President Obama spoke this morning about the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans:
Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.
Already, many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya. Libyan security personnel fought back against the attackers alongside Americans. Libyans helped some of our diplomats find safety, and they carried Ambassador Stevens’s body to the hospital, where we tragically learned that he had died.
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No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.
Read or watch it all.
When Obama says that justice will be done, there is evidence that he means what he says.
Here is a video featuring the late ambassador, Chris Stevens, when he began his assignment last May:
His admiration for the Libyan people, and his eagerness to help them build a new country, is obvious. To claim that his death proves that the US support for the Libyan rebellion against Gaddafi was a mistake is an insult to what he stood for.
Update: The Washington Post reports on evidence that the attack on the Benghazi consulate was planned in advance, and that those who carried it out took advantage of a demonstration against the anti-Islamic film.
[S]ome Middle East analysts suggested that the attack in Benghazi might have been launched as revenge for the death of a top al-Qaeda militant who was killed by an American drone strike in Pakistan in June.
Mathieu Guidere, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Toulouse in France and an expert on Islamist radicals, said information from militant Web sites suggested that Libyan extremists seized on the film to rally people around an attack on the consulate. He said the attack appeared to be motivated by a recent call by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader, to avenge the killing of Hassan Mohammed Qaed, better known as Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan-born cleric who was a key aide to Osama bin Laden.
So while some seem eager to blame Obama’s alleged weakness for the Benghazi attack, it may well be that the attack was retaliation for an attack ordered by Obama.
Further update: Damn, I agree with John McCain again. Talking Points Memo reports:
Sen. John McCain remembered Ambassador Chris Stevens on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon.
McCain recalled spending time with Stevens in Benghazi and Tripoli during separate trips to Libya earlier this year. McCain said it was clear Stevens loved Libya and that “his passion for his mission was infectious.”
McCain argued that those who attacked Americans in Benghazi belong to a fanatical minority, and argued that if America turns its back on Libyans in the wake of the attacks, the fanatics will get what they want.
Sens. Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham echoed McCain’s remarks.
“America’s lost one of her greatest diplomats, Libya’s lost one of her best friends,” Graham said. “The worst possible outcome is take the death of this wonderful, noble man” and use it as a reason to turn Libya over “to the thugs who killed him.”
Additional update: See also Michael Weiss.
Mr Stevens spent a lot of time in the Middle East and North Africa and grew to love that part of the world, having taught English in Morocco for two years. His legacy will surely be as a staunch defender of the Libyan people’s right to self-determination. And while no one has the right to speak for him now, it would only compound the misery of his murder to read in it some grim irony about the comeuppance of America’s pro-democratic foreign policy.