Learn by Doing: Obama's Radically Different Approach to Use of Force

Foreign policy is the last area one would expect to see a trial-by-error approach by a presidential administration, but as the Muslim world's nations are aflame with fanatical anti-American protests, we're literally living our way through it with President Touchy-Feeling.

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Obama's foreign policy approach: Act cautiously, and not alone":

Obama's approach to the use of force, as seen most clearly in Libya, is the cornerstone of a foreign policy that differs sharply from that of his predecessor, George W. Bush, but also from the paths pursued by recent Democratic presidents.

Leading a nation confronting the limits of its power after two draining wars — and with budget strain at home — Obama shies from the type of ambitious and high-risk missions with which Bush aimed to reshape other countries. Under Obama, the United States has been more picky about missions aimed at humanitarian relief, peacekeeping and maintaining world order.

Yet more than other Democrats of the recent past, Obama has been willing to wield military power. As he nears four years in office, Obama has sent U.S. forces into at least eight countries, from Pakistan to West Africa, often covertly and with little public debate.

Supporters of the administration point to the military intervention in Libya as an example of success for the Obama doctrine, despite the storming of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi last week. While agreeing that the deaths there of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans show that Libya is still threatened by Islamist radicals and other armed groups, they say the radicals remain weak and that Libya has made a promising start after decades of dictatorship.

Obama's critics, however, say that by putting the U.S. more often in a supporting role, he has abandoned America's commitment, as President Kennedy put it, to "pay any price, bear any burden" to assure the "survival and the success of liberty." In the presidential campaign, Republicans have cast Obama as feckless and reactive, too willing to be shaped by events, rather than taking charge and clearly leading the nation and its allies.

Obama's record of incremental steps is seen by supporters as patient determination and by critics as timidity.

He has had no grand foreign policy triumphs, but neither has he had any major disasters. He has made no breakthroughs in trouble spots such as Iran, North Korea and Cuba. But the covert war against militants from Pakistan to North Africa succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden and dismantling much of Al Qaeda's leadership.

As a candidate in 2008, Obama promised to engage with regimes that Bush had shunned, rekindle the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort and intensify the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan that he believed Bush had neglected.

By his third year, he had been forced to adjust his approach on almost every front.

Obama's approach to the Middle East shows the clearest shift from the idealism of his 2008 campaign to the incremental realpolitik that has characterized much of the last two years.

When Iran's leaders refused his outstretched hand, Obama helped organize a campaign of unprecedented international sanctions that has battered the Iranian economy. Officials remain hopeful that the sanctions — backed by the threat of force — may prod Tehran into agreeing to limits on its disputed nuclear program.

On Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Obama tried to restart the process by pressing Israel for concessions on settlements. That plan quickly collapsed, forcing him to backtrack and essentially give up for now on substantive progress. The experience soured relations between the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but overall cooperation between the two countries has continued.

When the "Arab Spring" uprisings began early in 2011, Obama promised U.S. help for any country struggling toward democracy. But he didn't abandon Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Washington's authoritarian ally, until it appeared clear that Mubarak was on his way out. Obama subsequently opened ties to Islamists who won election in Egypt, yet he kept $1.5 billion in aid flowing to the generals of the old regime even as they harassed U.S.-funded pro-democracy groups in the country.

All sides in Egypt ended up feeling somewhat alienated, but the U.S. avoided a definitive rupture with Cairo as power changed hands.

In recent months, as Syria careened toward chaos, Obama resisted pressure to provide arms to the rebels. Instead, the administration encouraged Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other neighboring states to cooperate to undermine Bashar Assad's regime. The results of that strategy remain to be seen.

Obama similarly switched course on Afghanistan as it became clear that he lacked a reliable government partner there. He lowered his sights regarding the change the U.S. could bring to that country, ordered military withdrawal by the end of 2014 and began seeking a power-sharing deal with the Taliban and neighbors...

RTWT.

IMAGE CREDIT: The Looking Spoon.

Rep. Allen West Delivers Weekly Republican Address, September 15, 2012

Congressman West lays into President Obama with a personalized attack unusual for even these tough partisan times.

And see The Hill, "GOP Rep. West presses Obama to help avert looming defense cuts."

Also at the Heritage Foundation, "Budget Control Act Sequestration Would Hit Defense Hardest."

CNN's Arwa Damon: Libya Warned U.S. About 'Deteriorating Security'

The evidence is piling up, and at this point the White House is engaging in a cover up.

Arwa Damon reports, at CNN, "More details emerge on U.S. ambassador's last moments":

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Three days before the deadly assault on the United States consulate in Libya, a local security official says he met with American diplomats in the city and warned them about deteriorating security.

Jamal Mabrouk, a member of the February 17th Brigade, told CNN that he and a battalion commander had a meeting about the economy and security.

He said they told the diplomats that the security situation wasn't good for international business.

"The situation is frightening, it scares us," Mabrouk said they told the U.S. officials. He did not say how they responded.

Mabrouk said it was not the first time he has warned foreigners about the worsening security situation in the face of the growing presence of armed jihadist groups in the Benghazi area.

The main building in the compound is in charred ruins.


The suite where the body of the ambassador was found was protected by a large door with steel bars; the windows had steel bars.

His body was recovered after looters broke into the room. It appears his security detail left him in the room while they tried to deal with the attack.

There are numerous questions about what happened at the consulate where protesters had gathered to demonstrate against the film "Innocence of Muslims," which reportedly was made in California by a filmmaker whose identity is unclear.

Chief among the questions is what happened to U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who went missing during the attack.

The State Department has not released details about how Stevens died, though numerous media reports have said the ambassador was taken from the consulate to the Benghazi medical center by locals.

He arrived at the hospital, according to the reports, unresponsive and covered in soot from the fire. A doctor was unable to revive him and declared him dead, the reports said.

According to one of the Libyan security guards who was stationed at one of the gates armed with only a radio, the assault began simultaneously from three directions.

Heavy machine guns and rocket -propelled grenades were used, according to the guard. He said masked men threatened to kill him at gunpoint for 'protecting the infidels. He declined to appear on camera for fear of repercussions.

Continue reading.

And Damon indicates that Libyan officials have been issuing warnings "for months."

PREVIOUSLY: "Libya's Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf: Attack On U.S. Embassy Was 'Planned — Definitely, It Was Planned by Foreigners...'" (which generated a Memeorandum thread).

Dunkirk

I hope this ends up being Obama's Dunkirk, but we'll see.

Check Telegraph UK, "US election 2012: the battleground of Dunkirk, Ohio":

Fifty days before the US presidential election, The Telegraph meets the residents of Dunkirk, Ohio - the kind of town that will decide who wins.

On US Highway 68, down the road from an empty factory site and table-flat corn fields sits a windswept, one-street town called Dunkirk, Ohio.

There is a church, a café, a bar, a fire station and a population of about 875 people who are feeling the cold winds of global economic change.

It is Saturday morning and in Dunkirk's tiny, one-chair barbershop, a group of middle-aged men have gathered to chew the political fat. It's the kind of crowd that usually can't agree on the time of day, but Republicans, Democrats and undecided voters are unanimous: the US economy is in a hole, and no-one seems to know how to climb out of it.

The debate is spirited. The problem, says 56-year-old Richard Walden, is Barack Obama's rampant welfare culture: "People come to me and say that if they can't make $15-18 dollars (£9-£11) an hour, it ain't worth them working," he says. "That just ain't right."

Perhaps that's true, says Pete Brunow, 54, a vocal Democrat and former high-school football coach who brought glory to the town in 2004 by winning the Ohio state championships, but that the benefit culture is a symptom, not the cause, of the problems facing rust-belt towns like Dunkirk.

