Washington Tries to Establish Right Tone Regarding Protests

Boundary walls stormed by angry crowds, burned flags, controversial sermons and demonstrations-turned-riots: The unstoppable chain of events continues for the U.S. and its world-wide diplomatic missions, six days after the attack on Benghazi’s American consulate. Caught short by the speed with which this “Americaphobia” spreads, Washington appears to still be looking for a solution. First of all, emergency military reinforcements were called in to protect the American consulates and embassies with the greatest exposure in the Arab-Muslim world. The “non-essential” personnel of these organizations are currently being evacuated as far away as Tunisia and Sudan, these being the last countries to be hit by the shock wave.

These conservative measures don’t conceal the Obama administration’s distress very well, at a time when they face the bad feeling which has spread across the world, and which is evidently unwelcome two months before high-tension presidential election.

Stuck between electoral and security imperatives, the message of calm destined for the Arabic population is muddled, if not completely lost. This is primarily due to the 13-minute long Islamophobic video “Innocence of Muslims,” which is at the root of the violence in the Middle-East, and still online on the sharing site YouTube. “There is no law which forbids hate speech in America,” however distressing it may be, said Leslie Harris, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, when commenting on YouTube’s (and therefore Google’s) decision the keep the video online in spite of the uproar.* Such a law in America would allow this type of video to be banned. India and Indonesia, however, have ordered Google to block it in their countries.

Insulting the Prophet

Leaning on the sacred term of “free speech,” as written in the first amendment of the Constitution, the Republicans and Democrats on their campaign trails have, until now, been careful not to take disciplinary measures against the authors of the indigestible and scathing attack. President Barack Obama has, indeed, denounced their actions, but has also reminded us of the respect accorded to religious freedom in the United States, that too being a principle law engraved in the marble of the 1787 constitution, and that the key priority — the hunt for the Benghazi aggressors — will be concluded.

To make things worse, 55-year-old Californian Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the incriminating film’s director, has been set free by police after a brief 30-minute interrogation and without further charges. The penal service department is, however, seeking to establish whether Nakoula has violated the parole conditions following his sentence in 2010 to 21 months in prison and five years of probation for fraud.

This pusillanimity can only fuel the anger felt by Muslims world-wide, immune to the founding subtleties of American democracy and outraged because they see it as an insult to their prophet and Islam. Al-Qaida rejoiced at Ambassador Chris Stevens’ death this weekend.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.