Obama, Romney trade tough words over attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are trading tough words over the handling of foreign attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in the Middle East, injecting foreign policy into a presidential campaign that has focused on a sour economy.

Romney accused the Obama administration of showing weakness in the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three American members of his staff. Romney blasted the initial statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo as disgraceful and "akin to apology," adding later, "It's never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values."

However, the embassy statement came before the protesters had breached the embassy's walls and was not an apology but an affirmation of the American policy of religious tolerance and respect. A statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton minutes before Romney's was released condemned the attack in Libya and said there was no justification for such violent acts.

Obama made a somber statement in the Rose Garden condemning the attacks and announcing plans to deploy additional Marines at diplomatic posts overseas. In an interview with CBS News' "60 Minutes" later in the day, Obama said the episode showed Romney's penchant for having "a tendency to shoot first and aim later."

"It appears that Gov. Romney didn't have his facts right," Obama said. That night, during a rally in Las Vegas, the president said he had a message for the rest of the world: "No act of terror will dim the light of the values that we proudly shine on the rest of the world, and no act of violence will shake the resolve of the United States of America."

Romney added that the White House later "distanced itself" from the statement, saying it hadn't been cleared by senior officials in Washington. "That reflects the mixed signals they're sending to the world," he said.

Obama said in the "60 Minutes" interview that the embassy was trying to "cool the situation down" and it was released "from folks on the ground who are potentially in danger."

"My tendency is to cut folks a little bit of slack when they're in that circumstance, rather than try to question their judgment from the comfort of a campaign office," Obama said.

He added that as president, "it's important for you to make sure that the statements you make are backed up by the facts, and that you've thought through the ramifications before you make them."

A P Source

Personally I don't think that either the President or Mr Romney are doing a very good job at handling this particular event. To me it's shameful to barter for political points on the back of a tragedy.

What do you think ATS? I realize that it is par for the course. But shouldn't we demand more???

I know that most of us certainly expect more.

~Heff

My real life has had some issues that have me behind the curve on this one... now I am reading about other embassies being stormed... and all over a movie???

This is a political nightmare and it appears that this might well end up being the point where the scale tips towards inevitable and widespread war.

Why can't people just do the sane thing for a change instead of falling into the trap of knee jerk, predetermined and defined reaction?

~Heff

Well..... Mitt wasn't there making the decisions to kick ammo and weapons out the doors to what amounted to Jihadis our guys may very well have been fighting in other parts of that region within months before that. Libya should have been left alone and there was no "Arab Spring" nonsense, there was Western and more European and British on this one, funding an uprising. The U.S gave plenty of support in whatever was noncommittal in what seems to be the new norm for the wishy washy way things are done.

Personally. I think Obama literally helped buy this baby, now it's his to hold and to keep. The buck stops at his desk, but he hasn't and probably never will accept responsibility for anything, of any kind. Odd thing about that.....but Libya wasn't even a mild hot spot when Presidents changed here. This one was created...

Heck, Gadaffi voluntarily and entirely surrendered what turned out to be downright disturbingly advanced WMD programs in 2003. See if that ever happens again....So bad judgement on Libya was exceptionally bad. Timing is epic.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I can agree with everything you said, to one degree or another.

I guess my point, now, is the sinking feeling I've got in my gut. Heck, I'm an old ATS hat and quite used to people flying off the handle and behaving like totally irresponsible extremists - without a second thought.

But to see that type of behavior becoming increasingly prevalent in the real world is simply shocking to me. I'm still Googling my hindquarters off to try and find a better reason for all of this than a simple movie???

It's like the entire friggin' planet is going nuts at once lately. Maybe the 2012's were onto something - or talked the rest of us into subconsciously manifesting it... or something.

Scary, scary stuff.

And, to bring this back on topic. If the world is really going as nuts as I think it is.. Dear Lord I don't want either Obama nor Romney at the wheel.

~Heff

Anything that happens in the next 2 months, expect romney to be there saying Obama isnt handling it good enough.