"The real problem is that there are too many 10-dollar-an-hour jobs," he counters, with a shake of his head, "There are always going to be people on welfare – always have been, always will be – but the problem is that the jobs we do have today are too poor-paying." Such barbershop debates are often drowned out in the raucous gaffe-spotting and point-scoring that monopolise much of the airspace of modern US political campaigns, but they go straight to the angry, despondent heart of Middle America.

Over the next 50 days, up until polling day on Nov 6, the people of Dunkirk, Ohio will provide a touchstone for The Telegraph's election coverage, providing unvarnished comment on the fizz and froth of the national campaign.

The story of Dunkirk's decline is one that has been repeated in thousands of towns across Ohio, a must-win battleground state that has borne the brunt of the fall-out from globalisation, and where Mr Obama will campaign again today.

More at that top link.

Muslim World's Unrest Is Dire Result of Obama's Foreign Policy

At IBD, "Call Obama's Dire Foreign Policy Carter 2.0":

The tragic events in Cairo and Benghazi should remove doubt that the foreign policy of the current administration is the most destructive since that of Jimmy Carter. The only question at this point is whether that policy is, as with Carter, the result of incompetence and naivete — or something more disturbing.

In other words, it may be time to ask whether the setbacks in Arab North Africa and elsewhere have been so numerous and unremitting that, rather than failures, they may be seen as consistent with the view of a president who thinks America is too rich and strong for the world's good.

How else do you explain the apologies issued to the fanatics who killed our ambassador and burned our embassy, apologies that evoke those offered in a 2009 speech in Cairo by a just-seated president who blamed the hatred some in the Mideast have for the West on "colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims"?

How else do you to explain the forsaking of a 30-year ally, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, for a Muslim Brotherhood billed as moderate but now shown to be potentially as fanatical as any government in the region?

And how to explain the rejection of Israel, our only truly democratic ally in the region, which faces nuclear annihilation by Iran, but whose prime minister can't get an audience with the president because he's booked on the David Letterman show?

The list of policy failures in the Mideast over the past four years is a long one...

A long one indeed. Continue reading at the link.

Skate and Snowboard Pioneer Tom Sims Has Died

The Los Angeles Times has an obituary, "Tom Sims dies at 61; snowboard pioneer":

Tom Sims, an innovative skateboarding and snowboarding pioneer and former world champion who helped bring snowboarding to the masses by pushing ski resorts to embrace the fledgling sport in the 1980s, has died. He was 61.

The founder of Sims Skateboards and Sims Snowboards died Wednesday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, said his sister, Margie Sims Klinger.

"He was the godfather of all board sports," Michael Brooke, publisher of Concrete Wave Magazine, said Friday. "He literally helped build the professional skate industry, and he was one of the giants in the history of snowboarding."

Pat Bridges, editor of Snowboarder Magazine, said Sims "not only pioneered snowboarding, but he also popularized what has come to be known as the action-sports lifestyle. He had a different modus for having a good time standing sideways, depending on the season."

As Brooke said, "He wasn't just a business guy selling this stuff. He lived it."

"He was the true first pioneer of what's called longboarding — riding a skateboard over 4 feet in length," Brooke said. "He'd ride enormous longboards and cruise down the hills. He was doing this way before anybody else. He liked taking this surf kind of feeling and putting it out there on skateboards."

A New Jersey transplant who also was a surfer and wakeboarder, Sims moved to Santa Barbara in 1971 and began entering and winning skateboard contests, including the Skateboard World Championships.

"He became someone that all the kids looked up to and wanted to emulate and wanted his boards," Sims' sister said. "So he realized there was such a demand, he set up a business and began producing products. His specialty was the 4-foot-long skateboard that he started out making himself."

A few years after launching Sims Skateboards in the mid-'70s, he founded Sims Snowboards.

According to the article, "He also was the main snowboarding stunt double for Roger Moore in the 1985 James Bond movie 'A View to a Kill'."

Lacey Banghard 'Nuts' Video

She's well-endowed, to put it mildly:

PREVIOUSLY: "Lacey Banghard Topless Zoo Photo Outtakes September 2012."

Raw Video Appears to Show Ambassador Stevens Dragged Through Window at Libyan Consulate

Breitbart has the clip if this one gets pulled, "BREAKING: Video Purports to Show US Ambassador Dragged From Benghazi Consulate." And also at Gateway Pundit, "Libyans Scream “Allahu Akbar” as They Drag U.S. Ambassador’s Body From Torched Building (Video)."

The video's not authenticated, although the New York Times also reports, "Video Shows Libyans Retrieving Envoy’s Body."

And what's especially interesting is that the images appear amazingly similar to the updated account of the ambassador's recovery from the compound at the New York Times, "Diplomats’ Bodies Return to U.S., and Libyan Guards Recount Deadly Riot":

When the attack on the diplomatic compound occurred, officials said, Ambassador Stevens was separated from his security detail — and was located only later, at the hospital in Benghazi, where he had been pronounced dead.

Officials in Washington said they were investigating that blacked-out period, but as they conduct that inquiry, witnesses have emerged who said that Mr. Stevens had fled to a room in the diplomatic compound, hoping to find safety behind a locked iron gate and wooden door. But fires raged around the mission, and Mr. Stevens, unable to escape the smoke and heat, died of asphyxiation.

Witnesses say he was eventually discovered by people who rushed to see what was happening at the mission. They broke a window, spotted Mr. Stevens, who might or might not have been unconscious at the time, and removed him from the room.

According to guards at the compound, the attack began at about 9:30 p.m., without advance warning or any peaceful protest. “I started hearing, ‘God is great! God is great!’ ” one guard said. “I thought to myself, maybe it is a passing funeral.” (All the guards spoke on the condition of anonymity for their safety.)

“Attack, attack,” the guard said he heard an American calling over his walkie-talkie as the chants came closer. Suddenly there came a barrage of gunfire, explosions and rocket-propelled grenades.

“I saw the ambassador’s personal bodyguard — the one who was killed — running toward the villa where the ambassador was,” he said. Armed only with a light weapon, the bodyguard “was running there to protect him.”

Another Libyan guard said he saw Mr. Stevens escorted to the office in a wing off the main mission building, the room with an iron gate behind a wooden door. Three hours later, about 12:30 a.m., witnesses said that a crowd — possibly looters — broke through a tall and narrow window and found Mr. Stevens.

The compound’s landlord, Jamal al-Bishari, said that while watching from nearby he saw some people climb through the broken window and emerge soon after, carrying Mr. Stevens.

The wing where Mr. Stevens had sought refuge contained at least three rooms and two bathrooms, and aside from the extensive smoke damage it appeared on Friday to be largely undamaged.

Very shortly after Mr. Stevens was seen carried out of the window, he arrived at Benghazi’s main hospital, brought by a group of Libyan civilians, according to Ziad Abu Zeid, a doctor there. In a separate interview he said that the civilians did not seem to know that the American they were helping was the ambassador, a well-known and popular figure locally but now covered in dark soot. Dr. Abu Zaid said that Mr. Stevens was dressed and did not suffer any trauma, aside from the smoke inhalation. Because of the soot covering his face, the doctor said, he also initially failed to recognize Mr. Stevens. He said he eventually did so from photographs posted by admiring residents on Facebook.

The doctor said he tried for at least 45 minutes to resuscitate Mr. Stevens. He said he believed that officers from the Libyan Interior Ministry transported the body to the airport and into United States custody.

That's a narrow window at the clip, and the body shows a white t-shirt (as seen in photographs from the scene), although the face is obscured. Still, there's an eery similarity between the video and the reports from witnesses.

RELATED: At Atlas Shrugged, "OBAMA #EPICFAIL: LIBYAN OFFICIAL WARNED USA '3 DAYS BEFORE ATTACK'." This is important, for as the New York Times indicates at the report above, the Obama administration has claimed repeatedly that there was no pre-planning to the attack. But more evidence is emerging and this could reach scandal territory if the White House continues to dissemble and lie.

