Egypt and Libya embassy attacks

[Fitz]

My only real problem with Islam as a whole is that they haven't really made a concerted effort to stamp out the violent minority.  

Partially because they're as brutalized by the extremists as we are.

Our interpreter when I was in Diwaniyah said that's the biggest reason Iraqis tolerated the extremists... they were terrified of them.

[vaskidmark]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-movie-so-offensive-that-egyptians-just-stormed-the-us-embassy-over-it/262225/

Obviously, there's a lot to this story that's still unclear. What we do know is that some members of Egypt's sometimes-raucous, often rumor-heavy media have been playing highly offensive clips from the highly offensive film, stressing its U.S. and Coptic connections. In the clip below, controversial TV host Sheikh Khaled Abdallah (known for such statements as "Iran is more dangerous to us than the Jews" and that Tehran had engineered a deadly soccer riot in Port Said) hypes the film as an American-Coptic plot and introduces what he says is its opening scene.

So apparently when some Egyptian muckraker plays portions of the offensive, insulting video to the Arab public that were selected as being the most offensive parts it is OK?  He's just reporting on what The Evil Satan is doing, not publishing/broadcasting stuff that insults Mohamed, right?

Sort of like broadcasting snuff films in order to let folks know what snuff films are, I guess?

The reason I am banging my head on a brick wall is because it feels so good when I stop.

stay safe.

[Jamie B]

My only real problem with Islam as a whole is that they haven't really made a concerted effort to stamp out the violent minority.  

Maybe some are scared of them, but I also believe that there is silent cheering going on there.

Many others in the world are very jealous what the US has accomplished in so few years.

In spite of our problems, we have pulled off a pretty good lifestyle that other countries could not mirror over thousands of years.

They are just pissed off, and want to get back at the US for doing what they could not.

[birdman]

Maybe some are scared of them, but I also believe that there is silent cheering going on there.

Many others in the world are very jealous what the US has accomplished in so few years.

In spite of our problems, we have pulled off a pretty good lifestyle that other countries could not mirror over thousands of years.

They are just pissed off, and want to get back at the US for doing what they could not.

But then shouldn't our current POTUS attempting to make our economic growth rate 1-2% lower than it historically was, which will "catch them up" in less than 2-3 generations, be seen as a positive?

Now THAT needs a sarcastic disclaimer :)

[longeyes]

Partially because they're as brutalized by the extremists as we are.

Our interpreter when I was in Diwaniyah said that's the biggest reason Iraqis tolerated the extremists... they were terrified of them.

Face it: brutalization and intimidation lie at the heart of Islam.  There are those who act out and those too cowed to act out, who submit.  This is "normal."

And it is not Islam that has been "hijacked," it is OUR culture and economy that are being subverted, exploited, eroded.  How long are we going to let bullies make us dance like silly little schoolgirls?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Partially because they're as brutalized by the extremists as we are.

Our interpreter when I was in Diwaniyah said that's the biggest reason Iraqis tolerated the extremists... they were terrified of them.

bingo!

and there are parallels   in other places  like belfast    or any us inner city where a gang rules

[longeyes]

You don't develop a culture of bullies, of intimidation, by accident.  That is something that informs your entire culture, that informs the way children are reared, the values they are given.  And it lies at the heart of not only the culture but the religion itself.  Top-down Authority.

[Ron]

My only real problem with Islam as a whole is that they haven't really made a concerted effort to stamp out the violent minority. 

Partially because they're as brutalized by the extremists as we are.

Our interpreter when I was in Diwaniyah said that's the biggest reason Iraqis tolerated the extremists... they were terrified of them.

bingo!

and there are parallels   in other places  like belfast    or any us inner city where a gang rules

That is why when there are free elections in the ME the moderates always run the table winning everything. Locking out the more extremist groups from having any authority.

[longeyes]

bingo!

and there are parallels   in other places  like belfast    or any us inner city where a gang rules

Gang members have parents, have mothers.  They are TAUGHT to be gang members, to embrace the ethos of the gang.  Because their parents are either gangsters themselves or aid and abet gangsterism by commission or omission.

[roo_ster]

My only real problem with Islam as a whole is that they haven't really made a concerted effort to stamp out the violent minority.  

The violent minority has the better of the moderates theologically-speaking.

No doubt things have changed in the last 8 years though, and probably towards even more stringent/well armed. Hell, IMO and based on these recent events, our MSG's at the embassies should have some XM-214's in concealed mounts. Nothing says "Get the f--- off my damned lawn!" like 12,000 RPM of AP M995 5.56mm.

That's beautiful.

[Ben]

Nothing says "Get the f--- off my damned lawn!" like 12,000 RPM of AP M995 5.56mm.

Why is this not on a T-shirt?

[birdman]

. Hell, IMO and based on these recent events, our MSG's at the embassies should have some XM-214's in concealed mounts. Nothing says "Get the f--- off my damned lawn!" like 12,000 RPM of AP M995 5.56mm.

10,000rpm. (the 12k was proposed, for specific instances, and then abandoned)  And only like 60-100 were ever made.
Why not use more m134's instead? :)

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-cuts-2-million-protection-foreign-missions-129-million-form-embassy-security_652355.html


Deliberately neuter Marines by prohibiting use of about $1000 worth of ammo to stop this *expletive deleted*it right-quick.  Check.

Create international incident from the aftermath.  Check.