The reason is quite simple, and I don't mean to be short about that but it's a short answer. In fact, one word can pretty well sum up the whole issue here and it would seem our leaders are too blinded by visions of historic legacies dancing in their heads to see the obvious when it's in front of them. This is all starting to become somewhat coordinated. It's starting sloppy in some ways, but it's starting in my opinion.

They want their Caliphate back. The general outline of unrest is running from the Persian Gulf right on across North Africa and pretty much to the Atlantic. Ambition is something the radical fringes of Islam have never lacked...but fate is conspiring to make this easy enough to possibly pull off.... We'll see, because there is one big roadblock to that whole Caliphate concept....and it anchors the Eastern shore of the Med.

reply to post by Hefficide


I thought the same until I actaully watched the movie

www.youtube.com...

its quite obviously a deliberate swipe at the religion as a whole..

Muhammad is portrayed as a idiotic beast eating from bones.
Women in sultry clothing and sexual advances are everywhere.. Muhammad has his head forcibly shoved into a females kazoo...
He talks with a donkey.. hell i was waiting for a dog to run up and start humping his leg.

This movie is very very bad, its quite clearly a deep sucker punch against their most sensitive figure.

Tell me.. if a group of arabs made a movie showing jesus christ being sodomized and fondling young boys.. would the Christians not go ape?

Granted we wouldnt go and ransack buildings, but i gaurantee you muslims would die in the streets at the hand of young fanatical youth.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


We didn't have to wait for any Muslims to do it... Mel Gibson beat them to the punch!

But addressing the spirit of your post...

If a pro-Islamic movie were made that totally demonized Christianity, in general and in the most hateful of ways. I might take some level of offense. I might log onto ATS and gripe a bit... But would I storm an embassy with murderous intent?

No. Not even once out of a million times.

I am almost always one of the people defending against blind hatred on ATS... but I cannot begin to defend the people engaging in this. I wish I could argue that they are misunderstood or being unfairly targeted. But I cannot. This is a mob and it appears they've bought into the radicalization of the folks educating/informing them.

I mean, My God... it's 2012, not the twelfth century... the Crusades don't need a resurrection. And acts like this? They can only lead to war.

~Heff

reply to post by Agit8dChop


I just saw that movie 20 mins ago to see what all the hype was about. Its very interesting that every reference to Islam or muhamad was edited in by someone different then the actors in the film. Seems like a conspiracy to me.

Well, what should I say. Making a movie like that is an act of hatred. Slaughtering ambassadors an act of even greater hatred. How to deal with it? Ostracize those who produce and push such movies. Build defenses against fanatics who kill people for movies.

reply to post by Hefficide


If this had of happened 18months ago, you would have had your every day run of the mill protest.. and thats it.
But the muslim world have realised, enough people can over run any military outpost, a embassy is small fry!

I dont agree with killing the staff, i dont agree with destroying property or lives.. but we need to be serious here.. we really are going to get what we deserve, and we as a nation deserve a fair bit..

I really really hope this doesnt escalate across the region..

reply to post by Agit8dChop

Tell me.. if a group of arabs made a movie showing jesus christ being sodomized and fondling young boys.. would the Christians not go ape?

Granted we wouldnt go and ransack buildings, but i gaurantee you muslims would die in the streets at the hand of young fanatical youth.

Oh this has absolutely no comparison to anything Christian... If you can even name me a Christian community anywhere in the world today that has any modern history of doing things like this and for these "apparent" reasons, I'd love to hear where exactly. Now if we want to go back a couple hundred years, yeah... Christians had their bad guys. A few hundred more and Christianity could be said, in ways, to be the match of modern radical Islam.

However, there are plenty of "art" exhibits in just recent years using bodily fluids or bodily waste on depictions of High Holy figures of the Christian Faith or crucifixes. Now some may say thats not the same thing, but it sure is to a devout Christian. It's every bit as radically offensive and on every level. However. responses are also night/day different.

Beside..... The reports from Congressmen now are saying this WAS a coordinated action with military type movement and even indirect fire. Errr.. Gee... I guess we know where all those missing weapons ran off to.

