This morning I was up and about in my house in the early hours as I often am, passing my interest between the morning newspaper that flopped onto my driveway about 4am, one of the half dozen books that are laying around vying for my attention, and the cable news stations that suddenly turned from fluff to substance.The American ambassador to Libya and three members of the diplomatic staff had been killed in a brutal attack that appeared to be targeted and likely timed to coincide with memorialization of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Within hours the name and sterling reputation of the ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, was being transmitted around the world. Suddenly everything changed in a flash, something we see all too often these days. If you like stability you're living in the wrong century.
I am writing this just a few hours after the attack. I know nothing for sure. Some say it was stimulated by a video posted on the internet and deemed derogatory of the Prophet Muhammed, and thereby offensive to Muslims around the world. If so, it is a conflict between religion and free speech, a volatile crucible in the incendiary climate of the Middle East, not to mention the United States.
I don't pretend to have credentials to comment with any veracity on the religious and cultural issues of this sad and fearful day. In our country we look to those who have experience and knowledge to understand it, explain it, and then deal with it.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her role as the country's top diplomat, stepped forth within a few hours and gave an elegant and nuanced statement, mourning the dead, speaking thoughtfully to the sensitive issues, and standing firm against those who perpetrate such horrible deeds in the name of faith or country or mindless ideals.
But then cometh Mitt Romney. First, he fired an initial salvo in the middle of the night, launched before the deaths had been reported, laying the violent demonstrations in Syria, Egypt and Libya at the feet of President Obama's "failed foreign policy." He then held a news conference basically restating his initial bellicose inaccuracies. He ridiculed any effort on the part of the administration to understand or explain the complex issues of faith and freedom.I thought we had an understanding in this country that political disagreements were set aside when issues of national security were on the line. Mr. Romney seeks to become leader of the free world. After bungling his Olympics tour by insulting our allies he now puts on galoshes and stumbles his way through the tulips, showing no sense of timing or reflection. It is shameful.
Mr. Romney asks Americans to respect his Mormon faith, something many people find odd, embarrassing, and antiquarian. I completely support his request as fair and consistent with American values. Now it is time for this man to show that he can honor in others what he asks for himself.
I really agree with your assessment, Grant. Romney has stepped over the line...again.
ReplyDeleteDear Grant,
ReplyDeleteI am enclosing Romney's statement so you can get a clearer look at what really happened. He was responding to the attack in Egypt at the time he made the comment and was not privy to the Libian attack. He was also responding to the administration's quick response to condemn a film (which was in very poor taste) and at the same time, not condemn the attack on our embassy. I see over and over so many people who are quick to attack those who they see as their opposition for the same things they, themselves, are guilty of. (Sounds like the the splinter in the eye story.) It appears that you have such disdain toward conservatives that you are incapable of looking at a situation objectively. You make weighted accusations toward those you see as inferrior to yourself and pat the backs of those whom you worship, for in your eyes, they can do no harm.
My question to you is this: Do you really believe that our administration was right to condemn the one and give a pass on the other? Later we find that it really wasn't even the film that caused the attack, but it was a planned, premeditated plot to wreak havoc and murder on 9/11. The administration tried to make the whole thing about a film that the Arab people didn't even see. Now, all but the president has acknowledged the truth of this being a premeditated 9/11 inside attack. The responsibility of the White House to provide extra security on 9/11 when there were previous warnings made days prior to 9/11 that something like this would happen is never mentioned on your blog. Here is question #2. Is it your hatred, Grant, that has blinded your vision to be so one sided?
Transcript of Romney's comment will follow:
ROMNEY: Good morning. Americans woke up this morning with -- with tragic news and felt heavy hearts as they considered that individuals who have served in our diplomatic corps were brutally murdered across the world.
ReplyDeleteThis attack on American individuals and embassies is outrageous, it’s disgusting, it -- it breaks the hearts of all of us who think of these people who have served during their lives the cause of freedom and justice and honor.
We -- we mourn their loss and join together in prayer that the spirit of the Almighty might comfort the families of those who have been so brutally slain.
Four diplomats lost their life, including the U.S. ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, in the attack on our embassy at Benghazi, Libya. And of course with these words I extend my condolences to the grieving loved ones who have left behind, as a result of these who have lost their lives in the service of our nation.
And I know that the people across America are grateful for their service. And we mourn their sacrifice.
America will not tolerate attacks against our citizens and against our embassies. We’ll defend also our constitutional rights of speech and assembly and religion.
We have confidence in our cause in America. We respect our Constitution. We stand for the principles our Constitution protects. We encourage other nations to understand and respect the principles of our Constitution, because we recognize that these principles are the ultimate source of freedom for individuals around the world.
I also believe the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt, instead of condemning their actions. It’s never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values.
The White House distanced itself last night from the statement, saying it wasn’t cleared by Washington. That reflects the mixed signals they’re sending to the world.
The attacks in Libya and Egypt underscore that the world remains a dangerous place and that American leadership is still sorely needed. In the face of this violence, American cannot shrink from the responsibility to lead. American leadership is necessary to ensure that events in the region don’t spin out of control. We cannot hesitate to use our influence in the region to support those who share our values and our interests.
