God is Great!

U.S. ambassador J. Christopher Stevens died from suffocation during the Benghazi attack on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 by armed Islamic militants.

Playing with fire is dangerous…especially when it involves Old Glory; and what goes around…:

A Pakistani protestor has died after inhaling smoke from burning U.S. flags during a rally against the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims.

Abdullah Ismail died in Mayo hospital in Lahore having complained of feeling unwell during the angry demonstrations in the eastern Pakistan city yesterday.

Around 10,000 people are estimated to have taken part in the protest organised by the group Tehreek Hurmat-i-Rasool.

It’s unfortunate that Abdullah Ismail died over this. But then, all the deaths that are a result of those in Perpetual Outrage is unfortunate. Ismail could have been simply anyone on scene, for all I know. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, on the other hand, deserves the wrath of karma:

A number of religious leaders addressed the rally including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, head of the Jamatud Dawa organisation – one of the largest and most active militant Islamist groups in South Asia.

He claimed the film had been produced with the backing of the U.S. establishment.

He said director Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and others involved in its production and release must be hanged.

According to the Express Tribune he told protestors: ‘The U.S. must make a law against blasphemy – or we will not let the U.S. consulates in Pakistan function.’

He also dismissed the value of the resolution made on September 13 by parliament which condemning the movie. He said the country’s president Asif Ali Zardari must announce jihad against countries such as the U.S. who ‘support attacks on Islam’.

More protests in Pakistan, and more mayhem and death:

Several hundred demonstrators in the northwestern part of the country clashed with police after setting fire to a press club and a government building.

The protesters apparently attacked the press club in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Upper Dir district because they were angry their rally wasn’t getting more coverage, according to the police.

I the town of Wari officers charged a crowd, beating protesters back with batons, police official Mukhtar Ahmed said.

The demonstrators then attacked an office belonging to a senior government official and surrounded a local police station, where officers locked themselves in.

Another protester died when police and demonstrators exchanged fire in the city, and several others were wounded, police spokesman Akhtar Hayat said.

In the southern city of Karachi Hundreds battled police for a second day as they tried to reach the U.S. Consulate.

Police lobbed tear gas and fired in the air to disperse the protesters from the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Police arrested 40 students, but no injuries were reported.

Pakistanis have also held many peaceful protests against the film, including one in the southwest town of Chaman, attended by around 3,000 students and teachers.

The chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the government’s telecommunications authority to block access to the film.

Government officials have said they are trying to block the video, as well as other content considered blasphemous, but it is still viewable on YouTube today.

Attempts at censoring the video only feeds into the wild conspiracy theories and imaginings that abound in the Middle East. I wonder how many of the protestors have actually watched the entire thing for themselves? At most, it’s sooo badly done, it’s worth throwing a shoe at the computer monitor; or spitting up coffee all over the keyboard. But rioting and calling for death?

God is not on their side.

Meanwhile, the unrest that the video sparked in Egypt and the attack in Benghazi, and the protests among Islamists isn’t just about Islam. It’s about anti-Americanism in general, as demonstrated by the reaction of some in China (note also the photo’s misuse traced back to a French news blog).