In the days and weeks after the September 11th attack on the US “Special Mission” in Benghazi, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and a host of administration officials scolded the American people for a lack of “religious tolerance” and demonized a Z-movie “filmmaker” for a youtube video depicting Mohammed. Although multiple reports and statements by Congressmen have challenged that theory, Secretary Clinton’s Accountability Review Board (ARB) seems to be the final word that the youtube video was in no way a contributing factor in the attack.
The President on the day after the attack said, “We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.” Hillary Clinton said, “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.”
The President was far less evasive in his speech to the UN only a few days later:
That is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity.
It is an insult not only to Muslims, but to America as well — for as the city outside these walls makes clear, we are a country that has welcomed people of every race and every faith. We are home to Muslims who worship across our country. We not only respect the freedom of religion, we have laws that protect individuals from being harmed because of how they look or what they believe. We understand why people take offense to this video because millions of our citizens are among them.
But the ARB report never mentions youtube or an inflammatory video. In the report’s explanation of the “political and security context” prior to the attack, the report never mentions the video or any protests (reported in Egypt) which were allegedly sparked by the video hours earlier. In light of this significant omission, it will be informative to see if the President, Secretary Clinton, or any other administration official recants or apologizes for falsely placing blame on the scapegoated “filmmaker” for inspiring the attack that left four American citizens dead.
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