Darn Derna

The right appears to be trying to cover up for the treasonous, treacherous acts of their fringies again, in this case the ones who made and tried to agitate with the youtube trash Innocence of Muslims.

From NBC.com
* Afghanistan: "Afghan police killed four American soldiers coming to their aid after a checkpoint attack Sunday, the third assault by government forces or insurgents disguised in military uniforms in as many days."
* Unrest that began in the Middle East and North Africa has now spread to 20 countries.
* This includes Hezbollah: "The head of Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah on Sunday called for nationwide protests over a film about the Prophet Muhammad, saying that the United States must be held accountable for creating strife between Muslims and Christians."

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Then we have more reality denials from the right, who casually ignore facts and objective reality when it is more convenient to them than adjusting their ideology to reality. The Obama administration did not apologize for our nation; they did not sympathize with radical Muslim extremists either, when an embassy staffer in Egypt affirmed the same thing Bush did in the previous administration, that we support freedom of religion -- that pesky 1st Amendment language, the dignity and freedom of religion which is compromised and eroded by violence and hatred and intolerance for religions to practice freely.

CNN caught the right wing nuts in one of their many dishonest representations of that stance, first asserted by Romney when he claimed the statement made by the embassy before any attack or any protest was 'sympathizing with the enemy' AFTER the attack.



It wasn't, but the fact that it was a statement of U.S. principles and values, a bi-partisan position that predates administrations in the 21st century,  It appears to be another of those dog whistle statements. aimed at ginning up the disinformation that the President is Muslim (possibly a secret Muslim) that is one of the more rampant delusions on the right - one the right are GROWING, not diminishing.

In the famous observation of patriot General and former Sec. State. Colin Powell - Obama is not a Muslim, but if he were - so what?

The right has a segment of their base that promotes the factually inaccurate idea that we are a Christian nation, that we have some sort of state religion but where we don't have a preference for one denomination over another.  This is a dog whistle designed to promote that badly mistaken idea held by the religious right.

So it seems a good time to point out the language of the U.S. Constitution, which the right claims to love but spits on with these notions of our country having a state religion:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Nowhere does it specify Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of Christianity; it says religion, a much more general and inclusive term.  Clearly founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson were well aware of other religions and treated them with respect, not as inferior or second class faiths.

That they never intended us to discriminate in electing someone to office on the basis of religion - including being Muslim if that were their faith, is clear in the original constitutional language, Article VI, paragraph 3, that preceded the clarification of the Bill of Rights.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

So clearly Romney, and now his surrogates as the GOP and Tea Partiers fall in line behind lies (oh those family values guys, apparently lies are a family value?) trying to save the ass of Romney after he made yet another gaffe and told another lie about Obama in this crisis, and the middle east generally.

Then we have the right wing nuts denying that there was a terrorist problem in the area surrounding Benghazi, when in fact Ambassador Stephens had himself identified that problem prior to becoming ambassador to Libya.  This was noted more recently in a Guardian article back in May 2011:

Even more damaging were the revelations that emerged after coalition forces, operating near the Syrian border with Iraq in 2007, recovered records of about 600 foreign fighters who had entered Iraq the previous year.
Analysis of the information by the Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point in the US found that of the 440 fighters whose hometowns were listed in the data, 52 were from Derna – the highest of any town or city listed.
On a per capita basis the statistic was even more remarkable. Derna's population is around 100,000, while the Saudi capital, Riyadh – which provided 51 fighters – is home to several million people.
In addition the Libyans appeared to have been especially fervent, with 85% of them listing their desired "work" as being a suicide bomber.
Residents openly acknowledge that scores of young men from Derna fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that some of those who returned are now helping the rebel cause.
"People here saw what was happening in Palestine and how America was supporting repressive regimes. So when they saw US in Iraq, a Muslim country, some people felt it was a reason for jihad," said Mohamed El-Mesori, a lecturer in power mechanics who heads the executive arm of Derna's council, which is dominated by secular figures.

So while the majority in Libya are in solidarity with the U.S., between the Bush wars and the U.S. support for a string of brutal puppet dictators in the region, including Libya, at least a faction of the citizens of Derna - a city very close to Benghazi - are anti-U.S., and align with terrorist factions, despite the U.S. help in ridding Libya of Quadaffi, and supporting the Arab spring movement in other countries that ousted dictators.

The Libyan claims that the attacks - plural - on foreign targets in Benghazi, such as our consulate and the Red Cross, are by terrorists is pretty reasonable, given this CNN article back in mid May 2012, approximately a year after the Guardian article:

Growing concern over jihadist ‘safe haven’ in eastern Libya

By Nic Robertson, Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, CNN

Diplomats and other observers in Libya say that with elections one month away, the National Transitional Council is struggling to exert control over various militia prominent in the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi. The situation is further complicated by tribal rivalries and a growing presence of Islamist militants in some areas.
One source briefed by Western intelligence officials says of particular concern is the city of Derna on the Mediterranean coast some 160 miles (300 kilometers) west of the Egyptian border. The source tells CNN that hundreds of Islamist militants are present in and around the town, and there are camps where weapons and physical training are provided to militants. He said one official had described the area as "a disaster zone."
Tensions have grown between local people and the militants. Last month, a number of Derna residents went to a camp on the outskirts of the city, according to the source, and forced militants to leave.
There have been a number of car bomb explosions in Derna in recent months, apparently as rival Islamist factions compete for supremacy in the area. One is said to have targeted Abdel Hakim al Hasadi, a former member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) who spent time in Afghanistan in the 1990s. He told reporters last year he had been handed over to the Americans and sent back to Libya, where he was jailed for six years. The LIFG formally repudiated al Qaeda in 2009 and disbanded shortly afterwards.
The source said that groups sympathetic to al Qaeda as well as former members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had converged on Derna – and the presence of one man was especially worrying: senior al Qaeda operative Abdul Basit Azuz. He had been sent to the area last spring by al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and now had some 300 men under his command. Azuz is operating at least one training facility and has sent some of his men to establish contact with other militant Islamist groups as far west as Brega, the source said.
Al-Zawahiri’s plan was for him to establish a "home base for al Qaeda" in Libya, the source said.
A senior counter-terrorism official told CNN that western intelligence is aware of Azuz’s presence, his recruitment and training of fighters, and believes his redeployment to Libya had the backing of al-Zawahiri.

So when the right claims the Libyans are lying, either they are once again ill informed, cherry picking the facts they accept, or acknowledge, or even risk exposing their minds to; OR, they actively are denying reality, and rejecting the obvious evidence.

We had security for our consulate, including the navy seals who died.  Libya provided additional security which fought bravely to defend our people; ten of them died, and additional civilians joined the effort, including those who took the ambassador to the hospital to try to save his life.

Thousands upon thousands of Libyans turned out after this incident, to show their support and appreciation to the U.S. -- that was the result of Obama's policies, a tremendous improvement to the Bush era ignorance and folly.

It is one more example of the right being willing to jeopardize the safety and success of the nation in order to attack our president.  In the case of Romney, he has failed to conduct himself in a properly presidential manner by putting the nation first ahead of his political d; in the case of his surrogates, they and Romney have demonstrated the kind of disloyalty that is unAmericane by attempting to lie and be more divisive during an attack on our country.

Mabye Michele Bachmann would like to have them all investigated?