I'll say it again: terrorist attack or demostration? = trick (or dumbass) question

[No Elephants]

An attack on a U.S. embassy, or, as in Behghazi, a U.S. consulate, is an attack on the United States.

If the attack was mounted by a nation, it is an act of war. If, however, the attack is mounted by individuals or an organization with a desire to hurt the U.S., it is an act of terrorism. Whether the act of terrorism resulted from a spontaneous demonstration or not, an attack on a U.S. consulate is an act of terrorism.


President Obama correctly referred to terrorism the day after the attack.

The only issue here is whether the administration ever believed that the terrorist attack on our consulate was the result of a spontaneous demonstration or whether the administration knew all along that the terrorist attack on our consulate had been planned and the demonstration was only cover. IOW, the issue is: did the Administration ever intentionally mislead Americans as to the motive for the terrorist attack?


That neither Mitt Romney nor Congress nor a bunch of professional and amateur yammerers can even identify the issue correctly is disappointing and more than a little scary.

[Leopolds Ghost]

1. According to experts there's like five criteria for deciding whether it's terrorist or not

One is whether it's a "legitimate" military target that a state actor would be expected to attack (which an embassy, to the best of my knowledge, is not).

[No Elephants]

2. An attack on a a U.S. consulate is an attack on the U.S.

It is as much a terrorist action as an attack on a plane headed for the U.S., or occupying a cruise ship, or attacking the World Trade Center, if not more so, all of which were classified as terrorist attacks. And, as stated, Obama termed it a terrorist attack the very next day. Petraeus has also said he thought it was a terrorist attack immediately. And they both knew it was our consulate that had been attacked.

But, if you have a link to that list of five items, I can be more specific. (I googled, but did not come up with it within the limits of my ADD attention span.)



(Btw, the attack in Benghazi was on a consulate, not an embassy. The U.S. embassy in Libya is in Tripoli. I have not looked up the difference, but media was making the distinction in the days following the attack.)