Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in eastern Libya should “shock the conscience of people of all faiths around the world.”
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clintom statement in Washington D.C. following the assault on the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
Yesterday on our U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya was attacked. Heavily armed militants assaulted the compound and set fire to our buildings. American and Libyan security personnel battled the attackers together. Four Americans were killed. They included Shawn Smith, a Foreign Service Information Management Officer and our ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. We are still making next of kin notifications for the other two individuals.
This is an attack that should shock the conscience of people of all faiths around the world. We condemn in the strongest terms this senseless act of violence, and we sent out prayers to the families, friends and colleagues of those we’ve lost.
All over the world, every day, America’s diplomats and development experts risk their lives in the service of our country and our values because they believe that the United States must be a force for peace and progress in the world — that these aspirations are worth striving and sacrificing for. Alongside or men and women in uniform, they represent the best traditions of a bold and generous nation.
We are working to determine the precise motivations and methods of those who carried out this assault. Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior along with the protest that took place at our embassy in Cairo yesterday as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.
America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation, but let me be clear … there is not justification for this. None. Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith; and as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace.