"The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video," Clinton said today at the State Department. Clinton called the video"disgusting and reprehensible," and on no way reflects the viewsof the United States. "We have the greatest respect for people of faith,' Clinton said."This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to havea deeply cynical purpose, to denigrate a great religion and topromote rage." Still, Clinton said the video in no way justifies violence against diplomatic offices in Egypt, Yemen, and Libya; that last assault killed four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens. "There is no justification, none at all, to respond to this video with violence," Clinton said. "We condemn this violence in the strongest terms." U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other embassy staff were killed in an attack in Benghazi, during whicharmed militants raided the embassy Tuesday night, amid protests apparently due to outrage linked to the American video posted online that many Muslims have found offensive. The film's almost 14-minute trailer, which is still on YouTube, shows people acting as violent Muslims, taking their aggression out on Christians and women. Clinton stressed that the U.S. has a history of free expression, and the government does not stop individuals from expressing their views, "no matter how distasteful they may be," Still, Clinton said, "violence in response to speech is not acceptable." Protests continued on Thursday outside the U.S. embassy in Cairoas demonstrators demanded an apology from the U.S. for the video. And protesters in Yemen stormed the U.S. embassy there, setting fire to a building and burning the U.S. flag, raising instead a black banner bearing Islam's declaration of faith:"There is no God but Allah."
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