American Consulate Attack in Libya

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by ruffryder

Why do we have to take care of the rest of the world. Why cant we just bring our Americans home. Why do we even have our flag hanging in other countries.

These attacks happened at either the American embassy (Egypt and Yemen) or an American consulate (Libya). We have flags flying in those and other countries because part of what nation states *do* is have embassies and consulates in other nations. It is part and parcel of diplomacy to have diplomatic staff permanently in that nation. While we may not recognize the importance of diplomatic relations with other nation states they are important. Having an embassy in another nation is so important that when we *don't* have an embassy one of two things are true: either we are in a state of war or we have broken off all diplomatic relations with that nation. An example of the first is what happened at the start of WW II. Immediately after Pearl Harbor the Japanese embassy in D.C. burned their code books and then got out of the US. The US closed its embassy and we did not reestablish diplomatic relations with Japan until after the war. In the latter case, we closed our embassy in Tehran, Iran, after our embassy was taken and hostages held with the full knowledge and support of the new Iranian government (the government following the overthrow of Shah Reza Pavlavi). We have not reopened that embassy and so we *still*, almost forty years after the fact, we don't have normalized relations with Iran.

Not having embassies in the world means not dealing with the rest of the world. That means international travel can become very interesting. It means doing business in foreign countries becomes much more difficult. We fly flags in other nations because in order to deal with those nations we have to have diplomatic staff there who can build relationships with the locals. The day we start closing embassies around the world is the day the world becomes a much more unstable place.

Why is there so much hate against America and our beliefs of freedom of speech, religion, etc. Why, Why, Why.. so many questions. *sigh* I keep feeling this is another war about to escalate once again for pretty much the same reasons. With beliefs and disagreements such as these, it seems to never end and people have to not only fight about it but bring out full blown war and attacks.

I do not think it is accurate to say that people hate America because of our beliefs in freedom of speech or religion. This is not to say that there are not people who oppose those ideas but I don't think there's good reason to believe that they hate America *because* of those core commitments. Rather, I think they just hate the idea, generally, of freedom of religion or they either hate or do not understand the idea of freedom of the press. Most nations do *not* have written into their constitutions the kind of expansive freedom of religious belief or speech enjoyed in the United States. In all too many nations, if the press says something one is justified in assuming that the *government* has said it because either the state runs the press or the state approves anything that is published. Such is not the case in the United States. And I think that a misunderstanding of people who may live under a different form of media regime than we do is probably inevitable.

Imagine you live in a nation where if it is printed or broadcast you know some state censor has given their blessing to whatever the utterance is. Then you find out that some filmmaker in America has put out a movie insulting to your religion. Working within the only frame you know, you assume that if some American filmmaker put out a movie, *someone* in the US government *must* have given it the official OK. I mean, *your* nation has a Ministry of Culture that approves movies so how can it be that the USA doesn't? So you're angry not just at the filmmaker but at the United States government since it must have approved the insulting film.

I think some variation of that understanding is at work now.

I would also suggest that much of the anger at America is due to her *policies*. Every time an Israeli soldier tosses a tear gas grenade at some protesters and the canister has a 'made in the USA' stencil on it, it makes people angry. Every time the United States speaks about 'freedom' and 'democracy' while simultaneously propping up some kleptocratic dictator (Mubarak of Egypt leaps to mind here) it makes people angry. We support Israel against the Palestinians no matter how egregious Israeli malfeasance might be. We support dictators because they are geostrategically convenient for us while telling their oppressed people that we stand for democracy and the right of peoples to live in liberty.

My point is that *long* before we get to "they hate us for our freedoms" there are much better explanations for why some people hate the United States.

That said, let me make a couple of points about the last 72 hours. While the protests in Egypt appear to have been, more or less, genuine expressions of outrage (as misplaced as I think they are) the protest and attack in Libya appears to have been planned. The Libyan people, despite what some on the American Left would have us believe, are actually *very* favorably disposed to Americans right now because it was American jets that swatted Gaddafi's planes and helicopters from the skies over Libya, allowing the rebels to overthrow their dictatorship. When an American pilot was shot down over Libya, the Libyan people rescued him and got him to safety. Yesterday, Libyans turned out to protest *against* the attack on the consulate and to mourn Chris Stevens because they knew he was on their side while he lived.

Cheers
Aj