The risk of pullback

12 September 2012 By Una Galani Follow @ugalani

The death of the U.S. ambassador and three others may dampen appetite for intervention and will raise questions about aid to the wider region. Yet the West has a big stake in supporting the transition from dictatorship to peaceful democracy, even if the ride is bumpy.

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The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three embassy staff were killed in an attack on the Benghazi consulate and a safe house refuge stormed by Islamist gunmen blaming America for a film they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad.

Gunmen had attacked and set fire to the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi late on Sept. 11. California-born ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed in the assault.

The amateurish film - promoted by a U.S. pastor - portrays Mohammad as a fool, a philanderer and a religious fake. In one clip posted on YouTube, Mohammad is shown in an apparent sex act with a woman.

President Barack Obama branded the killing an “outrageous attack” and has ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide, adding that the attacks would not break the bonds between the United States and the new Libyan government.

In Egypt, demonstrators at the U.S. embassy in Cairo tore down an American flag and burned it during a protest against the film.

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has asked Washington to take legal action in the United States against makers of the film. The Muslim Brotherhood movement which propelled the president to power has called for a nationwide peaceful demonstration on Sept. 14.

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