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Subscribe to RSSHisham Melhem of al-Arabiya and Jim Zogby of the Arab American Institute discuss the wave of anti-U.S. sentiment across the Middle East and North Africa with NBC News' Andrea Mitchell.
Updated at 5:40 p.m. ET: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and other top diplomatic and security officials will huddle this week with lawmakers for a closed-door meeting on growing anti-U.S. violence in the Middle East and northern Africa, officials told NBC News on Tuesday.
The classified briefing was put together for House members after al-Qaida in the Maghreb, the North African branch of the terrorist group, published a call for followers to launch attacks on U.S. embassies and to kill U.S. diplomats.
The statement appeared to have been published Saturday, but it didn't come to widespread Western attention until Tuesday, when the Middle East monitoring service IntelCenter alerted its clients to the threat's appearance on a militant website. It called for attacks on U.S. interests around the world, but especially in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania.
The statement called the assassination last week of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, a "gift" that would "bring the Americans to the path of salvation and stop their war against Muslims."
Stevens was killed in a raid on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, along with three consulate staff members.
Clinton didn't mention the briefing in remarks to reporters in Mexico City, where she is holding talks with Mexican leaders on drug-interdiction strategies, but she said: "We are taking aggressive steps to protect our people and our consulates and embassies around the world.
"We are reviewing our security posture at every post and working with host governments to be sure they know what our security needs are wherever necessary," she said. "I think that it is important at this moment for leaders to put themselves on the right side of this debate — to speak out clearly and unequivocally against violence, whoever incites it or conducts it "
Egypt issues arrest warrant for Terry Jones over video
The rise in violence has coincided with anger in the Muslim world after the publication on YouTube of a short trailer for an unreleased movie called "Innocence of Muslims," which depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a gay, wife-beating child abuser. At least 28 deaths — including those of Stevens and the three other Americans last week — have been attributed to riots and violence in at least 20 countries in reaction to the video.
In Afghanistan, NATO forces enacted tighter security measures Tuesday after rioters attacked police on a road to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and a suicide bomber blew up a bus near the Kabul airport, killing 12 foreign workers in an attack that Islamist militants said was in retaliation for the blasphemous video.
Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led contingent overseeing security in Afghanistan, told NBC News that the measures would put a temporary halt to joint operations with Afghan forces unless they were approved by a regional commander at the level of a general.
"We did a very thorough assessment," Collins said. "We looked at where we are right now with this video being out and some heightened tensions.
"We just thought it would be smartest on a temporary basis to reduce the amount of exposure of our troops in certain areas," he said.
More than 50 international troops have been killed this year in so-called green-on-blue attacks carried out by Afghan forces or militants disguised in Afghan uniforms.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Democracy declined worldwide in 2011 with Arab Spring at risk, watchdog says
- 132 inmates tunnel out of Mexico prison near US border
- Fresh anti-Japan protests erupt in China
- Islamist militants attack Egypt security headquarters in Sinai
- NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin in Benghazi answers questions about attack
- In Niger, child marriage on rise due to hunger
- Pope tells Christians in Beirut: 'Be peacemakers'
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What a waste of time. They hate us. They have always hated us and will always hate us. There is absolutely nothing we can do about it. They are not going to change their ways and neither will we. The only thing to keep the peace is seperation.
Yea......a meeting. My email worked. Lol. I really believe Hilary Clinton is a great woman and I support her efforts 100%. Someone needed to call a meeting.
A closed door meeting. Wouldn't want the masses to find out how badly they've screwed the pooch.
Topic of the briefing..
Muslim activists are out there trying to kill us!!
Those folks in the middle east are not our friends, they do not like us, they do not want us there. So why don"t we leave? Why are we giving any kind of aid to any of them, when our diplomats are being murdered, our embassies being threatened and or burned down, our flag being trampled up on. Our troops being killed by our supposed allies. This is all nuts . Time to get out of there. They hate us period.
Monitoring closely, for the film being politically driven, without over-reacted responses on our side, making sure communicating with the other sides, it is at the time of the election year. The film is quick, cheap, and director-deceived-stars. And when the director got caught, he has no nerve to show the world how he looks like. The hidden motives may be more just stirring up the responses of the anti-Isalmic problems.
I think the whole intent of the movie was to stir up exactly the trouble that is now happening. He should be tried for treason and fried in the electric chair once for every human being that gets killed over this.
Hold a closed briefing with American tax payer dollars about anti-U.S. violence.
Don't worry. It doesn't concern you. Only your tax dollars need to know.
The topic of this closed door session will be how to control American Citizens if they too decide to remove their own corrupt oppressive government.
Yep. And how to manipulate the news so it doesn't keep Obummer from being re-elected.
Message to Obama -
1.Stop apologizing for free speech and start defending it.
2.Start pointing out the unbelievable amount of hate speech and programming pouring out of the arab-muslim media 24-7/365.THATS' the media problem,not that cheeseball video and certainly not FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
The incredible hypocrisy of going ballistic over that video while their own media has been pumping out racist,hateful violent cartoons,films,speeches,articles and videos every single day for decades shows you how insane they are.
Upon the subject or Capitalism vs Communism it really depends on which one you started with as to how the outcome is to be determined.
" It is America's thurst for drugs that is causing all the violence in Mexico!"
................................Hillary Clinton
So 100% of Americans are drug addicts?
This hag hasn't a clue about Mexico or America.
The US has messed up the middle east and now it has it's 'pivot towards Asia' when it's finished messing up Asia , which has already began with the US stirring up of the South China sea then the third world war will begin and the US will be no more. Then we can thank god.