Does Obama Believe Free Speech Is To Blame For Middle Eastern Violence?
“Protesters held placards and shouted slogans against the United States government,” reports the New York Times about anti-American protests in Pakistan which required the military there to protect the consulate. “One placard read, ‘O Obama, we are all Osama.’ Another placard read, ‘Blasphemy is not freedom of expression, and its sentence is death.’”
One person was killed and dozens of people were injured when anti-American protesters tried to storm the American Consulate in the southern port city of Karachi and clashed for several hours with the police and paramilitary troops on Sunday evening, rescue workers and police officials said.
The outbreak of violence came after days of peaceful demonstrations in Pakistan against the release of a video mocking the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistani officials had increased security in all major cities before Friday Prayer services, which have in the past served as flash points for protests, and until Sunday, calm had prevailed. The American Embassy here said in a message posted Sunday evening on Twitter that “all American personnel are safe and accounted for at U.S. Consulate, Karachi.”
It’s good that everyone is safe. For now. This time.
Meanwhile, the reaction from the Obama administration seems more aimed at silencing American free speech than doing what can be done to stop these attacks on US diplomatic missions. Obama’s Department of Justice has leaked the identity of the filmmaker behind Muhammed: Legacy of a Prophet which the Islamists are using as justification for their murderous violence.
Then, during his weekend address, President Obama told the nation not to denigrate any religion. Which is odd coming from a Democrat like Obama whose party hasn’t been shy about denigrating Mormonism, the religion of his political opponent Mitt Romney.
But what’s clear, from Obama’s response to this violence, is that he believes America and its right to free speech is to blame. And that’s a scary, scary thing in a national leader.
