Sept 24, 2012:
The Video Didn't Do It "It was bad enough, two years ago, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates called fringe Florida pastor Terry Jones to ask him not to burn copies of the Koran, or last week, that chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey took his turn to call Jones to ask him to stop publicizing a YouTube video, The Innocence of Muslims. But then on Friday, White House spokesman Jay Carney told the world that the violent protests in Cairo and Benghazi and elsewhere were a response not to United States policy, and not obviously the administration or the American people, but were in response to a video, a film we have judged to be reprehensible and disgusting. Carney repeated the point for emphasis: This is not a case of protests directed at the United States at large or at U.S. policy, but in response to a video that is offensive to Muslims.
Carneys comments lie outside the range of plausible spin, even by Obama administration standards, and if his bosses believe themas we fear they doare simply delusional. But they are not without consequence. Nor are Gatess and Dempseys phone calls. They all send the message to Americas enemies that if you kill our diplomats and lay siege to the our embassies, the first move the American government will make is to denounce . . . Americans. Our leaders apparently believe that the way to protect Americans from extremists and terrorists abroad is to tell other Americans to shut up.
Whats next? Where does it go from here?................."