From the Associated Press:
A Shiite militant group threatened U.S. interests in Iraq on Thursday as part of the backlash over an anti-Islam film it described as "heinous."Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali said the amateurish video that ridicules Prophet Muhammad was unforgiveable. A statement by the militia called on all Muslims to "face our joint enemy."
Read more here.
The Boston Globe reports:
Glen Doherty was 42 years old and was working for a private security company when he was killed with US Ambassador John Christopher Stevens in the American consulate in Benghazi Wednesday during what may have been a coordinated terrorist attack.?He was on security detail and he was protecting the ambassador and also helping the wounded?? when he was killed, said his sister, Katie Quigley of Marblehead.
Quigley said her family grew up in Winchester and that her brother wanted a life ?filled with adrenaline? He was always an adventure seeker.??
Read more here.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin condemns the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
| @ Reuters : Russia's Vladimir Putin has condemned the attack that claimed the life of the U.S. ambassador to Libya |
President Barack Obama made additional comments on the events in the Middle East during a Wednesday sit-down interview with Telemundo, which will air on the channel Thursday evening.
"The United States doesn't have an option of withdrawing from the world," he said. "We're the one indispensable nation, countries all around the world look to us for leadership, even sometimes countries where sometimes we experience protest. So it's important for us to stay engaged."
Obama emphasized the need to fully investigate before coming to a conclusion about the acts against American personnel, which Libyan leaders condemned on Wednesday.
"Libya in particular is a government that is very friendly towards us," Obama said. "The vast majority of Libyans welcomed the United States involvement. ... Many Libyans came to the defense of our team in Benghazi when they were attacked, but what we have to do now is do a full investigation, find out the facts, find out who perpetrated these terrible acts and bring them to justice."
-- Elise Foley
Several hundred Shiites protested Thursday against the anti-Islam movie in Sadr City, a Shiite stronghold in Baghdad, according to the Associated Press.
Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn the U.S. flag during a demonstration as part of widespread anger across the Muslim world about a film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. Hundreds of followers of the anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demanded the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad because of the film. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
The U.S. consulate in Berlin was evacuated on Thursday after an employee noticed a strange smell from an envelope.
The Associated Press reports:
The smell came from an envelope containing supporting materials for a visa application that was given to consular employees by the applicant in person, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Ruth Bennett said.Police experts checked the building to see if any chemical substances or poisonous gases had been released but nothing was found, police spokesman Michael Merkle told n-tv television.
Bennett said she had no immediate information on the status of the person who brought the envelope in, and Merkle would not comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Workers in protective clothing sit in the courtyard of the U.S. consulate in Berlin, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. The U.S. Embassy says its consulate in Berlin has been evacuated as a precaution after an employee reported a strange smell from an envelope. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The Associated Press reports that three diplomats injured in the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi are being treated at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, an American military hospital in Germany. According to a State Department status report, all three "are doing relatively well".
Read the full story here.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out Thursday against the anti-Islam film that has triggered protests in the Middle East, calling it "disgusting and reprehensible."
She also mounted a strong defense of free speech. "'We do not stop individuals from expressing their views, no matter how distasteful they may be," she said.
However, Clinton warned that there "should be no debate about the simple proposition that violence in response to speech is not acceptable."
"We must draw the line at violence," she said. "Any responsible leader should be standing up now and drawing that line."
-- Melissa Jeltsen
Iranian police officers stand guard in front of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests in Iran, during a demonstration against a film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
There's a discussion taking place on HuffPost Live right now about the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. Click here to watch or join in.
The Nation's Jeremy Scahill tweets:
| @ jeremyscahill : The US embassy in Sanaa wasn't stormed. Those were just Yemenis eager to thank us for the drone strikes. |
As Noah Shachtman writes for Wired's Danger Room, the U.S. has put its drone campaign in Yemen into "overdrive," with two separate operations run by the CIA and the military's Joint Special Operations Command killing nearly 200 this year alone. Yemeni officials said a U.S. drone strike killed Saeed al-Shihri, a top Al Qaeda operative in Yemen, on Monday.
-- Clare Richardson
President Barack Obama called Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Mohamed Magariaf, president of the General National Congress of Libya, early Thursday to discuss the recent protests and violence in their countries in response to an anti-Muslim film.
Both calls took place just before 2:00 a.m., according to the time stamp on the White House readouts of the calls.
