http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19570254
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/protests-spread-across-middle-east-as-anger-over-video-mounts/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/world/middleeast/anti-american-protests-subside-in-middle-east.html?_r=1
Setup: On the anniversary of September 11, a group of extremists attacked the US Consulate in Libya, killing four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya, J Christopher Stevens. It was initially believed that this was in response to a video on the Web, created by an American, which insulted Prophet Mohammed. However, it is now believed that though a small portion of the mob could have been reacting to the video, the Libyan attack was much more likely to be premeditated and executed by a group affiliated with al Qaeda. Concurrent with the Libyan attack, there were protests in other countries, such as Egypt and Yemen, which were in response to the video. The protests then spread to 20+ countries, but are now calming.
Analysis: The Libyan attack was a horrible act of violence. In my opinion, a subset of the mob must have been affiliated with al Qaeda. Why else would the attack fall on the anniversary of September 11?
Why did al Qaeda do this? Since the US succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden, their leader, were they trying to prove that they are still a strong and dangerous presence in the world? Who was their "target audience?" I believe they were trying to: a) remind America that they are still a powerful force, and b) get extremist Muslims on their side. After all, the timing of the attack, correlated with the anti-American protests, was very appropriate.
As far as the protests go, I believe they were/are overreactions to the anti-Islam video. Why take out anger on all of America when the video was posted by one out of 350 million people? This has been an unnecessary source of tension for the world. This, in my opinion, was not and is not the appropriate response to one person's prejudiced comments. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the protesters only represent just the extreme elements of the Muslim population. This is important, as otherwise, we would be succumbing to the fallacy of generalization. Where will this go from here? No one knows. Hopefully, these anti-American feelings will not elevate to the point of more extreme violence on the part of growing terrorist groups like al Qaeda.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/protests-spread-across-middle-east-as-anger-over-video-mounts/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/world/middleeast/anti-american-protests-subside-in-middle-east.html?_r=1
Setup: On the anniversary of September 11, a group of extremists attacked the US Consulate in Libya, killing four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya, J Christopher Stevens. It was initially believed that this was in response to a video on the Web, created by an American, which insulted Prophet Mohammed. However, it is now believed that though a small portion of the mob could have been reacting to the video, the Libyan attack was much more likely to be premeditated and executed by a group affiliated with al Qaeda. Concurrent with the Libyan attack, there were protests in other countries, such as Egypt and Yemen, which were in response to the video. The protests then spread to 20+ countries, but are now calming.
Analysis: The Libyan attack was a horrible act of violence. In my opinion, a subset of the mob must have been affiliated with al Qaeda. Why else would the attack fall on the anniversary of September 11?
Why did al Qaeda do this? Since the US succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden, their leader, were they trying to prove that they are still a strong and dangerous presence in the world? Who was their "target audience?" I believe they were trying to: a) remind America that they are still a powerful force, and b) get extremist Muslims on their side. After all, the timing of the attack, correlated with the anti-American protests, was very appropriate.
As far as the protests go, I believe they were/are overreactions to the anti-Islam video. Why take out anger on all of America when the video was posted by one out of 350 million people? This has been an unnecessary source of tension for the world. This, in my opinion, was not and is not the appropriate response to one person's prejudiced comments. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the protesters only represent just the extreme elements of the Muslim population. This is important, as otherwise, we would be succumbing to the fallacy of generalization. Where will this go from here? No one knows. Hopefully, these anti-American feelings will not elevate to the point of more extreme violence on the part of growing terrorist groups like al Qaeda.
Great post, Meena!
ReplyDeleteCheck out this link! It has a up-to-date map of different parts of the world and where anti-American protests are taking place. Notice the countries with higher populations of Muslims are darker blue. Does this surprise you at all?
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/an-annotated-map-of-todays-protests-and-of-the-muslim-world/262405/