Attacks place U.S. foreign policy at the centre of presidential race

WASHINGTON — The attacks on U.S. outposts in the Middle East dogged the presidential campaign Thursday as violence spread to Yemen and U.S. President Barack Obama accused Republican rival Mitt Romney of lacking judgment in foreign affairs.

The recriminations heated up as angry demonstrators in Yemen attacked the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa and burned a flag. One protester was reported to have been shot and killed.

The attacks, which began Tuesday in Cairo and Libya, leading to the deaths of four U.S. diplomats, have placed foreign policy front and centre in the campaign, giving both candidates a new platform on which to attack each other.

Obama has accused Romney of politicizing a tragedy and distorting the facts of the administration’s response while Romney accused Obama of apologizing for American values instead of condemning the attacks.

Romney originally claimed that a statement issued Tuesday by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo amounted to an apology for the U.S. constitution and right of free speech.

The embassy statement had condemned “efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” The statement was made in an attempt to cool rising tensions in Cairo over what protesters claimed was an inflammatory antiMuslim film on the Internet.

“We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others,” the statement said.

After the statement was made, rioters breached the outer walls of the embassy and in Libya armed militants attacked a small U.S. mission in Benghazi, killing U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

Soon after the attack, the embassy issued a Twitter statement that it still stood by its earlier statement.

The White House quickly stated that it had not cleared the statement and that it did not reflect its views.

But Romney attacked Obama, saying his “first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” In fact, both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Obama had earlier condemned the attack.

Clinton noted that while some people connected the attacks to “inflammatory material posted on the Internet,” there is “no justification for this. “

“Violence like this is no way to honour religion or faith and as long as there are those who will take innocent life in the name of God the world will never know a true and lasting peace,” she said.

Still, Romney repeated his attacks on the embassy statement in a news conference later Wednesday.

He said “the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions.”

“It’s never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Amer- icans and to defend our values,” Romney continued. Then he criticized Obama administration “for the mixed signals they’re sending to the world.”

He outlined what he called the “three branches” of his own foreign policy: “confidence in our cause,” “clarity in our purpose” and “resolve in our might.”

He added that in “those rare circumstances” when the U.S. decides to use military might, “we do so with overwhelming force.”

On Thursday, Clinton condemned the anti-Muslim American-made film on the Internet as “disgusting and reprehensible.”