Old Glory's Revenge: Muslim Protester Dies After Ingesting Smoke From Torched U.S. Flags in Pakistan

Blazing Cat Fur reports, "The Unfathomable Will of Allah: Muslim Dies After Being Made Unwell From Smoke of Burning US Flags at Mo Movie Demo."

And following the links takes us to the International Herald Tribune's Express Tribune, in Pakistan, "Ultimatum to U.S.: ‘Criminalise blasphemy or lose consulate’":

Around 10,000 people participated in the main rally organised on The Mall by the Tehreek Hurmat-i-Rasool (THR). The participants marched from Nila Gumbad to Masjid-i-Shuhada on The Mall. Despite a ban on rallies on The Mall, the road remained blocked for vehicular traffic from noon to 6pm.

The rally was addressed by Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, THR head Ameer Hamza, JD leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Pakistan Muslim League (Zia) head Ijazul Haq, Jamaat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S) leader Asim Makhdoom and Jamaat Ahle Hadith ameer Hafiz Abdul Ghaffar Ropari.

One of the participants of the rally, Abdullah Ismail, passed away after he was taken to Mayo Hospital. Witnesses said he had complained of feeling unwell from the smoke from US flags burnt at the rally.

He felt "unwell." No doubt. Karma's a bitch.

Also at the New York Times, "Pakistanis Try to Storm U.S. Outpost; One Is Killed." (The "one" killed died of gunfire.)

Obama's Foreign Policy of Reconciliation Lies in Tatters

From Janet Daley, at Telegraph UK:

The President appears to be rethinking his stance on American interference abroad. Will he let the electorate know before the election?

What exactly is the nature and intention of Barack Obama’s foreign policy? What has the net effect been of his emphasis on apology and reconciliation with the Muslim world? How does he now see America’s global role? Bizarrely enough, none of these questions was being discussed in the immediate aftermath of last week’s attack on the United States consulate in Libya, which resulted in the first killing of an American ambassador since 1979. A spectacularly successful White House spin operation saw to it that the only topic for debate in the media was Mitt Romney’s Gaffe – a statement by the Republican presidential candidate that was diplomatically inept and mistimed, but trivial in comparison to the monumental issue of the President’s stance on America’s future relations with the Middle East.

As it happened, the Romney Gaffe – which appeared to exploit the tragedy for opportunistic political purposes – was almost immediately cancelled out by a much more serious Obama Gaffe, in which the President demoted Egypt from being an ally of the United States to the far more dubious status of being “not an enemy”. This utterance was so potentially explosive in its consequences that it had to be corrected within hours by a White House spokesman and the State Department. So the Gaffe score now being more or less at stalemate, perhaps we could discuss the substance of the matter?

The Obama pledge to transform America’s relationship with Muslim countries – the “new beginning” he promised in his Cairo speech back in June 2009 – which was a major plank of his anti-Bush political identity, is looking doomed. The rocket attack in Benghazi was almost certainly a pre-planned al‑Qaeda operation, but the rioting that followed in Egypt and a swath of other Islamic countries had the chaotic quality of truly spontaneous activity. It may have been a puerile five-minute video clip (taken from an idiotic film of fraudulent origins) that served as a pretext, but it was clear that anti-Americanism of the old-fashioned kind had just been waiting for its moment. That is not Obama’s fault: hatred of the Great Satan preceded him as indeed it preceded George Bush. But the question is whether the Obama answer to that problem – to try to conciliate (or, as the Republicans would have it, “appease”) the Muslim countries – is, or could ever have been, the answer.

More at that top link.

It's an excellent analysis, although Romney made no gaffe with his initial comments on Egypt. That's the leftist media spin, and Daley's buying it. See Jennifer Rubin, "Media and Obama out to lunch — Romney had it right."

And on O's Egypt-not-an-ally gaffe --- a real "gaffe" gaffe if there ever was one --- see Allahpundit at Hot Air, "White House: On second thought, Egypt is still kinda sorta an “ally”."

Ginormous Sunday Rule 5

More from Make Her Famous.

Also blogging: At The Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday: No-Frills Edition, and Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 Saturday: Abi Titmuss."

More at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…is snow being a thing of the past, you might just be a Warmist."

And some cheerleaders at Proof Positive, "Niners vs. Lions." Also from Randy's Roundtable, "When All Else Fails To Cheer Me Up I watch football..."

Still more at The Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Nana Ogura And a Rule 5 roundup."

Wirecutter has your ice cream cravings covered, "Well, if you insist..."

I'll be looking around to add some more links, and drop yours in the comments if you're babe blogging.

Added: From From Bear Creek, "Saturday Gingermageddon."

Libya's Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf: Attack On U.S. Embassy Was 'Planned — Definitely, It Was Planned by Foreigners...'

Listen to Libyan President Mohamed Yousef el-Magaria.

This has to be the most devastating interview I've heard all week, at CBS, "'Face the Nation' transcripts, September 16, 2012: Libyan Pres. Magariaf, Amb. Rice and Sen. McCain":

BOB SCHIEFFER: Was this a long-planned attack, as far as you know? Or what-- what do you know about that?

MOHAMED YOUSEF EL-MAGARIAF: The way these perpetrators acted and moved, I think we-- and they're choosing the specific date for this so-called demonstration, I think we have no-- this leaves us with no doubt that this has preplanned, determined-- predetermined.

BOB SCHIEFFER: And you believe that this was the work of al Qaeda and you believe that it was led by foreigners. Is that-- is that what you are telling us?

MOHAMED YOUSEF EL-MAGARIAF: It was planned-- definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who-- who entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this criminal act since their-- since their arrival.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Mister President, is it safe for Americans there now?

MOHAMED YOUSEF EL-MAGARIAF: The security situation is-- is difficult, not only for Americans, even for Libyans themselves. We don't know what-- what are the real intentions of these perpetrators. How they will react? So-- but there is no specific particular concern for danger for Americans or any other foreigners. But situation is not easy ...

This guy's an interesting dude, a heavyweight of Middle East politics. And a relative moderate by regional standards. Check Magariaf's profile at Wikipedia. He's survived three assassination attempts and was once Libya's ambassador to India. Not a political neophyte whatsoever. He defected from the Ghaddafi regime in 1980.

Ambassador Susan Rice also appeared on this morning's "Face the Nation," among other broadcasts. She's offering an entirely different interpretation of events, as reported earlier, "Ambassador Susan Rice: U.S. Not 'Impotent' in Muslim World."

When hard intelligence data is made public the administration is going to be battered, bruised, and groveling before the people.

This is now a foreign policy election as important as any in recent decades. The immediate analogy is to Jimmy Carter and the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979, when economic concerns were also of extreme importance. Indeed, Ronald Reagan first asked Americans if they were better off than they were four years earlier at that time. But the turmoil in Iran, the abduction of our diplomats and the Carter administration's inept response to the crises became key flashpoints of the campaign. The timing is different this year. Operation Eagle Claw, the Desert One rescue mission that failed on April 24, 1980, was more than six months before the November election. That time lag gave Americans lots of time to decide which candidate would better secure American interests in a dizzying period of international conflict. But while the timeline is quite different today, the utter degree of humiliation is not. If Americans blamed Jimmy Carter personally for our troubles, throwing him out of office and electing Reagan to the helm, there's really no reason to think that can't happen again. America's foreign policy is literally aflame across the Middle East. We're seeing anti-American protests in more than 30 countries. It's all on Obama's watch, after three years of unprecedented appeasement of the Muslim world.

