If there was one thing that could permanently change the presidential election’s focus on the economy, it would be foreign policy and national security. Horrifyingly enough, our country’s 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was interrupted with just the catalyst needed to change the focus of the election.

On the 11th, protesters attacked the U.S. embassies in Cairo, Egypt, and Benghazi, Libya, by scaling the embassies’ walls and burning the American flags flying over their grounds. In Benghazi, tragedy also struck when U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack that coincided with the protests.

What were the protests all about? At first it appeared to be over an online movie trailer for a terrible-looking film entitled “Innocence of Muslims” depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in a negative light. Then the British newspaper The Independent broke a story Friday that the Obama administration had “credible information 48 hours” before protestors charged the U.S. embassy in Benghazi that “American missions may be targeted.”

This information was possibly related to Islamic extremists with connections to al-Qaeda who have reportedly been calling for revenge on U.S. attacks that included the killing of al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi. But the White House has denied they had prior information about potential retaliatory attacks on diplomatic missions.

Whatever the case, the coinciding of the attacks on September 11th and the fact that no U.S. Marine security force was present since the consulate was merely an “interim facility,” according to a Politico.com report, make the Benghazi attack one of the most troubling. Coupled with multiple flag-burnings and continuing protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Yemen and even Morocco, one can tell that we have a new foreign crisis on our hands.

The funny and terrifying part is, this is occurring after our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president supposedly fixed our relations with the Middle East.

President Obama made it a major point of the beginning of his first term to “repair” America’s relations with the countries that supposedly hated us entirely because of President Bush’s foreign policy decisions and the invasion of Iraq.

While Bush definitely had his extremely unpopular moments, it is grossly naïve for anyone to think that Obama pulling combat forces out of Iraq and delivering a major speech in Cairo would be enough to placate those in the Middle East who still bear hatred toward the U.S.

The Arab Spring revolts in the Middle East have created a certain degree of unrest and instability in countries still attempting to reform themselves away from the previous regimes and governments they overthrew. The fact that extremist Islamic groups, some who are or might be connected to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, have taken advantage of weak governments to attack American interests should not be all that surprising.

This is not to say that the work of Ambassador Stevens and others in Libya is part of a vain attempt to build a positive relationship with reforming Middle Eastern countries. However, the security of those involved must be taken into serious consideration given the simple fact that these protests and attacks happened.

People who hold the same beliefs as those who attacked us on Sept. 11, 2001, still exist in the world. They will not sit idly by as America attempts to undermine their efforts through diplomacy. If we are to succeed against them, it will take more than a few symbolic gestures to accomplish real peace and friendliness within and with the Middle East.

Greg Sainer is a senior communication studies major. He can be reached at

581-2812 or [email protected].