The wave of violence that engulfed the Muslim world in the aftermath of the release of a video insulting Prophet Muhammad has receded. But there is far more to this sad episode than meets the eye.
The history of the video belies a murky origin and suggests a deliberate attempt to fan the flames of outrage. Questions also swirl around the Sept. 11 attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other American officials were killed. There can be no good answers.
The protests that began that day were triggered by a movie, "The Innocence of Muslims," which was released in the U.S. last year. Excerpts were uploaded to the Internet during the summer, but the troubles began when an Arabic-dubbed version of those excerpts was released early this month. Those film clips — like the entire film — mock and vilify Muhammad as a womanizer, a buffoon and a child molester.