Perhaps voters will filter out world events as they struggle to make ends meet amid the Obama Depression. Indeed, if the president wins a second term it means that they've accepted Democrat arguments for "shared sacrifice," that they want government to build a dominant role as the safety net of last resort. Such a result will mean a substantial shift in the political culture of the United States, away from individualism towards more dependence on the state. Will it last? Perhaps, especially as long as the economy fails to create new jobs and to lift hopes of opportunity. But outside events have a way of placing tremendous constraints on the U.S. domestic realm. If Obama's record is any indication, global hostility to America will continue, while in the meantime U.S. foreign policy will continue to marginalize our key allies such as Israel. It's all a recipe for continued long-term instability with a great likelihood of armed conflict. Moscow will be emboldened to expand its interests in Syria and beyond, continuing to prop up the Assad regime, which will amount to a de facto alliance between the Kremlin and the mullahs in Tehran.

Secretary Rice is wrong: The U.S. is becoming increasingly impotent to shape the course of events in the region and to secure America's traditional interests. The administration has offered a flawed theory of the region, based on literally bowing down to our allies and enemies alike. The reckoning is coming. There's likely to be more Americans killed and increasing tensions among the great powers. Without a change in direction of U.S. policy, the American eagle will be scurrying in fear in the face of the Russian bear and the Iranian lion. And our allies will decide that they have no friend in Washington, and they'll resort to self-help to secure their survival. It's an altogether ugly picture, but now clearly coming into focus in this fateful week after the 11th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

UPDATE: Linked at Blazing Cat Fur and The Lonely Conservative. Thanks!

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Place a 'Red Line' Before Iran

This is the other big story out of the Middle East, at Fox News, "Netanyahu: US must draw a 'red line' with Iran over nuclear weapons":

WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a direct appeal to American voters on Sunday to elect a president willing to draw a "red line" with Iran, comparing Tehran's nuclear program to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and reminding Americans of the devastating repercussions of failed intelligence.

His remarks were an impassioned election-season plea from a world leader who insists he doesn't want to insert himself into U.S. politics and hasn't endorsed either candidate. But visibly frustrated by U.S. policy under President Barack Obama, the hawkish Israeli leader took advantage of the week's focus on unrest across the Muslim world and America's time-honored tradition of the Sunday television talk shows to appeal to Americans headed to the polls in less than two months.

Tehran claims its nuclear program is peaceful. Netanyahu said the U.S. would be foolish to believe that, using football metaphors and citing example of past terrorist attacks on U.S. soil to appeal to his American audience.

"It's like Timothy McVeigh walking into a shop in Oklahoma City and saying, 'I'd like to tend my garden. I'd like to buy some fertilizer ... Come on. We know that they're working on a weapon,'" Netanyahu said.

More at the link.

And at The Hill, "Israeli PM Netanyahu: Iranian leaders guided by strong ‘fanaticism’." (There's "Meet the Press" video at the link, via Memeorandum and The Other McCain.)

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

More at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Got Bibi’s Back."

Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

CARTOON CREDIT: Above, William Warren.

Ambassador Susan Rice: U.S. Not 'Impotent' in Muslim World

From Jake Tapper at ABC News:

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told me this morning on “This Week” that the United States is not “impotent” in the face of violent protests sweeping the Muslim world being aimed at American interests.

“We’re not impotent,were not even less popular to challenge that assessment” said Rice. ” What happened this week in Cairo, in Benghazi and many other parts of the region was a result, a direct result, of a heinous and offensive video that was widely disseminated, that the U.S. government had nothing to do with, which we have made clear is reprehensible and disgusting.”

President Obama has been very public since the start of his presidential term that he intended to heal relations with the Middle East that were damaged during the Bush administration.

More at that top link. And also the banner headline at The Daily Caller, "'We're Quite Popular In Libya' - Ambassador Susan Rice: Mideast crisis not an 'expression of deep-seated anti-American sentiment'."

At the video above, Rice indicates that President Obama "picked up the phone" and told President Morsi in Egyp to get with the program. Okay, sure. Morsi doesn't want to lose his foreign aid. But if the U.S. had real power --- if Obama's Cairo foreign policy had any real effect --- those protests would have never taken place to begin with. And with protests, the Egyptian military could have smashed them with the blink of an eye. What popularity? The banner at the ABC News clip has 33 countries now mounting anti-American protests. This is the biggest popular repudiation of America I can remember in my lifetime. And Ambassador Rice is sticking with the meme that the "Innocence of Muslims" video is 100 percent the cause of all the violence and outrage? It's getting obscene to listen to this administration's dissembling and lies. Daniel Halper has that, at the Weekly Standard, "U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Doubles Down on Claim that Film Responsible for Middle East Mobs" (via Memeorandum):

This morning on Fox News Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, doubled down on the Obama administration's claim that an Internet video is responsible for anti-American mobs across the Middle East....

CHRIS WALLACE: Joining us now our ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice. Ambassador, welcome back to Fox News Sunday.

AMB. SUSAN RICE:  Thank you.

WALLACE:  This week, there have been anti-American protests in two dozen countries across the Islamic world.Tthe White House says it has nothing to do with the president's policies. Let's watch.

JAY CARNEY:  This is not a case of protests directed at the United States writ large or at U.S. policy. This is in response to a video that is offensive.

WALLACE: You don't really believe that?

AMB. RICE: Chris, absolutely I believe that. Because, in fact, it is the case. We had the evolution of the Arab Spring over the last many months but what sparked the recent violence was the airing on the Internet of a very hateful very offensive video that has offended many people around the world. Now, our strong view is that there is no excuse for violence. It is reprehensible and never justified. But in fact there have been those in various parts of the world who have reacted with violence. Their governments have increasingly and effectively responded and protected our facilities and condemned the violence and this outrageous response to what is an offensive video. But there is no question what we have seen in the past with things like Satanic Verses and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad there have been such things that have sparked outrage and anger and this has been the proximate cause.

More at Memeorandum.

BONUS: From Scott Johnson at Power Line, "Fools and Knaves, Pt. 3."

Added: From Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, "Rice: Benghazi attack was spontaneous; Libya: No, it wasn’t":

There seems to be lingering confusion about the nature of the attack on the Benghazi consulate that cost four Americans their lives, including the first US Ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979, J. Christopher Stevens. UN Ambassador Susan Rice insisted on Fox News Sunday that the attack on the consulate on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 was a spontaneous demonstration that just “spun out of control.” Rice also doubled down on the administration’s claim that the violence is all about the video...

Well, it's not "confusion." It's deceit and obfuscation. The administration is lying. As pointed out at Power Line above, the Libyan government is claiming a pre-planned attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound. But keep reading at the post. Ed does cite additional information to that effect, but he attempts a balancing approach that doesn't seem warranted given the awful dishonesty the administration's adopted so far during the crisis.

More: From National Review, "Libyan President Contradicts Administration on Benghazi Attack."

More still: Blue Crab Boulevard links, "Liar, Liar." Thanks!

U.S. Preparing for Long Siege of Arab Unrest

A big front-page report at today's New York Times:

WASHINGTON — After days of anti-American violence across the Muslim world, the White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and President Obama’s ability to shape the forces of change in the Middle East.

Although the tumult subsided Saturday, senior administration officials said they had concluded that the sometimes violent protests in Muslim countries may presage a period of sustained instability with unpredictable diplomatic and political consequences. While pressing Arab leaders to tamp down the unrest, Mr. Obama’s advisers say they may have to consider whether to scale back diplomatic activities in the region.

The upheaval over an anti-Islam video has suddenly become Mr. Obama’s most serious foreign policy crisis of the election season, and a range of analysts say it presents questions about central tenets of his Middle East policy: Did he do enough during the Arab Spring to help the transition to democracy from autocracy? Has he drawn a hard enough line against Islamic extremists? Did his administration fail to address security concerns?

