The time is well past for our government to realize the futility in wasting aid dollars on these duplicitous nations.
Bill Johnston, Cheyney
Western nations should respond
Until proper action is taken by the governments of Egypt and Libya, the country that our Air Force helped liberate, all civilized Western nations should remove their diplomatic personnel from those countries. In addition, they should halt any and all financial aid.
Ken Davis, Elkins Park
Lapse in security
Where were the Marine guards? If there were none assigned to this consulate facility, the person responsible for this lapse in security should be fired and an immediate evaluation of the posting of Marines should be undertaken. Whether or not Marines would have been a deterrent or could have beaten back the attack will never be known, but not having them at the facility was a huge mistake, paid for in blood by four Americans.
Timothy W. Byrne, Wayne
Campaigning after attacks
A U.S. ambassador and three other State Department personnel are killed in Libyan rioting. An embassy in Egypt is attacked and the U.S. flag is burned and replaced by the flag of Islamic extremists. The next day, the U.S. embassy in Yemen is under attack by angry Islamists, and a cautious warning is issued that tensions are rising throughout the Mideast.
On Sept. 11, 2001, after President George W. Bush was advised of the attacks on the World Trade Center, he continued for a short period of time to read to kindergarten students, for which he was viciously criticized. Today, with events rapidly unfolding across the Mideast, events for which we should have been better prepared, where is President Obama? Off on a campaign tour of Western states. One can only imagine the headlines if Bush were still in office.
Phillip Remstein, King of Prussia
Differing views of religion
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the so-called offensive video was just an excuse for the terrorists to attack our embassies and for the cowardly slaughter of unarmed Americans.
The terrorists' view of their religion is significantly different from Christian and Jewish religions. After all, we didn't riot and attack the Democratic convention when the party dropped from its platform a reference to God and declined to name Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. They were eventually included, after three floor votes and despite much opposition.
Bill Lee, Ocean View Del.
Facts are irrelevant
Trudy Rubin's commentary on the violence in Libya and Egypt expresses my sentiments accurately, with one caveat ("What U.S. leaders must do to answer the violence," Thursday). The people in these countries hate us. They hate all non-Muslims. I remember an interview that columnist Tom Friedman did after 9/11 with a group of educated Middle Easterners. They all believed that 9/11 was the result of an Israeli plot. The facts were irrelevant. The important thing is what they believe, regardless of fact-based content.
Andrew J. Anderson, Marlton