Obama's conversation with Magariaf appeared more conciliatory than anything else. The president thanked Magariaf for his cooperation following the deaths of four U.S. officials, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, during Tuesday's violence in Benghazi. He told Magariaf that "we must work together to do whatever is necessary to identify the perpetrators of this attack and bring them to justice." Magariaf concurred and agreed to help with the investigation.
The tone of the call to Morsi seemed more tense. The White House readout says Obama called Morsi to "review the strategic partnership" between the U.S. and Egypt. While nobody was killed in Cairo amid the protests, the halfhearted response by the Egyptian government has been noted by U.S. officials.
To Morsi, Obama "underscored the importance of Egypt following through on its commitment to cooperate with the United States in securing U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel," the White House readout states.
Obama went on to say that while he rejects any efforts to denigrate Islam, there is never justification for violence against people, including American personnel stationed in Egypt. Morsi responded by saying that Egypt "would honor its obligation to ensure the safety of American personnel."
Both Libya and Egypt are struggling to stand up democratically run governments that arose from the Arab Spring. The direction of the Morsi's new Islamist government has been a cause for concern among U.S. officials.
-- Jennifer Bendery
AFP reports that governments across Asia have beefed up security following protests at U.S. offices in Libya, Egypt, and Yemen.
In Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, authorities reportedly are trying to block public access to the anti-Islam film.
Philippine policemen stay beside a machine gun as they secure an area in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, on Thursday Sept. 13, 2012. Manila police tightened security in the area following an attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Click here to read more.
From the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, D.C.:
The Honorable Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, President of the Republic of Yemen, extends his sincere apologies to President Obama and to the people of the United States of America for the attack that occurred earlier today on the U.S. embassy in Sana?a, Yemen.President Hadi ordered the authorities to conduct an expeditious and thorough investigation into today?s events. H.E. ensured the public that the perpetrators of these acts will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. H.E. described the protesters as a ?rowdy group? that acted without any knowledge on conspiracies to derail Yemeni-American relations. H.E. also highlighted that the divisions among Yemen?s security and military forces due to the 2011 events have contributed to the amplification of the incident. H.E. warned the public that such acts will reflect negatively on the warm relations between Yemen and the American public.
The Times of London's Yemen correspondent, Iona Craig, is tweeting from the protests at the U.S. embassy in Sanaa.
| @ ionacraig : Thank you to the Yemeni man and his son who threw me a bottle of water from their balcony when I was sheltering from gunfire today. |
Hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Sanaa today.
The demonstrators, who are angry about an anti-Islam film, chanted "death to America" and burned an American flag, The Associated Press reported.
Before storming the grounds, demonstrators removed the embassy's sign on the outer wall, set tires ablaze and pelted the compound with rocks.
It was similar to an attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Tuesday night.
For more, click here.
Oil prices rose above $97 a barrel on Thursday in Asian trading on new worries about unrest in the Middle East, The Associated Press reported.
Oil analyst Stephen Schork said in an email commentary that he expects "the fundamental picture to be overtaken by the powder keg that was ignited yesterday in Libya ... we will be keeping a close eye on tension in the region."
For more, click here.
President Barack Obama ordered an increase in security at American embassies, consulates and at least one cemetery for veterans on Thursday following the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador in Libya. According to The Associated Press:
Diplomats had asked for additional police personnel and patrols for the season compound and a nearby residential complex, as well as the consulate in the central city of Cebu, ahead of the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. Officials said the heightened security will be maintained indefinitely following the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that killed the ambassador and three other people.
Click here for more.
Huffpost's Jaweed Kaleem reports:
[I]t's still unclear who made the film -- and questions have lingered around the filmmaker's religion. While news reports have said he is Jewish, evangelical or hinted at him possibly being Coptic Christian or Muslim, the truth about who made the film and that person's religious background is still a mystery.
Read the full story here.
Security forces clashed with protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo about 24 hours after demonstrators climbed over embassy walls to rip down an American flag.
Read the full story here.
Photo credit: U.S. State Department
A 55-year-old California man, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, told the Associated Press that he is the manager of the company that produced the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims."
Nakoula denied he directed the film and said he knew the self-described filmmaker, Sam Bacile. But the cellphone number that AP contacted Tuesday to reach the filmmaker who identified himself as Sam Bacile traced to the same address near Los Angeles where AP found Nakoula. Federal court papers said Nakoula's aliases included Nicola Bacily, Erwin Salameh and others.
Full story here.
According to the Associated Press, US officials say the Pentagon is moving two warships toward the Libyan coast.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/clinton-anti-islam-video-_n_1880804.html
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