Libyan Attacks On US Consulate Spark Debate – Wingin’ It Wednesday

"Mornings With Ken and Bernie” saw an impassioned edition of "Wingin’ It Wednesday” today surrounding the Libyan attack on an American consulate that resulted in the death of four Americans. Though we had other topics planned, this debate was just too good to leave. Panelists Carol Ross, Warren Caudle, and Mike Stagg  joined us...

Here’s what the panel had to say:

1. Libyan security officials say American diplomats were warned about potential violent unrest in Benghazi three days before a fiery attack on the U.S. consulate, but officials in the U.S. continue to insist that the killings were the result of spontaneous protests that erupted after an anti-Muslim video was posted on YouTube. Your thoughts on the attack.  Planned or spontaneous?

Warren led off:

At this point it really doesn’t matter, but it's probably a little bit of both. Most of those things in those countries don't just happen without anybody knowing about it, but they get so much different intelligence that comes in there from different sources from different people. It's not the amount you get, but how you separate it; what you believe and what you don't believe.

Mike Stagg added:

I think there's a mixture of spontaneity and planning here, but this movie and this whole notion here that somehow we have the right to mock other peoples religion is a dangerous game particularly in the world we live in today.

The idea that you can get away with insulting people in a fundamentalist culture, it's just not possible to escape without a cost. Other people pay the price for your impunity. Unfortunately that's what happened.

Carol Ross countered:

I would remind everyone that there's a Broadway show right now called the “Book of Mormon” that does nothing but mock Morman Religion. I would remind people that everyday you see people mocking Christians and you don't see Christians going around burning things.

What's really important here is -- what did our State Department know? When did they know it? What did they take seriously, what did they just shrug off, and what about the reaction that they now have – that they had the information, that they were warned in advance?

Click on the play button below for the complete audio.

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you think about today’s Wingin’ It Wednesday topic. What do you think needs to be done in Libya? Let us know in the comment section.