U.S. Diplomatic Mission Attacks in Benghazi and the Aftermath
On the day of the 11th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, another attack unfolded--this time, on foreign soil, but still very much hitting close to home. Four U.S. citizens--the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens; a Foreign Service information management officer, and two other U.S. personnel--died when members of the radical Islamist group called Ansar al-Sharia, one of many extremist Salafi groups, clashed with security forces in Benghazi after protesting near the U.S. consulate. It has been debated what has provoked this violence, but it was initially believed that it was due to an online film considered offensive to Islam. Earlier on in the day, in Cairo, there were protests being executed in response to the mentioned video, but whether or not those protests were related to the Benghazi attacks remained unclear in the few days following. The inflammatory video on Islam in question, titled, “Innocence of Muslims,” is a 14-minute long film production that mocks Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. It was uploaded to the video site YouTube in July, 2012, but didn’t gain attention in the Muslim world until its broadcast on an Egyptian Islamist television station until early September. Only days after its broadcast, protests broke out in several cities throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world, including Cairo and some Western countries. Not only were there marches and shouting of anti-U.S. slogans, there was also the burning of U.S. and Israeli flags as well as the burning of some buildings generally associated with the U.S. Islam strictly prohibits any depictions of the prophet Muhammad, unlike in Christianity, where Jesus is often depicted through paintings and sculptures, which Christians tend to worship. While some Islamic leaders praised reaction to the film, and called for further protesting and burning of U.S.-associated objects, such as flags, others Middle Eastern leaders, such as Iranian
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