These questions come at an inopportune time domestically as Mr. Obama enters the fall campaign with a small lead in polls. His policies escaped serious scrutiny in the initial days after the attack that killed four Americans in Libya last week, in part because of the furor over a statement by Mitt Romney accusing the president of sympathizing with the attackers. White House officials said they recognized that if not for Mr. Romney’s statement, they would have been the ones on the defensive.

As of Saturday night, the worst of the crisis appeared to have passed, at least for now. The Egyptian government, responding to administration pressure, cracked down on protesters in Cairo on Saturday, and in Libya the government rounded up suspects in the violence that killed four Americans on Tuesday. Leaders in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia appealed for calm.

Still, images from the past week of American flags being torn down and burned, an Islamic flag being raised and embassies being overrun by angry mobs introduce a volatile element into a re-election effort in which foreign policy has been a strength. Some critics and commentators were already evoking the images of the Iranian hostage crisis that doomed another presidency.WASHINGTON — After days of anti-American violence across the Muslim world, the White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and President Obama’s ability to shape the forces of change in the Middle East.

Although the tumult subsided Saturday, senior administration officials said they had concluded that the sometimes violent protests in Muslim countries may presage a period of sustained instability with unpredictable diplomatic and political consequences. While pressing Arab leaders to tamp down the unrest, Mr. Obama’s advisers say they may have to consider whether to scale back diplomatic activities in the region.

The upheaval over an anti-Islam video has suddenly become Mr. Obama’s most serious foreign policy crisis of the election season, and a range of analysts say it presents questions about central tenets of his Middle East policy: Did he do enough during the Arab Spring to help the transition to democracy from autocracy? Has he drawn a hard enough line against Islamic extremists? Did his administration fail to address security concerns?

These questions come at an inopportune time domestically as Mr. Obama enters the fall campaign with a small lead in polls. His policies escaped serious scrutiny in the initial days after the attack that killed four Americans in Libya last week, in part because of the furor over a statement by Mitt Romney accusing the president of sympathizing with the attackers. White House officials said they recognized that if not for Mr. Romney’s statement, they would have been the ones on the defensive.

As of Saturday night, the worst of the crisis appeared to have passed, at least for now. The Egyptian government, responding to administration pressure, cracked down on protesters in Cairo on Saturday, and in Libya the government rounded up suspects in the violence that killed four Americans on Tuesday. Leaders in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia appealed for calm.

Still, images from the past week of American flags being torn down and burned, an Islamic flag being raised and embassies being overrun by angry mobs introduce a volatile element into a re-election effort in which foreign policy has been a strength. Some critics and commentators were already evoking the images of the Iranian hostage crisis that doomed another presidency.

Hmm... Looks like the mainstream press is starting to come around on this. These revolts are an historic disaster for U.S. foreign policy and the Obama administration, and there will be domestic political repercussions --- which is why, of course, the White House press corps attacked Mitt Romney for having raised these very issues, and not the president who's the source of so much of what's wrong with our international relations.

More at that top link.

CARTOON CREDIT: Legal Insurrection.

The Lamest Thing You'll Read All Day

Seriously lame.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Occupy movement turns 1 year old, its effect still hard to define."

Lame because, on the one hand, Occupy's had an enormous effect. From the White House down the the dregs of the Democrat fever swamps, anarcho-communism has been welcomed by one of the two major political parties in American politics. The movement's also given the MSM flacks something to cheer on while the left stumbles to find some kinda message that appeals to people not to stupid too vote Democrat in the first place. But the piece is lame on the other hand because with this front-page spot, the Times makes the case, as is so common, that Occupy essentially has to become a tea party-type organization to remain vital. Progressive media types have never grasped the fundamental difference between Occupy and the tea party. With the former, you had an anti-capitalist movement originating on the fringes of the radical left, on the campuses, the unions, and the alternative media, which was later piggybacked by the establishment left once the Zuccoti Park criminals got their fifteen minutes of fame. The tea party, however, bubbled up from everyday Americans shocked at what was happening to their country. It got exposure through Fox News, quite a bit of exposure, but for the most part the tea party sprung spontaneously from the outrage of the silent majority. And its effect has been enormous. Occupy's manifesto is Marx and Engels. The tea party's manifesto is Thomas Jefferson and the Federalist Papers. Amazing how the media beat the doors down to mainstream communism but the founding philosophy of the nation was demonized as horribly retrograde and fundamentally racist. I shake my head sometimes.

But read the piece at the Times. I don't expect we've heard the last of Occupy, in any case. The left will always be with us. The anarchists and communists and Jew-haters will keep up their hatin' no matter what the label.

RELATED: ICYMI, at FrontPage Magazine, "Occupy Wall Street: The Communist Movement Reborn."

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula Taken Into Custody

It's the anti-Islam filmmaker, "Sam Bacile."

He was taken in for "voluntary" police questioning. I love that, "voluntary." Talk about making George Orwell proud.

See Protein Wisdom, "Blasphemer found, detained by LA Police. Allah be Praised!"

(Police released the guy after questioning, nice chaps that they are.)

And get this, at Breitbart, "Anti-Islam Filmmaker Donated Million Dollars To Obama Campaign."

BONUS: At Instapundit, "WHY BARACK OBAMA SHOULD RESIGN..."

From the Command Center

At the photo: My old Acer mini-laptop at the forefront, which I'm using until I can buy a new one, since my kid trashed my last one. Speaking of kids, my 11-year-old guy is sitting at left playing games on my older son's Apple laptop. On the television, "The Matrix Reloaded." The series has been playing the last couple of months on Cinemax's "Thriller-Max" channel. And to the right of the screen is a half-consumed glass of Blue Moon Belgian White. It's the first time I've tried it. I'm not a big "craft beer" kinda guy. I like Corona, frankly. But this one tastes good, and I've also enjoyed Hep Cat Blonde Ale of late at the local Lamppost Pizza Parlor.

The Muslim World Still Hates America

From Andrew Coyne, at the National Post, "The real lesson of embassy attacks: U.S. will always have enemies." He takes jabs at both left and right here, but it's a thoughtful piece:

What the last few days does show, as if we needed reminding, is that a lot of people in the Muslim world still hate America. Even if the proximate cause were, as reported, a crude anti-Muslim video that happened to have been produced in the United States, the crowds’ fury plainly has as much to do with where the film was made as what was in it. The protests have become, if they were not originally, arenas for the venting of rage at the U.S. in general — and at its president in particular. “Obama, Obama, we are all Osamas,” rioters in Tunis chanted. In Jalalabad, Afghanistan, they burned him in effigy.

If this seems a remarkable turn of events, it shouldn’t. The notion that the election of a president with Muslim roots, or the adoption of a more conciliatory tone in American foreign policy, would mollify America’s detractors in the Third World, was always a fantasy. If it is unlikely the protests were caused by Obama’s “weakness” — Mitt Romney’s campaign went so far as to claim they would not have taken place if he were president — then neither, it seems, has his presence in the White House done anything to prevent them. Perhaps there is less anti-Americanism abroad as a result of his presidency, but it certainly hasn’t been extinguished. Which is fine. Because there isn’t anything to be done about it, and no point in trying.

It is a mistake to suppose that hatred of America must have some rational cause, any more than other prejudices. It does not. It is a constant, unlikely to change no matter what propitiatory gestures the U.S. might offer. It has nothing to do with what foreign policy it pursues, or whether the president’s middle name is Hussein. It exists because America exists, and if America did not exist it would attach itself to something else.

Hatred of America is a form of self-hatred, the fruit of frustration and despair in the Muslim world at their relative decline. And not only in the Muslim world. Anti-Americanism will always be with us so long as people need a bogeyman on which to hang the evils of the world. It speaks to all that is small and envious and insecure in us, and unfortunately that, too, is a constant.

Also, see Lee Smith, at the Weekly Standard, "The Video Didn’t Do It." (Via Memeorandum.)

