Op-Ed: Stevens Video: Dancing With Corpses, Dancing in Blood

I have been looking at the photos and the brief video of Ambassador Stevens and I have spoken to two different Arabists, who assure me that the mob dragging Steven’s body are chanting a song of victory over one’s enemies and are praising God for it.

In my day, when we spoke about "two cultures,” we were talking about the unfortunate divide between the hard sciences and the humanities.

Today the phrase "two cultures” means something entirely different.

Here is one among thousands of similar examples. The lead editorial in the New York Times on 9/20/12 was titled: "The United States and the Muslim World” and sub-titled "Despite the attacks, Americans must remain engaged with struggling Arab democracies.”

The editorial goes on to praise President Obama and to condemn "Mitt Romney and the Republicans who have leveled preposterous charges that Mr. Obama has been weak and apologetic.” The editorial believes that Libyans tried to save Ambassador Stevens.

Let’s compare this editorial with an article in the Wall Street Journal which appeared on the exact same day and is titled "U.S.A. Names al- Qaeda in Attack” and is sub-titled "Protests Rage on in Pakistan; Counterterrorism Chief Publicly Links Terror Network to Libya Assault.”

The article says that "U.S. intelligence officials are investigating indications that al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate is connected with militants involved in the attack…intelligence agencies had issued reports about the growing unrest in the area in recent months.” The article goes on to question whether American Embassies are adequately protected.

Things have gone way beyond two cultures. Now, we are talking about two different worlds, perhaps parallel or alternate universes.

It is already 9/20, a full ten days after the Muslim mob tortured and murdered the American Ambassador and three other American personnel in Libya; and still, the loyal and avid NYT’s reader is being told that it was an "anti-Islam video that set off attacks against American embassies and violent protests in the Muslim world.”

That is not true. Here’s what’s happening.

America is now experiencing what Israel has had to live with, unaided, disbelieved, for decades. (continue reading...)