The Embassy's Apology For Our Tradition Of Free Speech--An Administration In Complete Disarray

So--the rabble decides to attack the US Embassy in Cairo over some indy film-maker's obscure film critical of the prophet Muhammed, and the Embassy girds up its loins in response to the outrage...and issues an apology....from which the White House (which undoubtedly had earlier blessed the statement) begins back-pedaling furiously away.

This administration is in complete, hopeless disarray. This is Jimmy Carter helping to depose the Shah only to have the US Embassy held hostage by Muslim nut-jobs all over again.  OS is old enough to remember this debacle clearly. It was completely humiliating, and completely needless. That self-righteous old fart never has explained himself, continues to pontificate from Atlanta, and the press continues to lap up every word of his nonsense.

So, here we go again...

From Politico:

The Obama administration is disavowing a statement from its own Cairo embassy that apologized for anti-Muslim activity in the United States.

"The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government," an administration official told POLITICO.

The U.S. embassy in Cairo put out a statement early Tuesday that apologized for an anti-Muslim film being circulated by an Israeli-American real estate developer.

"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions," the embassy said in a statement published online. According to the Wall Street Journal, the film depicts the Muslim prophet Muhammed as a "womanizer, pedophile and fraud" — a depiction bound to offend many Muslims.

The embassy came under widespread criticism for failing to defend free speech in the face of threats of violence. Egyptian protesters rioted anyway, breaching the embassy walls and tearing down the American flag.

"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.  The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.  Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.  But let me be clear:  There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a Tuesday statement.

The Romney campaign accused the Obama administration of sympathizing with the protests in a statement released after the administration statement. “I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi.  It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks,” Romney said.