Originally posted by Hefficide
Personally I don't think that either the President or Mr Romney are doing a very good job at handling this particular event.

I agree.

Romney was absolutely correct in his assessment of Obama's handling of the situation.
But the fact that he came out and said it was opportunistic politic playing.
Obama totally flubbed it from the start. He failed miserably.
(but Obama would have done the same as Romney if the situation was reversed.
His buddy Rahm said 'never let a good crisis go to waste')

HILLARY is the only one who got it right.
(that 3am phone call campaign commercial from 2008 was correct!!)
I still don't know why the dems went with Obama and not her. :shk:

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Course, id never expect a god fearing Christian in some sort of secured community to do anything more than cringe and declare '' heathens..''
but unemployed youth?
... much like the protestors in Yemen and Egypt ??

reply to post by Agit8dChop

Tell me.. if a group of arabs made a movie showing jesus christ being sodomized and fondling young boys.. would the Christians not go ape? Granted we wouldnt go and ransack buildings, but i gaurantee you muslims would die in the streets at the hand of young fanatical youth.

Christians are being butchered all over the planet. They are mistreated everywhere .. everywhere from China to Iran to Saudi Arabia and everywhere in between. And no ... the Christians are not going into 'fanatical' mode .. and they aren't mass killing Muslims or Chinese Communists ... they are being more prayerful and just trying to survive and keep their faith intact.

And then there is the Christian on Christian hate .... Fundamentalist Christians and Jack Chick .. pumping out disgusting falsehoods against fellow Christians (the Catholics for example). The Catholic youth aren't 'going ape' and aren't trying to murder ignorant fundamentalist Christians in the south who pass out disgusting Jack Chick tracts which are full of lies and hate.

The way I see it, we have only one President. Whether you agree or disagree with the way he has handled this situation, we need to show the world that we are united in this issue. The childish antics between the two merely shows that they are more concerned about the election than protecting America's assets.

Romney's alleged outrage just shows his lack of leadership. He should have just shown his support for Obama to get a grip on this situation and let the American people decide how good of a job Obama has done on this issue as well as others.

It doesn't surprise me that these events are spreading. The enemy has seen the exchanges between Obama and Romney and are out to take full advantage.

Divided we fall.

reply to post by Hefficide


Obama slams Bush and McCain for troop deaths in 2008!



I find it funny that Obama is so offended that Romney tried to ding him, when he himself did the same thing in 2008?

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

If you can even name me a Christian community anywhere in the world today that has any modern history of doing things like this...

Branch Davidians

Westboro Baptist Church

Repent Amarillo

Army of God

Hutaree

Extremists all.

Originally posted by BritofTexas

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

If you can even name me a Christian community anywhere in the world today that has any modern history of doing things like this...

Branch Davidians

Westboro Baptist Church

Repent Amarillo

Army of God

Hutaree

Extremists all.

edit on 13-9-2012 by BritofTexas because: (no reason given)

I wasn't asking for examples for extremists who use the Christian Banner...and calling David Koresh a Christian is like calling Usama Bin Laden a Muslim. There is what they ARE and what they CLAIM to be...never the two shall meet in reality.

However, I miss where your examples had Christians reveling in blood lust by killing unarmed civilian officials and dragging their bodies through the streets on parade for all to take camera pictures of. Modern examples of THIS behavior among Christian communities...or any OTHER World Religion for that matter, if somewhat lacking.

So..as I'd noted...No comparison. None in even a passing way.

reply to post by Hefficide


I believe the irony in all this is with the fact that Obama started out to be a peacekeeper - he did get a Nobel prize - and now he is being forced to deal with this using a closed fist, not to mention the elections, just around the corner.

So much effort put into keeping peace, going as far as putting some distance between himself and Israel, just to have everything ignated in a much larger scale.

I'm starting to question if the political commentators - who stated very starkly that Obama was a foreign policy newbie - weren't right since day 1.

But, to be fair, Obama was faced with a very complicated foreign situation, even before his election.