PHOTO CREDIT: iOWNTHEWORLD: "President Obama Skips Intel. Briefing One Day After Embassy Attacks, Media Silent on the Issue."

Candice Swanepoel Topless in Latest Victoria's Secret Photo Shoot in Miami

At London's Daily Mail, "Candice Swanepoel takes her Victoria's Secret calendar shoot one step further as she goes topless on Miami beach."

Two Marines Killed in Taliban Attack in Afghanistan's Helmand Province

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Two Marines killed in attack on Afghan base where Prince Harry is deployed."

Also at The Lonely Conservative, "2 US Marines Killed in Taliban Attack in Afghanistan – Updated." And The Other McCain, "Report: 2 Marines Killed in Afghanistan."

More at National Post, "Heavily armed insurgents storm Prince Harry’s base in southern Afghanistan, killing two U.S. Marines."

Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Attack on U.S. Consulate in Libya

Yeah, because, you know, the protests are all about this stupid viral video on YouTube.

At the Times of Israel, "Al-Qaeda indicates responsibility for killing US envoy in Libya, urges more attacks."

Al-Qaeda indicated responsibility on Saturday for Tuesday’s attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, in which US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

The terror group said the assault was executed in revenge for a US drone strike in June that killed the organization’s number two, Abu Yahya al-Libi. Libi was a Libyan national who served as lieutenant to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of al-Qaeda.

“The killing of Sheikh Abu Yahya only increased the enthusiasm and determination of the sons of (Libyan independence hero) Omar al-Mukhtar to take revenge upon those who attack our Prophet,” Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said.

In a statement, the terror group urged more such attacks. ”Whoever comes across America’s ambassadors or emissaries should follow the example of Omar al-Mukhtar’s descendants, who killed the American ambassador,”it said. ”Let the step of kicking out the embassies be a step towards liberating Muslim countries from the American hegemony.”

Eastern Libya’s deputy interior minister, Wanis el-Sharef, said Friday that four people had been arrested in connection with the attack. Other reports Saturday said the Libyan authorities have identified 50 people involved in the attack.

In an audio recording released to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary, Zawahiri asserted an Islamic duty to “liberate” every inch of Muslim lands, and called upon Muslims to “purify” their countries of corrupt leaders during what he termed a period of “American weakness.” Muslims should “topple the western proxies” left in their countries “and especially the Saud clan and the gulf sheiks in the Arabian peninsula,” he declared.

More at the link.

And at ABC News, "Al Qaeda Praises Libya Consulate Attack as Anti-American Protests Subside."

Afghans Burn Obama in Effigy (VIDEO)

Because, the protests are all about the film, and not at all about Obama's foreign policy or the American people themselves.

At Agence France Press, "Afghans burn Obama effigy at film demo," and Vlad Tepes, "Protests in Afghanistan burn Obama in effigy."

Pamela Geller: President Obama Sanctions Anti-American Protests Across Mideast

She goes there.

At Atlas Shrugs, "Video: Pamela Geller on Fox and Friends, Islamic Supremacists in an Uproar."

Charlie Cook: Obama Could Win It

I trust very few elections forecasters, with Charlie Cook being one big exception.

At National Journal, "Obama’s a Good Bet":

By this time next week, there should be enough national and state-level polling data to present a pretty clear picture of where this election stands, post-Labor Day and after whatever bounces the candidates may have gotten from the conventions. But we have seen enough data in recent weeks to draw some preliminary conclusions about the contests for the White House, the Senate, and, to a lesser extent, the House.

The presidential race is still close and, in a tight election, either candidate can win. Any number of events, not the least of which are debates, campaign gaffes, and domestic or international developments, could put President Obama or Mitt Romney over the top. Although it is pretty clear that Obama has an edge over Romney in national and swing-state polling, the size of his advantage remains in doubt. Every event or development should be judged on whether it might change the path of this election.

My view is that if Obama is reelected, it will be despite the economy and because of his campaign; if Mitt Romney wins, it will be because of the economy and despite his campaign. This economy is an enormous millstone around Obama’s neck, yet he and his campaign have managed to secure the upper hand—albeit with a very tenuous grip. At the same time, despite an enormous advantage that the sluggish economy and the sentiment for change affords him, Romney and his campaign, to an astonishing degree, seem to have squandered too many opportunities and undermined his chances of winning.

It should be emphasized again and again that this campaign isn’t over and that the race is still awfully close. But without a change in the trajectory, it’s a good bet that Obama will come out on top. The questions are whether the opportunity will arise for that trajectory to change and whether the Romney campaign be able to effectively capitalize on it.

EXTRA: At the New York Times, "Poll Finds Obama Is Erasing Romney’s Edge on Economy."

(The economy is by far the leading issue for voters, but foreign policy is going to become a tough topic for Obama in the weeks ahead, so again, my sense is it's still way to close to call.)

PHOTO CREDIT: The White House Flickr Page.

President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton Speak at Dover Airbase for U.S. Diplomats Killed in Libya

I watched it live, and commented on it as well, so I might as well post it.

PREVIOUSLY: "White House Denies Islamic Protests Are Reaction to Obama's Foreign Policy."

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Calls On Muslims Worldwide to Unite Against United States and 'The Evil Zionists' Behind Controversial Muhammed Video

Hey, the Obama administration's appeasement policies are bearing fruit. Our mortal enemies are rallying the entire Middle East around a solid programmatic agenda: to unite against "Zionism and the U.S. government," and to make those behind the anti-Islam film "face a punishment proportionate to this great crime," which would of course be death to the infidels. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports, "Iran’s supreme leader blames ‘evil Zionists’ for anti-Islam film."

And see this outstanding piece at the Wall Street Journal, "Amid Chaos, Extremists Spur Violence: Inflamed by Anti-Islam Video, Marchers Target U.S. and Other Western Allies; Iran Calls for a 'United Response'":

BEIRUT—Many of the protests that spread across the Muslim world on Friday, with violent mobs targeting diplomatic compounds of the U.S. and its allies started out as relatively small and restrained but rapidly grew out of control when groups of extremists riled up the crowd.

Similar scenes were repeated in parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as crowds of men and women carried placards denouncing the video trailer for a purported film called "Innocence of Muslims," and directed their anger toward the U.S. and Israel. American flags were burned in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Bangladesh during protests.

The sudden eruption of anger against the U.S. and its allies isn't new in the Islamic world. But the violence targeted at Americans in the fledging democracies of the Arab Spring presents a precarious challenge for its newly elected leaders. They must balance defending the U.S., an important ally that helped them come to power, against appeasing the raw sentiments of a minority of Islamist radicals with the power to destabilize the region.

In Benghazi, Libya—where a violent attack Tuesday on the U.S. Consulate resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans—several conservative imams preached a message of tolerance and nonviolence across their mosques during the Friday noon prayer.

Approximately 100 men stood in front of the city's largest hotel shouting slogans against the U.S. and the anti-Islamic video. Unlike Tuesday night, Friday's protest was muted, with no one brandishing guns. Many in the crowd carried the flag used by militant Islamists,

Mohammed al-Mifty, 25 years old, carried a hand-drawn sign saying, "They degrade our prophet and no one cares, but an American dies and the world turns upside down." His motivation for taking to the streets Friday was to defend Islam, he said. That is the reason why he also participated in the protest on Tuesday evening in front of the U.S. consulate.

The violence also reached Tunisia, one of the most moderate Muslim countries and the birthplace of the Arab Spring. Three people died during clashes as protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound, climbing over walls and breaking a locked gate. They set fire to cars parked in the embassy parking lot, and the American school sending huge plumes of black smoke into the air.

Demonstrators brought down the American flag and raised the black flag common to militant Islamist movements. Three people were killed and 28 injured, according to Tunisia's state-controlled news agency.

