U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, the Austin Republican who’s a member of the House committees on foreign affairs and homeland security, released this statement this morning about Tuesday’s breach of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans:
The Arab spring has turned into an Arab winter. The attacks on America’s embassy and consulate and the assassination of our ambassador to Libya and his staff are acts of aggression against the United States that should be condemned in the strongest terms. The manner in which these events occurred is a disgrace to the American people, as was this administration’s apologetic response that fails to defend our nation’s liberties abroad. This serves as a reminder that while we have made progress in the war on terror, Americans remain in the cross hairs of terrorist regimes and others who prefer aggression over tolerance.
McCaul’s statement neglects to mention Stevens by name or include a line of condolence. In calling “this administration’s apologetic response” to Tuesday’s violence “a disgrace,” McCaul is following the lead of Mitt Romney, who last night said it was “disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”
This is nonsense — disgraceful itself — and is based on a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo trying to calm tensions generated by a YouTube clip of an anti-Islam film called “The Innocence of Muslims,” and released before protesters breached the embassy’s walls. Further, the statement, critical of “continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims,” was released before the attacks in Libya. Here’s a timeline on what was issued when, courtesy of The Atlantic.
The embassy in Cairo condemned the breach of its compound and Obama has condemned the attack in Libya. This morning, Obama dispatched Marines to Libya and heightened security at other embassies. No one should be surprised if we hear in the next few weeks that a drone strike has taken out Libyan militants believed to be responsible for the attack on the consulate. What Romney’s response would be if he were president is unknown; he has offered no clues other than to clumsily pounce on Obama in an attempt to exploit Stevens’ death for political gain.
McCaul ends his statement with a reference to the continuing threat posed by “terrorist regimes and others who prefer aggression over tolerance.” Egypt and Libya are in transitional phases after decades of authoritarian rule. Where their transitions will take them is anyone’s guess, but neither is currently listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States. The U.S. has never listed Egypt as a “terrorist regime,” to use McCaul’s phrase, and the Bush administration removed Libya from the terrorism list in 2006.
As for those “others who prefer aggression over tolerance,” it bewilders my Western point of view that some Muslims — whether radical, whipped into a frenzy by extremist clerics, insecure in their own religion, or for whatever reason — react violently to books, movies and cartoons that ridicule, satirize, criticize or otherwise explore Islam. At the same time, McCaul fails to recognize that it was an act of aggressive intolerance by the makers of “The Innocence of Muslims” — the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater — that led to Tuesday’s violence. No one should apologize for acknowledging as much — rights have responsibilities, after all — or for criticizing an act of provocation for the violence it provokes.