I nearly drove into a tree when I heard liberal commentators on the
radio blaming a crude anti-Islamic video for the widespread outbreak of
violent street protests by angry Muslims. “We have to remember that
speech has consequences,” one of them warned. The protests spread to
more than a dozen countries, including Somalia, India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and even downtown Sydney in Australia, where a young child
held up a sign that said, “Behead all those who insult the Prophet.”
But I was stunned when the U.S. administration blamed the video, too. “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,” explained Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, on a Sunday talk show. The line was that the protests were directed against the video, not the U.S. – which might come as a surprise to the folks who were burning American flags and chanting, “Obama, Obama, we love Osama.”
Well, I guess blaming the video is easier than facing the facts. Back in 2009, President Barack Obama went to Cairo and promised to reset the U.S. relationship with the Arab world. Unlike his predecessor, he sympathized with Muslim aspirations. Muslims were anti-American because of bad American policies, and he would fix that.
Things didn’t quite work out as planned. Back then, 70 per cent of Egyptians had an unfavourable opinion of the U.S. Today, 79 per cent do.
Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/its-too-easy-to-lay-all-the-blame-on-a-crude-video/article4550236/
But I was stunned when the U.S. administration blamed the video, too. “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,” explained Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, on a Sunday talk show. The line was that the protests were directed against the video, not the U.S. – which might come as a surprise to the folks who were burning American flags and chanting, “Obama, Obama, we love Osama.”
Well, I guess blaming the video is easier than facing the facts. Back in 2009, President Barack Obama went to Cairo and promised to reset the U.S. relationship with the Arab world. Unlike his predecessor, he sympathized with Muslim aspirations. Muslims were anti-American because of bad American policies, and he would fix that.
Things didn’t quite work out as planned. Back then, 70 per cent of Egyptians had an unfavourable opinion of the U.S. Today, 79 per cent do.
Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/its-too-easy-to-lay-all-the-blame-on-a-crude-video/article4550236/
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