A Tunisian official said U.S. embassy security personnel gave Tunisian security forces permission to enter the embassy grounds and push out protesters with tear gas and bird shot after they forced their way into the compound. Armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails, protesters clashed with police into the night in the streets around the sprawling U.S. Embassy compound.

They later set the administration building of the nearby American school on fire. Around nightfall, a small group of protesters breached the walls of the U.S. compound and set a small fire inside the embassy building. according to witnesses.

A local Tunisian staff member at the U.S. Embassy said American staffers had been told to stay home in anticipation of the protests. The American School had similarly told students to stay home on Friday.

Continue reading.

UPDATE: Linked by Barbara at American Freedom. Thanks!

Muslim Protests in 20 Countries Focus on U.S. Embassies

An informative clip, from the PBS News Hour:

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Mideast violence offers reminder of 'Arab Spring' dangers":

WASHINGTON — The cascade of anti-American protests in the Middle East this week is a jolting reminder to the White House of a dangerous dimension of the "Arab Spring" revolutions: Freedom for long-suppressed Islamist groups that weak elected governments can't manage and that America can't control.

Although President Obama welcomed the uprisings that toppled authoritarian leaders like dominoes last year, attacks on U.S. missions and other protests across the Middle East and North Africa have created a deepening crisis in Washington as White House aides struggle to protect U.S. diplomats abroad, ease regional tensions and recalibrate American interests.

Violence flared again Thursday when hundreds of protesters attacked the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, Egyptian crowds scuffled with police firing tear gas, and demonstrations erupted in Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia. In Libya, police reportedly made several arrests for the assault that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans late Tuesday.

The challenge of the abrupt upheaval was clear from comments in which Obama appeared to reclassify America's view of Egypt, which is the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid and has long been seen in Washington as a linchpin of peace in the Middle East.

"I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy," Obama told the Spanish-language network Telemundo on Wednesday. He called the relationship with Cairo "still a work in progress."

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney downplayed those remarks. He said Obama was speaking in "diplomatic and legal terms" and that U.S. policy toward the Arab world's most populous nation had not changed.

"'Ally' is a legal term of art," Carney said during a campaign stop in Golden, Colo. "We do not have a mutual defense treaty with Egypt, like we do, for example, with our NATO allies. But as the president has said, Egypt is a long-standing and close partner of the United States, and we have built on that foundation in supporting Egypt's transition to democracy and working with the new government."

Jay Carney. Oh man.

The dude's the biggest f-king joke. A perpetual disaster machine. The most epic clusterf-k personified.

See: "White House Denies Islamic Protests Are Reaction to Obama's Foreign Policy."

Nicole Neal Rule 5

The lady's on Twitter.

Via Make Her Famous.

In Boost for Merkel, German Court Backs Euro Rescue Fund

This is interesting.

At the New York Times, "In Victory for Merkel, German Court Ruling Favors European Bailout Fund":

KARLSRUHE, Germany — The Federal Constitutional Court in Germany gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a significant victory on Wednesday in her bid to master the debt crisis that has buffeted the Continent for years and endangered its common currency, granting approval to one of the main pillars of her strategy.

With the ruling, the 17 European Union countries that use the euro will be able to move ahead with the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, something like a Continental version of the International Monetary Fund. The mechanism will handle bailouts and work in tandem with the European Central Bank to buy the bonds of countries like Italy and Spain that are straining under high interest rates.

The court ruled that Germany could proceed with its contribution to the mechanism, but it set certain conditions, including a requirement for parliamentary approval of any increase in the agreed-upon German contribution of 190 billion euros, or about $240 billion.

The fund, with $644 billion, is intended to buoy struggling countries and help protect the common currency, an impossible mission without Germany, which has the European Union’s largest economy. Although the ruling is unlikely to still Europe’s economic crisis entirely, a rejection could have unleashed new waves of instability and thrown the fitful march toward European integration into question.

“Once again, Germany today sends a strong signal out to Europe and the world beyond,” Ms. Merkel told Parliament. “Germany is decisively true to its responsibility in Europe as the largest economy and a reliable partner.”

For Ms. Merkel, rejection by the court would have been a severe political blow. Her coalition has been weak and fragmented at home. Her leadership in Europe has helped her clamber above the domestic political fray, even if many are leery of the growing financial commitments.

The court ruling cheered investors, with the Stoxx 50 index of euro zone stocks rising 1.1 percent in morning trading to its highest point since March. The euro rose to nearly $1.29, its highest since May. On Wall Street, the major market indexes were up at the close of the trading day.

More at the link.

Must See: Kirsten Powers Slams Obama-Media Coverage of Ambassador's Death in Libya

Via Lonely Con:

BONUS: At iOWNTHEWORLD: "Kirsten Powers Gets It – How Friggin Loony Does This Make The Rest of the Left?"

Bodacious Brunette Goodness

At Egotastic, "Lucy Pinder and Holly Peers and Friends Topless for Bodacious Brunette Goodness."

'For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated...'

The last time an ambassador was killed was in 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan.

The quote at the headline is from Richard Williamson, an advisor to Mitt Romney's campaign. See Philip Rucker, at the Washington Post, "Romney team sharpens attack on Obama’s foreign policy," via Hugh Hewitt on Twitter:

WaPo's @philiprucker breaks MSM omertà,reports on POTUS Egypt pratfall and Team Romney's critique without slanting washingtonpost.com/politics/decis…
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) September 14, 2012

Advisers to Mitt Romney on Thursday defended his sharp criticism of President Obama and said that the deadly protests sweeping the Middle East would not have happened if the Republican nominee were president.

“There’s a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney, you’d be in a different situation,” Richard Williamson, a top Romney foreign policy adviser, said in an interview. “For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated.”

Williamson added, “In Egypt and Libya and Yemen, again demonstrations — the respect for America has gone down, there’s not a sense of American resolve and we can’t even protect sovereign American property.”

The aggressive approach by Romney’s campaign thrust the issue of foreign policy to the forefront of the presidential campaign a day after the Republican candidate was widely criticized for blasting Obama while U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya were under attack.

Criticism from Republicans over their nominee’s handling of the situation overseas quieted Thursday, with influential voices in the party’s foreign policy establishment rallying to Romney’s defense. And it was Obama who faced criticism for saying that he did not consider Egypt an ally — a comment that his administration struggled to explain.

“The president can’t even keep track of who’s our ally or not. This is amateur hour — it’s amateur hour,” said Williamson, a former assistant secretary of state and ambassador. He was among those who counseled Romney to respond aggressively on Tuesday night and was offered by the campaign to speak about the candidate’s foreign policy.

Williamson was referring to Obama’s interview Wednesday night with Telemundo in which the president said that the U.S. relationship with Egypt was a “work in progress.”

“I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider them an enemy,” Obama told Telemundo. “They’re a new government that is trying to find its way.”

Administration officials tried throughout the day to parse Obama’s statement on Egypt without appearing to contradict him.

More at the link.

Charles Krauthammer: 'America in Retreat' in Middle East

Krauthammer offers a devastating critique.

From this afternoon's Fox News panel with Bret Baier, via National Review, "Krauthammer’s Take: America ‘In Retreat’ and Now ‘Irrelevant’ in Middle East."

U.S. Marines' Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) Deployed to Sudan

We'll, who else you gonna call?

This is the third FAST company the U.S. has deployed since the uprisings broke out on Tuesday.

At Fox News, "Marines en route to Sudan to secure US Embassy":

A Marine fast team is en route to Khartoum, Sundan, to help secure the U.S. Embassy, Fox News confirms.

The move follows news that Marines arrived on the ground in Yemen to deal with the aftermath of another attack on the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Sanaa. They arrived in addition to an earlier contingent dispatched to Tripoli.

Pentagon spokesman George Little told Fox News the team is in Yemen as a "precautionary measure."

