New media exposes legacy media bias, White House spin
Jim Hoft, new media blogger at The Gateway Pundit, posted last Saturday that on Sept. 12, blogger Speak With Authority discovered that five days before 9/11, the U.S. State Department sent out a memo announcing no credible security threats against the United States on the anniversary of 9/11.
“The Overseas Security Advisory Council, who posted the memo, is part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security under the U.S. Department of State,” Hoft wrote.
Hoft posted a screengrab of the memo at the OSAC website.
The OSAC memo read: “Terrorism and Important Dates – Global – 9/6/2012 – OSAC currently has no credible information to suggest that al-Qa’ida or any other terrorist group is plotting any kind of attack overseas to coincide with the upcoming anniversary of September 11. However, constituents often have concerns around important dates, holidays, and major events, Often times, these concerns are the result of increased media attention to the issue, rather than credible evidence of a terrorist plot.”
Hoft reports that now it’s gone, leading him to conclude that the State Department scrubbed the letter from its OSAC website. He added that blogger Dan Riehl has more.
“We heard the reports about the chaos at the State Department. But we had no idea they were scrubbing documents,” Hoft concluded.
Millions of views
A YouTube video that allegedly sparked what could very well be the beginning of the next world war, or at minimum the violent conflagration across the Middle East, has been the subject of as much discussion as the results it’s accused of spawning: the death of an American ambassador and three other U.S. citizens and region-wide riots.
The anti-Muslim video has attracted millions of views. Its maker was immediately taken into custody, er… “interviewed” here in the United States, an act that has many questioning this possible violation of his First Amendment rights.
New York Daily News reported that YouTube’s corporate parent Google “turned down the White House’s request to reconsider keeping online the YouTube video that sparked anti-American violence in the Middle East, although the company has blocked access in some parts of the world.”
To its credit, Google has not removed “Innocence of Muslims,” at least as of this writing, despite pressure from the Obama administration that Google review the obscure video for possible violations of the Internet giant’s terms of service (TOS). The Obama White House and his administration maintain that the video – and not its foreign policy – sparked the violent attack on the consulate.
“These sweatshirts are perfect for fall”
And speaking of Obama, his re-election campaign team didn’t miss a beat, pushing out campaign tweets on the same day – the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks – even as the president and secretary of state hurriedly assembled to mount a somber display of respect as Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ and three other flag-draped coffins were returned to U.S. soil.
“The election is in eight weeks. Sign up to volunteer,” reads the first tweet that went out from @BarackObama at 7:07 a.m. on the 11th anniversary of the deadly attacks.
Fox News reported that the second tweet, about a sale of Obama campaign apparel, was posted some 30 minutes “before Obama arrived at Andrews Air Force Base to welcome home the bodies of the four Americans – including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens – killed at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.”
The second tweet? “Winter is coming, but these sweatshirts are perfect for fall.”
Blame game
The Obama administration, as recently as Sunday, adamantly maintained that the “Innocence of Muslims” video was the cause of the Mideast violence.
On Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said, “What happened this week in Cairo, in Benghazi and many other parts of the region was a result, a direct result, of a heinous and offensive video that was widely disseminated, that the U.S. government had nothing to do with, which we have made clear is reprehensible and disgusting.”
Middle East expert Caroline Glick opined at the online news site Real Clear Politics about the administration’s claim:
A word about the much mentioned film about Muhammad is in order. The film was apparently released about a year ago. It received little notice until last month when a Salafi television station in Egypt broadcast it.
In light of the response, the purpose of the broadcast was self-evident. The broadcasters screened the film to incite anti-American violence.
Had they not been interested in attacking the U.S., they would not have screened the film.
They sought a pretext for attacking America. If the film had never been created, they would have found another – equally ridiculous – pretext.
Technology outpacing policy
“Technology is outpacing policy,” said former Assistant Secretary of Defense Douglas Wilson, speaking on Fox News this past weekend.
Wilson alluded to the White House meme that the video – and not Obama’s foreign policy – was to blame for the violent attacks.
“We live in a country of free speech and First Amendment, and sometimes there are consequences of that,” Wilson said. “The message we need to send is, these kinds of videos and messages do not represent our government and the vast majority of the U.S.”
Regardless of what the administration’s position is on the attacks of the consulate in Benghazi, one thing is for sure: Social media is indisputably a major player in world events.
Security Info Watch notes: “Social media was at hand when Ambassador Stevens’ body was removed from the compound. A photo on The Daily Beast shows mobile phones out in the hands of the men who are carrying an unconscious Ambassador Stevens. … Social media was at hand during the Arab Spring, and those same phones in the hands of persons carrying Stevens may have been the same ones that beeped with text messages and social media information when Libyans were rising up against Ghadafi.”
Other countries immediately moved to have the video banned from view. A poll conducted by The Blaze asked its readers, “Was Google right to block the video in some countries?”
An overwhelming 89.93 percent (as of this writing) said, “No. Google itself said the video doesn’t violate its policy, so it should have remained unblocked.”
Meantime, Libyans tweeted sentiments and photos expressing regret and apology for what took place in their country.
And finally, in a piece that looked at Libyans’ photos sent around the world via social media and the resulting action, Jadaliyya summed it up with this ironic observation: “It’s just a coincidence, but the Marines first mission was ostensibly to protect U.S. citizens along the Barbary Coast. And they’re back.”
