On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing over three thousand Americans.

On September 11, 2012, an angry mob stormed the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

The rioters in Benghazi claimed that their initial protest outside the U.S. Embassy was in response to the trailer for a poorly-produced film titled “The Innocence of Muslims.” The movie, which was originally cast and filmed under the name “Desert Warrior” and later heavily edited, was an offensively-portrayed history of the Prophet Mohammed that accused him of being a womanizer and a charlatan, among other things.

As the protesters swarmed the consulate, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo tweeted out a statement sympathizing not with the consulate, but with the protesters: “We condemn the ongoing attempts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” (That tweet, along with other sympathetic tweets issued that night, has since been deleted.)

This sympathetic response, however, did not stop the protesters in Cairo from climbing the fence, raiding the compound, tearing down an American flag and replacing it with a black-and-white Islamist flag. Graffiti discovered after the incident displayed numerous pro-Islamist messages, including “1.5 Billion Osamas.”

Shortly thereafter, gunman opened fire with assault weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, killing three of the four victims and stealing sensitive documents. No Marines were stationed at the compound to fend off the attack, and the compound was not built to protect the occupants from such a brutal use of force

Ambassador Stevens was apparently moved to a safer location, but the cause of his death is slightly less clear. Some reports claimed he died of asphyxiation from fires at the compound, but other reports claim he was shot to death after being moved to a safe-house. One other disturbing report from Lebanese news website Tayyar.org suggested that Stevens was raped before being killed.

President Obama did not respond to news of the incident for over fifteen hours, but the statement he did make promised to strengthen security at our other diplomatic offices around the world. However, the violence continued to spread. Embassies in other Middle Eastern countries began drawing protesters, and at least one British and one Swedish embassy were also targeted by protests. A small mob of protesters also formed in France.

The ongoing incident shocked many around the country, and dozens of questions were raised. How could this happen? Was it at random or planned? Why weren’t more protective or defensive measures taken?

Unfortunately, in the days following the incident, many of those questions have started being answered, and none of the answers look very good.

While White House officials continue to claim that the incident was in response to the film, members of both parties in Congress including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senator John McCain and officials in the Libyan government have made statements claiming that it was likely a planned terrorist attack.

The trailer, which has been on YouTube at least since June, was likely used as an excuse for protesters to swarm the consulate, which militants either intentionally or opportunistically used as a cover for their assault with heavy weaponry.

Later investigation into why American military forces were not guarding the compound also yielded disturbing results.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a 2011 document titled State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, signed into U.S. Policy regulations that severely damaged the protection of U.S. diplomatic interests in the country. Chief among the proscriptions in the bill was a measure prohibiting any U.S. Marines from being stationed as guards at our diplomatic installations in Libya.

Private security forces were apparently hired, but the reliability of these officials is also being brought into question. One of the State Department workers killed, Sean Smith, reported to friends in an online game that they “saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures,” potentially suggesting that information was being sent to those who attacked the consulate.

Though many in the media have continued to place the blame on the awful movie trailer, the evidence that is coming forward suggests that “hurt religious feelings” aren’t the whole picture.

What’s even more awful is the horrendous accumulation of foreign policy decisions in the Middle East, first the lack of leadership that allowed the Arab Spring protests to be co-opted by extremists, and now the diplomatic situation that has hamstrung our ability to protect our own diplomatic interests, resulting in the loss of sensitive intelligence and irreplaceable human life.

Without a serious course correction by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, one can only imagine how bad the situation in the Middle East may continue to become.

David Giffin is a second year Masters in Theological Studies student at Candler School of Theology from Charleston, Ill.

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