Over the last several years, we’ve stood witness to an Arab spring that presents an opportunity for a more peaceful and prosperous, but also poses the potential for peril if the forces of extremism and violence are allowed to control the course of events. We must strive to ensure that the Arab spring does not become an Arab winter. With that, I’m happy to take any questions you may have.
Steve?
ReplyDeleteQUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
ROMNEY: I -- the embassy in Cairo put out a statement after their grounds had been breached. Protesters were inside the grounds. They reiterated that statement after the breach.
ROMNEY: I think it’s a -- a -- a terrible course to -- for America to -- to stand in apology for our values. That instead, when our grounds are being attacked and being breached, that the first response of the United States must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our nation.
An apology for America’s values is never the right course.
U.S. and Libyan officials have confirmed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three senior security officials were killed Tuesday night. They were trying to evacuate the consulate in Benghazi, when they were attacked by angry protesters.
QUESTION: Governor Romney, do you think, though, coming so soon after the event really has unfolded overnight was appropriate, to be weighing in on this as this crisis is unfolding in real time?
ROMNEY: The White House also issued a statement saying it tried to distance itself from those comments and said they were not reflective of their views. I had the exact same reaction. These views were inappropriate. They were the wrong course to take when our embassy has been breached by protesters. The first response should not be to say, “Yes, we stand by our comments that -- that suggest that there’s something wrong with the right of free speech.”
QUESTION: So what did the White House do wrong, then, Governor Romney, if (inaudible) put out a statement saying (inaudible).
ROMNEY: It’s their administration. Their administration spoke. The president takes responsibility not just for the words that come from his mouth, but also from the words that come from his ambassadors from his administration, from his embassies, from his State Department.
They clearly -- they clearly sent mixed messages to the world and the statement that came from the administration and the embassy is the administration. The statement that came from the administration was -- was a statement which is akin to apology and I think was a -- a severe miscalculation.
QUESTION: Governor, some are...
ReplyDelete(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (inaudible) talk about mixed signals, (inaudible) mixed signal when you criticize the administration (inaudible).
ROMNEY: We are having -- we have a campaign for presidency of the United States that are speaking about the different courses we would each take with regards to the challenges that the world faces. The president and I, for instance, have differences of opinion with regards to Israel and our policies there; with regards to Iran; with regards to Afghanistan; with regards to Syria.
We have many places of distinction and differences. We join together in the condemnation of the attacks on American embassies and the loss of American life, and join in the sympathy for these people. But it’s also important for me, just as it was for the White House last night, by the way, to say that the statements were inappropriate, and in my -- in my view, a -- a disgraceful statement on the part of our administration to apologize for American values.
QUESTION: Governor, some people have said that you jumped the gun a little in putting that statement out last night, and that you should have waited until more details were available. Do you regret having that statement come out so early before we learned about all the things that were happening?
ROMNEY: I don’t think we -- we ever hesitate when we see something which is a violation of our principles. We express immediately when we feel that the president and his administration have done something which is inconsistent with the principles of America. Simply put, having an embassy which is -- has been breached and has protesters on its grounds, having violated the sovereignty of the United States, having that embassy reiterate a statement effectively apologizing for the right of free speech is not the right course for an administration.
(CROSSTALK)
ReplyDeleteQUESTION: Governor Romney, if you had known -- if you had known last night that the ambassador had died, and obviously I’m gathering you did not know...
ROMNEY: Well, that came -- that came later.
QUESTION: ... right. If you had known that the ambassador had died, would you have issued...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: I’m not -- I’m not going to take hypotheticals about what would have been known what and so forth. I -- we responded last night to the events that happened in Egypt.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (inaudible)
ROMNEY: I think President Obama has -- has demonstrated a -- a lack of clarity as to a foreign policy. My foreign policy has three fundamental branches.
ROMNEY: First, confidence in our cause, a recognition that the principles America was based upon are something we shrink from or apologize for; that we stand for that principles.
The second is clarity in our purpose, which is that when we have a foreign policy objective, we describe it honestly and clearly to the American people, to Congress and to the people of the world.
And number three, is resolve in our might: that in those rare circumstances -- those rare circumstances where we decide it’s essential for us to apply military might, that we do so with overwhelming force, that we do so in the clarity of a mission, understanding the nature of the U.S. interest involved, understanding when the mission will be complete, what will be left when it is -- what will be left behind us when that mission has -- has been -- has been terminated.
These elements I believe are essential to our foreign policy and I haven’t seen them from the president.
As I’ve watched -- as I’ve watched over the past three and a half years, the president has had some successes. He’s had some failures. It’s a hit-or-miss approach, but it has not been based upon sound foreign policy.
QUESTION: How specifically, Governor Romney, would President Romney have handled this situation differently than President Obama? You (ph) spoke out before midnight when all the facts were known. How would you have handled this differently than the president did?
ROMNEY: I spoke out when the key fact that I referred to was known, which was that the Embassy of the United States issued what appeared to be an apology for American principles. That was a mistake. And I believe that when a mistake is made of that significance, you speak out.
End of transcript.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected that Romney did get word about the deaths.
ReplyDelete