IT WAS THE MOVIE TRAILER AFTER ALL

Well here we are on September 12.  What did Al Qaeda do yesterday to celebrate the 9/11/2001 attack on the U.S.?  The only thing I heard was there was a bomb set off on the streets of Benghazi.  Where were the hoards of inflamed Muslims attacking U.S. embassies and consulates, skyscrapers and famous bridges in our home land, sporting events, or attacking some weak foreign government?  I didn't hear of anything - nothing, nothing.

So now we know.  The attack on Benghazi on September 12, 2012* was promoted by the inflammatory video "Innocence of Muslims" after all.  After all last year "... eight other diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe were subject to protests and violent attacks in response to an inflammatory video..." This year there have been no inflammatory actions against Muslims so, surprise, no attacks.  Oh, I'm sure that there are those that wanted to attack the consulate in Benghazi as they had done once before and blew a hole in the wall.  But it took the video to inflame enough people in Libya to mount the big attack that the organizers hoped for.  This year they couldn't do it again, not in Libya, not anywhere.  Even last year, they couldn't get it up to attack our embassy in Tripoli** and could only mass an attack on a small outpost.  If that is the worst Al Qaeda can do, they are pretty weak.

What happened in Benghazi last year was really a minor event except that now in this country everything is on the political table and the damage in Benghazi was magnified for political purposes, but as attacks by Muslims radicals have been, Benghazi was a minor event, only unusual because an ambassador was killed.  At that more than 30 people survived the attack.  It is kind of humorous that there are still those politicians stuck in a time warp and can only talk about Benghazi even when the subject is Syria. Hey, fellas, the public has moved on.

A Quick Summary Of  Attacks On Diplomatic Missions***  Since the embassy burning in Tripoli in 1979, in 1983 our embassies in Beirut, Lebanon, (63 killed) and Kuwait City, Kuwait, (6 killed) were bombed when Reagan was president along with the Marine Barracks bombing (241 American deaths) plus attacks on U.S. Embassies in Jakarta (1986) and Rome (1987) by the "Red Army" and a failed attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv (1990).  In 1998, U.S. Embassy's in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed in which hundreds died when Clinton was president.  George W. Bush had seven attacks on U,.S. facilities including the 2002 attack on the U.S. Center in Kolkata, India, (5 killed) and the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan (12 dead), 2004 the embassy bombing in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2 killed), Jeddah Consulate bombing (6 killed), 2006 embassy attack in Damascus,Syria (1 killed), 2007 attack on the embassy in Athens, Greece, (no deaths), 2008 attacks on the consulate in Ankara, Turkey, (3 deaths), and on the U.S. embassy in Yemen (16 dead).  Under President Obama, our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked (4 killed) along with 8 other facilities and our embassy in Ankara, Turkey, was bombed in 2013 (1 killed).

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Benghazi_attack

** Our embassy in Tripoli was burned in 1979 when Carter was president, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_U.S._Embassy_Burning_in_Libya

*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_on_diplomatic_missions