Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators stormed the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Thursday in protest at a film they consider blasphemous to Islam, and security guards tried to hold them off by firing into the air, witnesses said.
Young protesters, shouting "we sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God", smashed windows of the security offices outside the embassy with stones and burned at least five cars as they broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in eastern Sanaa, the witnesses said.
Given that the Libya incident was an actual coordinated attack with mortars and RPGs rather than a protest grown out of control, the Yemen incident could well be a case of al Qaeda attacking us.
Yemen security officials reacted in time to prevent tragedy.
Jihadis in Afghanistan have attacked us using protests over outrage as cover. So keep in mind that this may just be the Long War continuing under another guise. It would be a mistake to open fire and kill demonstrators rather than getting the trained killers among them.
Let's be ruthless against the killers. Let's not bag the merely stupid in the process.
Remember, the jihadis would be happy if we decided that we are at war with all Islam. For the jihadis, their problem is that the Islamic world as a whole isn't behind their sick jihad. If we over-react, we drive people to support jihadis.
Just in case I'm not clear, I am not saying that fighing back creates more jihadis. As I've often written, ineffective use of force creates more jihadis. Effective use of force just kills jihadis.
As an aside, why is the question of Romney's timing a big deal given the way foreign policy has already been politicized by the Democrats? Remember when Madeleine Albright said before the 2004 election that she wouldn't be surprised if Bush had Osama bin Laden on ice waiting to reveal him for electoral gain?
I know many on the left consider Romney more dangerous than al Qaeda because Romney is "here" and jihadis are "over there," but seriously. A little perspective, eh?
Let's hunt down the Libyan group that attacked us and kill every one of them.
