U.S. Ambassador Killed In Libya

The American ambassador to Libya has been killed in the violent reaction to an anti-Islamic film made in the U.S. and promoted by Florida’s Pastor Terry Jones.

The attacks occurred Tuesday night in the eastern city of Benghazi by protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, according to Libya officials. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed when he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as the building came under attack by a mob guns and rocket propelled grenades. Three other Americans were also killed. The State Department identified one of the other Americans as Sean Smith, a foreign service information management officer. The identities of the others were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Obama called Stevens a “courageous and exemplary representative of the United States.” “I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi,” Obama said in the statement. The four Americans, he said, “exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe.”

Terry Jones says he’s not sorry about the violence.

The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three American members of his staff were reportedly killed Tuesday in riots sparked by outrage at a film backed by Gainesville pastor Terry Jones, the Gainesville pastor whose burning of Korans last year led to days of rioting in Afghanistan. Jones and other backers of the film, Muhammad, were unapologetic about the role they may have had in triggering the violence. “The fact that angry protesters climbed the wall at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo today, ripped down the American flag and tore it apart further indicates the lack of respect that Islam has for any other religion, any other flag, any freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of religion,” Jones said Tuesday in a statement released before the death in Benghazi was confirmed. “It further illustrates that they have no tolerance for anything outside of Muhammad.”