Uncommon Commentary #287: The US Statement Department

At first, I was not inclined to agree too strongly with those who criticized the US government's handling of the latest post-"Arab Spring" crisis.  The official statement that "The Embassy of the United States [sic] in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims …." impressed me as a typically politically-correct, overly apologetic proclamation by Obombast administration officials—note the use of the word "continuing", as if Muslims ought to feel persecuted by the West—but I couldn't censure them for trying to snuff out a flame before it could become an inferno; I also knew that the reportedly anti-Islam video The Innocence of Muslims—I have not seen it—that has been blamed for arousing the ire of the Mohammedans was posted on YouTube, and can thus be watched anywhere on Earth that people have access to the W.W.W.  Then, however, I realized the significance of the fact that the embassy's statement was made prior to the beginning of the "violent protest" (i.e., riot) in Cairo, and that the violence broke out in the very city where said statement had been issued.  If The Innocence of Muslims is guilty as charged, the logical hypothesis is that the embassy unwittingly drew attention to that film, and thus helped send the present wave of anti-US expression over the Near, Middle, and Far East and North Africa.