The move comes amid reports that protesters jumped over U.S. Embassy walls in both Sudan and Tunisia. At least 3 people have been reported dead and another 28 have been wounded during the Tunisia attack, Reuters reports, citing state television. Reuters also reported that protesters set fire to trees and broke windows inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunis.

PREVIOUSLY: "Protesters Storm Gemany Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan."

White House Denies Islamic Protests Are Reaction to Obama's Foreign Policy

Fox News broadcast the entire return ceremony earlier at the Dover Airbase. I felt deep sadness. But I was also shocked at Hillary Clinton's comments. She said that the protests were exclusively a response to the inflammatory "Innocence of Muslims" film, and were thus not directed against U.S. policy at all, or against the American people. All those burned American flags say otherwise, not to mention all the rage we're now seeing from Cairo to Khartoum. The video has snippets from the speeches today, but see the full transcript of Secretary Clinton's comments, "Remarks at the Transfer of Remains Ceremony to Honor Those Lost in Attacks in Benghazi, Libya":

This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We’ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with. It is hard for the American people to make sense of that because it is senseless, and it is totally unacceptable.

The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob. Reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts. And we will, under the President’s leadership, keep taking steps to protect our personnel around the world.

There will be more difficult days ahead, but it is important that we don’t lose sight of the fundamental fact that America must keep leading the world. We owe it to those four men to continue the long, hard work of diplomacy. I am enormously proud of the men and women of the State Department. I’m proud of all those across our government, civilian and military alike, who represent America abroad. They help make the United States the greatest force for peace, progress, and human dignity the world has ever known. If the last few days teach us anything, let it be this: That this work and the men and women who risk their lives to do it are at the heart of what makes America great and good.

The key part is highlighted. The protests are allegedly a response to a video that "we had nothing to do with," which is a way to absolve the administration of any pent up anger at its policies, or any generalized anti-Americanism that Obama's policies have failed to assuage, despite the president's shameful Islamic appeasement, beginning with the stupid Cairo apology speech in 2009.

But even worse is White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who claims that the protests were exclusively a "reaction to a video" and "not a reaction to 9/11 or US policy." See PJ Media, "Shocking Video: WH Spox Jay Carney Says Attacks are Reaction to Film, Not US Policy, and Were Not Pre-Planned." And also the Washington Times, "White House calls report ‘absolutely false,’ was not warned about Cairo attack: Says Middle East protests are against film, not Obama’s policies."

And Alana Goodman nails it, at Commentary, "Carney: Anti-Islam Video Completely to Blame for ‘Unrest’":

Even if the video fueled the protests, how did a low-budget Youtube film that nobody had heard of before last week get dubbed into Arabic and distributed around Muslim countries? The answer is fanatical Islamist leaders who used the film to incite outrage on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

And if you believe the video was the sole drive behind the protests, then why were U.S. flags replaced with the flags of al-Qaeda? Why were terrorists groups reportedly involved in organizing the protests weeks in advance — before the film even came to light?

The Obama administration does not want to talk about terrorism, because it wants to pretend it defeated terrorism by killing Osama bin Laden. They don’t want to mention al-Qaeda, unless of course it’s in the context of a drone our military dropped on one of its leaders. But as the embassy attacks illustrate, the Islamic terror threat has not disappeared. It hasn’t been vanquished by the lofty speeches of a Nobel Peace Prize-winning president, or eradicated by his policy of covert assassinations. The fact that the White House hasn’t seemed to grasp this is what made today’s briefing so tone-deaf, and so startling.

RELATED: At the New York Times reports, "Somber Ceremony as Bodies of Slain Americans Return."

Protesters Storm Gemany Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan

The New York Daily News reports, "Sudan protesters storm German embassy, raise Islamic flag."

Don't Blame 'Innocence of Muslims' — Worldwide Islamic Protests Burn From Anti-Americanism and Global Jihad

As Caroline Glick reported yesterday, the initial attacks on the U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya "weren't about a movie." The film was pushed as a cover for Islamist protests to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Below is the screencap from earlier today, at National Journal, "A Map of Muslim Protests Around the World." And there's commentary at Memeorandum.

The mainstream press continues the fiction that the "Innocence of Muslims" film sparked for protests, at the New York Times, for example, "Anti-American Protests Over Film Expand to More Than a Dozen Countries." But see Barry Rubin's analysis from Wednesday, "Egypt Kicks Sand in Obama’s Face; Obama Gives Money, Arms, and Apologies":

Egypt tells us everything we need to know about the horror of Obama’s Middle East policy. The latest development is that a group of several Salafist and jihadist groups — including the local affiliate of al-Qaeda — announced a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy. This was explained as a protest against some obscure film made in America by a mysterious man who is a crackpot or provocateur and who has told so many lies one starts to wonder whether this was all a set-up (by Islamists? Arab Christians?) to provoke riots and antisemitism.

But note well that everyone — except the Western media — understands that holding such a demonstration at the U.S. embassy in Cairo on September 11 means supporting the September 11 attack. The Egyptian government knew the time of the demonstration and the participants — it was all publicly announced — yet Egyptian security forces did not protect the embassy. And so the demonstrators scaled the wall, entered the compound, tore up the American flag, and put up the historic revolutionary flag of Islam (the eighth century black one, not the seventh century green one) in its stead. Why didn’t Egyptian security forces stop them? It was a deliberate decision no doubt taken at the highest level.

Rather than expose the phony excuse for the demonstration and condemn the Egyptian government’s behavior, the U.S. government groveled. It issued statements in English apologizing for the fact that someone had exercised his right of free speech within its country. The tweets it sent out in Arabic were even worse, pitiful pleas of the we-are-on-your-side-against-this-terrible-Islamophobia variety. And will Egypt’s failure to protect the embassy — because it is on the side of America’s enemies — have any effect on the Obama administration’s helping the Egyptian government get two German submarines (against Israel’s efforts), taking $1 billion off Egypt’s debt, and having a nice meeting with the visiting Egyptian president (while refusing to meet Israel’s prime minister, this supposedly super-pro-Israel president)? You know the answer.

This is a policy of institutionalized cowardice unprecedented in U.S. history...

Continue reading.

Expect updates...

Arab World Descends Into Further Chaos

Via Theo Spark:

'Innocence of Muslims' on Vimeo

YouTube pulled the so-called inflammatory anti-Muslim film from Egypt and Libya, and the White House is looking to have Google ban the film from YouTube altogether. See Michelle Malkin, "White House speech censors and the return of DhimmiTube." Added: From Alana Goodman, at Commentary, "WH Asks YouTube to Pull Anti-Islam Video."

But here's a copy at Vimeo for posterity:

And check the Los Angeles Times, "Charity, Ex-Con Linked to Islam Film."

Kate Middleton Topless!

At London's Daily Mail, "Photographs of Kate Middleton topless is a blatant invasion of privacy. But the French will see it differently..."

And at Independent UK, "Royals launch legal action after topless Kate Middleton photographs in French Closer magazine."

And Egotastic's server is getting slammed, but the photos loaded after a couple of tries: "Kate Middleton Topless in Closer Magazine! Somebody Snapped My Future Baby Mama Topless!"

And don't forget, Robert Stacy McCain's the inspiration for these gratuitous traffic slumming entries, "Ye Merry Olde Upskirt Traffic."

Added: At Scallywag and Vagabond, "NSFW: Kate Middleton naked nude pictures published. What now?"

More: At Evil Blogger Lady, "Kate Middleton topless photos? French magazine Closer publishes them. Rule 5 Britannia! Update: Reports of outraged Brits storming French embassy in protest!"

Still More: Robert Stacy McCain hops on board, "The Royal Pair: Why Are You Googling for ‘Kate Middleton Topless,’ You Sick Freaks?"