Inside the Public Relations Disaster at the Cairo Embassy

The Cable - Foreign Policy ^ | Wednesday, September 12, 2012 | Josh Rogin

[kristinn]

One staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was responsible for the statement and tweets Tuesday that have become grist for the presidential campaign, and that staffer ignored explicit State Department instructions not to issue the statement, one U.S. official close to the issue told The Cable.

Two additional administration officials confirmed the details of this account when contacted late Wednesday by The Cable.

The statement, issued as a press release on the U.S. Embassy website, has been attacked by Republican challenger Mitt Romney, lawmakers, and conservatives around the country as an inappropriate "apology" and a failure to stand up for American principles such as freedom of speech.

The White House distanced itself from the statement Tuesday, and Romney criticized it directly in his initial reaction to the attacks in Egypt and Libya shortly thereafter, accusing President Barack Obama of evicing sympathy for the attackers.

On Wednesday, Romney doubled down on that criticism, saying, "I think it's a terrible course for America to apologize for our values."

President Obama commented on the controversy in an interview to be aired Wednesday evening on 60 Minutes.

"In an effort to cool the situation down, it didn't come from me, it didn't come from Secretary Clinton. It came from people on the ground who are potentially in danger," Obama said. "And my tendency is to cut folks a little bit of slack when they're in that circumstance, rather than try to question their judgment from the comfort of a campaign office."

But Obama's remarks belie the enormous frustration of top officials at the State Department and White House with the actions of the man behind the statement, Cairo senior public affairs officer Larry Schwartz, who wrote the release and oversees the embassy's Twitter feed, according to a detailed account of the Tuesday's events.

[p. henry]

The good news is that this time it is not W’s fault. This time it is the fault of one Larry Schwartz. If I had a dollar for every buck passed by Obama, I could retire. Two questions: why did Larry think it was a good idea to go with the apology, i.e. who created the policy of apology; and why did both Clinton and Obama include references to not ruffling Muslim feathers in their statements. The answer to both questions is that Larry, Hillary and Obama were all adhering to a policy established at the very top of our government.

[kabar]

I think Obama coming to the defense of the Public Affairs Officer in Cairo and the supposed unhappiness in Washington with the language is a fabrication leaked to the MSM. They are using the PAO as the fall guy to protect Hillary and maybe others. Nothing will happen to the PAO.

[TigersEye]

My suspicion is that none of this was an accident, a mistake or unplanned at all.

Your instincts about Anne Patterson were right on the money. I'm glad she wasn't the one who got thrown under the bus. Something tells me 0bastard and Hillbilly knew better than to try that.

[Unam Sanctam]

“If that apology statement was so objectionable, why did both Obama and Hillary pick up that same theme?”

They didn’t object to the criticism of free speech, they just wanted to balance it with a condemnation of the attackers’ violence.

[Godwin1]

The statement was cleared by the Charge D’Affaires. In the absence of the ambassador, the Charge is the secretary of state's and the president's senior representative in country. O is trying to throw these career guys under the bus. But they were scared. And the impulse to apologize for America has been a hallmark of Obama foreign policy since before his inauguration. They can be forgiven for believing they were following established US policy under this president. It is unmanly for O to distance himself from these subordinates, even as they remain in harm's way amongst the ape-like goons of the Muslim Brotherhood. This isn't over.

[TigersEye]

My bet is that Hillary scripted everything Larry said.

[M-cubed]

It came from people on the ground who are potentially in danger,” Obama said. “And my tendency is to cut folks a little bit of slack when they're in that circumstance, rather than try to question their judgment from the comfort of a campaign office.” <<

I was gonna answer...but I cant!...the Onion couldn't make that statement believable

[TigersEye]

"...the comfort of a campaign office.”