Yesterday’s violent protests in Egypt and Libya that led to the deaths of four U.S. State Department diplomats, including U-S Ambassador Chris Stevens, in the Libyan city of Benghazi were spurred in-part by a film that portrayed the Islamic Prophet Muhammad as a fraud and a womanizer.
This isn’t the first time those in Middle East have taken up arms against those who ridicule their pre-dominant religion, but it is one of only a few times in modern history that American diplomats have been killed as a result of protests.
Dr. Steven Leibo, professor of international history and politics at the Sage Colleges, and regular WAMC commentator says this latest violence in Cairo and Benghazi is indicative of the political chaos that has engulfed the region since the beginning of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’. He spoke with WAMC’s Patrick Donges.