A response to the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi and after affects

On September 11, 2001, eleven years ago, were the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It was the first time I had consciously heard of terrorists. I had heard of acts like the attack on the U.S.S. Cole and the Oklahoma City Bombing, but this was the first time I had heard the notion that there were actual organizations that were dedicated to the practice. That newfound fact has not left me since that day. Now there are new fires being flamed in the Middle East and North Africa. Although not on American Soil there have been American lives lost. In Benghazi, Libya, the American Embassy was stormed and the American Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other embassy staff were killed. There have been other riots in Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan and other mostly Muslim countries. The "reason" at first given for the riots is that Muhammed, whom Muslims regard as a prophet from God, was supposedly blasphemed in a movie made by an Eqyptian national living in the United States. Now, let me make this very clear: I do NOT approve of slanderous and false attacks against some other religion or religious person. If somebody made a movie falsely accusing Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, or President Monson of wrongdoing, and it has been done many times, I would not be very happy. But I would not go and start rioting or kill someone. I don't expect the Muslim world to take this sitting down. Muhammed is important to them, and he should be respected. Since that time new information has been shown that the attack on the Benghazi American Consolate was preplanned, possibly by al-Qaeda. The Libyan President, Mohammed Magarief is leading an investigation by Libyan officials into the attack and have discovered that the attack was pre-planned (Libyan president: Benghazi attack was a ‘preplanned act of terrorism’ Yahoo News.) Of course this should have been evident at the outset. The attackers used RPGs in the attack. Private citizens of pretty much any country may have guns, including rather powerful ones like sniper rifles or M-16s. Grenade launchers are another story. The former dictator of Libya, Moammar Qaddafi, would have wanted to consolidate power and letting his subjects have high powered firearms probably would not have been encouraged. To use the words of a European dictator of a different era, Josef Stalin, "We don't let our citizens have ideas, why would we let them have guns." Another point would be that while guns may be relatively cheap, rocket propelled grenade launchers would probably be expensive. I can't imagine ordinary citizens having the money to buy them. The arms dealers who have them would ask too high of a price. Of course, all of this is pure speculation. The Libyans DID just win independence from Qaddafi. That is still a mystery to me, unless the army helped. It was recently reported that one of the rebels that captured the late dictator has died in France. He was attacked, kidnapped, and beaten along with a few friends by loyalists to the old regime. After he escaped or was rescued (Death of Libyan rebel who captured Qaddafi raises calls for vengeance, Associated Press.) Some American leaders, Such as Senator Rand Paul, are suggesting that we cut foreign aid to countries that have rioting. I'm not convinced that is a good plan of action. If we do that the people who are inciting these anti-American riots, over a video that is not the entire country's fault no less, could pull even more people into their grasp and way of thinking. They could say, "See all you people who thought that the Americans cared? They took all that money away from us. Not only do they disrespect our religion, nowthey want to ostracize us from the world through sanctions." Besides, President Magarief is looking for the perpetrators. Sanctions go against an entire country. If our government goes against the new government of Libya then we would be choking off a friendly entity. I'm pretty sure the point of diplomacy is to get as many friends as possible. Even if the government were not on our side sanctions hurt the common people the most. As has been discussed before, the riots, planned to be carried out on the anniversary of the original September 11 attacks, were led by influential individuals. The attacks were orchestrated by people with money and prestige. Sanctions don't hurt them because they already have everything they have. I am not suggesting we go to war in all those countries, with basically the entire Muslim world. Blood for blood, mass slaughter on both sides, will not solve the problems that culminated in the death of Chris Stevens. The best we can do is remember him for the man he was. One person in Lybia noted that Ambassador Stevens, "Loved Benghazi and the Libyan people. He was a hero during the revolution," referencing when the Libyans overthrew Moamar Qaddafi. There were more Libyans who came and held a vigil in Ambassador Stevens' honor than participated in the attack. We should work with those people, along with President Magarief. If al-Qaeda was involved in the Libyan attack then let the FBI, CIA, Interpol, and the good people in the Middle Eastern governments deal with them. This time in history is a battle for the soul of the human family. Good people need to unite from all over the world. Only then can evil be overcome. http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/video-memorial-for-us-ambassador-in-libya http://news.yahoo.com/photos/libyans-denounce-acts-of-terrorism-slideshow/