitt Romney, Republican nominee for the President of the
United States, is already politicizing the crisis. “I’m outraged by the attacks
on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an
American consulate worker in Benghazi,” he said. “It’s disgraceful that the
Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our
diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”
Fact is, the Obama administration did no such thing. As
soon as the news of the deaths came to light, both President Obama and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks on the embassies in
unambiguous terms. This will not stop the Republicans, however, from escalating
their baseless attacks on President Obama in the coming days. Party stalwarts are already calling Obama a
coward for not standing up to the threats posed by “Muslims” against America. Whatever
it takes – lies, distortions – to win the election is game for the Republicans.
President Obama must not allow the exigencies of the election
to define his response to the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Libya and Egypt.
So far, he has not and it is unlikely that he will in the future. But politics
is a strange profession and the pull of power can distort anyone’s perspective.
It remains to be seen how the President walks this minefield as the November
election draws near.
But the bigger question is how to contain and defeat extremists
who claim to act in the name of Islam but whose only aim is to seize power so that
they can practice their savage ideologies. Almost always, their first victims
are women. They want women to be confined to homes, remain illiterate, serve
their desires and receive rigorous punishment and even death for what they
alone define to be moral infractions. These self-styled custodians of “virtues”
are corrupt to the core. They are nihilists whose only signature mark is
destruction.
As the New York Times reported, President Obama said of the Americans murdered in Libya: “These four Americans stood up for freedom and
human dignity. Make no mistake: we will work with the Libyan government to
bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.” He praised the Libyan
government, noting that Libyan security forces fought back against the mob,
helped protect American diplomats and took Mr. Stevens’s body to the hospital.
“This attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya,” he
said.
Ambassador Stevens taught English as a Peace Corps
volunteers in Morocco from 1983 to 1985. He worked tirelessly with Libyan
rebels in overthrowing the regime of Dictator Muammar Gadhafi last year. He had
nothing to do with the hate video posted by an American Islam-hater. Yet he and
three of his staff paid the ultimate price at the hands of a band of fanatics.
We must do whatever we can - even if it is as minimal as protesting - to thwart the extremists.
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