Fear-monger over the cuts due to DOD by January, put it out in the press.  Check.



Result?

Create a frenzy among the masses to stop the cuts to the DOD budget.

I was wondering what they were going to come up with, in order to stop the January DOD cuts that are automated to happen.  I guess they kill a handful of Marines to do it.



It ain't a lack of money that made our embassies and consulates unsafe.

[kgbsquirrel]

10,000rpm. (the 12k was proposed, for specific instances, and then abandoned)  And only like 60-100 were ever made.
Why not use more m134's instead? :)

Because *expletive deleted*ck them, that's why.     And the current model was improved my GD to 12k rpm last I checked. The M134 and other goodies would work of course, but I just like the screw-you factor of something with a cyclic rate in the 5 figure range.

[MillCreek]

So I am reading that both the German and British embassies in Khartoum were set up by rioters and the German embassy was burned.  It occurred to me that I have no idea as to if other countries routinely have military troops of that country in the embassy to provide security.  Do the Germans station Bundeswehr troops and the British the Royal Marines at embassies?  Is the US the only country that does this?

[birdman]

Because *expletive deleted* them, that's why.     And the current model was improved my GD to 12k rpm last I checked. The M134 and other goodies would work of course, but I just like the screw-you factor of something with a cyclic rate in the 5 figure range.

The GD mod was there, but I don't think they sold any :)
Of course, you know what is better than a 10,000rpm microgun?  LOTS OF THEM :)

[ArfinGreebly]

I'll take it even further.
Islam is no different than Scientology. The "prophet" just beat Hubbard to the punch by a millennium or so. And Islam is slightly less goofy.
If you really want to make some money start your own religion.

I would suggest, unless you're just going for the inflammatory effect, that any actual research will disabuse one of this idea.

Having worked with Muslims and having both lived and worked with Scientologists (and for extended periods in both cases), I can state without equivocation that they share pretty much nothing in common.

The good news, however, is that ignorance is something that can be cured.

Oh, and just a passing note:  the ever trustworthy Press -- in whom we all place complete faith -- has had a hard-on for Scientology since the sixties, when the FBI raided the DC Founding Church in response to Hubbard's offer to assist NASA at no cost in their effort to overtake the Russians.  Just remember:  they're a cult and they're all weirdos and they eat babies and they use drugs and they hypnotize whole communities and they totally extorted the IRS into formally acknowledging them as a bona fide religion after persecuting them for forty years.  'Cuz the IRS is so easy to push around and they just loves them some cults.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled bash fest, already in progress.

[bedlamite]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/large-cloud-of-black-smoke-seen-coming-from-around-us-embassy-in-tunis/2012/09/14/3f6009d0-fe7c-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_story.html

http://magicvalley.com/news/world/middle-east/german-fm-sudan-embassy-in-flames/article_802671d6-84a7-525e-b91d-11f6d967ae03.html

Tunisia and Sudan too.

[Blakenzy]

On the ground footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVdzAg1SnVE

[agricola]

My only real problem with Islam as a whole is that they haven't really made a concerted effort to stamp out the violent minority.  

The problem being that its the violent minority in modern Islam that is the one with all the weapons, all of the money (at least since the Saudis started funding everything), a huge advantage in publicity and which actively likes stamping on others. 

Indeed one of the incidents that preceded the Benghazi attack this week was their demolition - by driving a bulldozer through it - of a Sufi shrine in the city, and of course the record of incredibly murderous attacks on Sufi and Shia communities throughout the world (where they regularly take out mosques) should be well known to everyone by now. 

[zxcvbob]

Someone is making a lot of money selling flags.

[MechAg94]

The problem being that its the violent minority in modern Islam that is the one with all the weapons, all of the money (at least since the Saudis started funding everything), a huge advantage in publicity and which actively likes stamping on others. 

Indeed one of the incidents that preceded the Benghazi attack this week was their demolition - by driving a bulldozer through it - of a Sufi shrine in the city, and of course the record of incredibly murderous attacks on Sufi and Shia communities throughout the world (where they regularly take out mosques) should be well known to everyone by now. 

Yeah, I have heard they are certainly not above violence against fellow Muslims if people of other religions are not available. 

I would also ask how much of that is tribal type violence versus religious.  How much of it just uses religion as a pretext.

[Angel Eyes]

On cnn.com's home page, re the Mideast protests:  "Should President Obama apologize?"

 

[Blakenzy]

On cnn.com's home page, re the Mideast protests:  "Should President Obama apologize?"

 

President Obama and his State Department should apologize... to the American people for the "lead from behind, let's support the same extremists and Al-Qaeda we spent almost a decade fighting in Iraq to take over Libya- regime change fiasco".

They are so coy about this because the KNOW the blowback is THEIR fault. They fraternized with the enemy. They assisted them in taking over the country.

Hillary's celebratory "We came, we saw, he died!" in reference to the footage showing the mob that killed Gadaffi seems to have come back to bite her in the behind, seeing from the pictures of her dead ambassador being dragged around in the exact same fashion Gaddafi was, by the same people the US Gov. and Allies supported just last year.

And they are currently trying to do a repeat of the Libya adventure in Syria, as we speak.

What a joke.

[ArfinGreebly]

On cnn.com's home page, re the Mideast protests:  "Should President Obama apologize?"

 

Yes.

But not to them.

The apology should be addressed to us.