(...) The flashpoint appeared to be the film about the Prophet Muhammad, portions of which in recent days have been circulating on the Internet. Contravening the Islamic prohibition of portraying the prophet, clips from the film show him not only as flesh and blood—but as a homosexual son of undetermined patrimony, who rises to advocate child slavery and extramarital sex, for himself, in the name of religion.

"The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others," Mrs. Clinton said Tuesday night.

"But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind," she said in reference to the attacks.

The film's 52-year-old writer, director and producer, Sam Bacile, said that he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion. "Islam is a cancer," he said in a telephone interview from his home. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie."

Mr. Bacile said he raised $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors, whom he declined to identify. Working with about 60 actors and 45 crew members, he said he made the two-hour movie in three months last year in California.

The film has been promoted by Dr. Jones, who said Tuesday that he planned to show a 13-minute trailer that night at his church in Gainesville, Fla.

"It is an American production, not designed to attack Muslims but to show the destructive ideology of Islam," he said in a statement. "The movie further reveals in a satirical fashion the life of Muhammad."

In the hours leading up to the rally in Cairo, the U.S. Embassy there invoked the First Amendment rights to free speech, but said the film constituted an abuse of those rights.

"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims—as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions," it said in a statement. "Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

It wasn't clear whether the brief invasion of U.S. Embassy grounds in Cairo—one of the largest diplomatic facilities in the world—would damage America's relationship with the new Islamist-backed Egyptian administration. (...)

A US official has been killed and another wounded as an armed mob attacked the US Consulate in Benghazi. The attack came hours after protesters stormed the US Embassy in Cairo in indignation over a US film they say insulted the Prophet Muhammad.

­“One American official was killed and another injured in the hand,” Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharef told AFP. “The other staff members were evacuated and are safe and sound.”

The attackers in Benghazi set fire to the building, according to witness reports, who say much of the consulate was burned. There were reports of gunfights between the attackers and Libyan security force. At least three members of the security forces were taken away in an ambulance, Reuters reported. (...)

Teaching People Power

Gene Sharp talks about nonviolent conflict, the Middle East, and why we need to rethink politics

Jesse Walker | February 25, 2011

Sharp didn't topple Mubarak, of course. The Egyptian people did that. What he did do was write books that activists in Egypt—like activists in other countries, from Serbia to Burma and from the Baltic states to Iran—found useful in forging their own revolutions. In an earlier age, rebels seeking strategic and tactical knowhow might have sought the advice of Che Guevara or Vo Nguyen Giap. Today they're more likely to read Gene Sharp. The differences between Che and Sharp are many, but the most important distinction may be this: Where Guevara would attempt to instruct the insurrectionists in the art of armed struggle, Sharp draws on the Gandhian tradition of organized, nonviolent noncooperation.