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Man Responsible for Anti-Islamic Film Arrested, White House Story on Libya Attack Evolves

The man behind the film that inspired riots all over the world has been arrested. In Libya, however, the attacks and protests were different. So what's really going on? Join the conversation as we discuss this week's hot topics.

By now, we've all heard about the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that resulted in the deaths of four Americans. It was the first in a series of riots and protests that swept through a big chunk of the world, including Pakistan, Sudan and Egypt.

At first, we were told that the riots were in response to a video that depicted Islam's Prophet Muhammed as a depraved child molester and womanizer. Others, like Sen. John McCain, said it had nothing to do with the movie but were the result of a premeditated attack sponsored by a terrorist organization. In other words, terrorism.

So the question is, was it preplanned or spontaneous?

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The White House continued to assert that it was spontaneous and tied to the film, despite claims by Libyan officials and others saying otherwise. Presidential candidate Romney has jumped on the confusion, saying that President Obama doesn't want to "level with the American people," or "come clean" about what really happened, according to ABCnews.com.

So what in the world is going on?

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If you read FoxNews.com, (which headlined their website on Thursday, Sept. 27, with "They Knew - So What Are They Hiding?"), you would be under the assumption that a huge conspiracy to hide the nature of the attacks is taking place under our very noses.

"This is turning into something not short of Benghazi-gate," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. told Fox.

Mike Huckabee had this to say on Friday:

“Let’s just get blunt. No way to sugar coat this — We’ve been lied to. We have flat-out been lied to. They know they’ve lied,” Huckabee told Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.” “It’s as if airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center and somebody says, ‘those were just accidents. The planes veered off course.’ Everybody with two eyes and IQ above plant life understands that what happened in Egypt and what happened in Libya was not some spontaneous reaction to a stupid 13-minute video on YouTube. It was a planned, coordinated, orchestrated attack led by terrorists.”

But what would be the purpose of hiding the truth?

  • To avoid fear and panic at another terrorist attack on Sept. 11 against Americans?
  • To bring more attention to the incindiary film?
  • Or is this just semantics that is being made into a political controversy?
  • In an age of instant news gratification, we want the answers and we want them now. Is it possible that the White House is uncertain of the truth? Or information being withheld that we don't really need to know just yet?
  • Was President Obama simply waiting to use the "T" word until things were 100% confirmed?

Most recently, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated unequivocally that it was a terrorist attack, the man behind the movie has been arrested for probation violation, (he wasn't supposed to have access to the internet and was originally arrested for bank fraud), and the U.S. has reduced staff significantly in Libya after warnings that more demonstration may be scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 28.

So which one do you think it is? Is this a big deal, or have Republicans politicized it to make the president look bad? Tell us in the comments.


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