SECRETARY CLINTON: Good evening, and even though I am many weeks overdue in saying it: Eid Mubarak. No matter how belated were honoring Eid and the end regarding Ramadan, this is a cherished tradition you will come to the State Department. And I want to thank all of you for being in this article, including the many members of this Diplomatic Corps.
Tonight, our gathering is a lot more somber than any of us would love. This comes during gloomy and difficult days for the State Department family. We misplaced four Americans. They were great and brave men. We were looking at committed to the cause of building a smarter future for the people of Libya,Foamposite cheap. And that we condemn the violence in the most powerful terms, the violence from our posts in Benghazi, in Egypt, and now in Yemen.
This Libyan ambassador is with us tonight, and I want to take a moment to thank your pet for the support that her government and the Libyan people have demonstrated to the United States in this tragedy, specially the outpouring of feelings of suffering and loss because of the getting rid of of our ambassador.
Ambassador Aujali, would you mind saying a few words?
AMBASSADOR AUJALI: Thank you very much, Secretary Clinton. Standing beside you through the Department of Talk about, it shows the world just how much the Americans are near you the Libyans and the Libya revolution. You are doing support us during the showdown, but you have to support united states during the peace. We are dealing with a very difficult time, and we require the help of friends.
It is a quite sad day for me, ever since i learned of the death of my dear friend and coworker, Ambassador Chris Stevens. I knew Joe for the last six years. All of us play tennis together, most people drive in one car, therefore we had some traditional Libyan foods in my house. I must explain to you, Madam Secretary, and tell a American people, that Chris is usually a hero. He is a real leading man. Hes the man who believes in the Libyans and the Libyan ability that they will achieve democracy after 42 many years of the dictatorship.
Now we are struggling with a serious problem, and we must maintain and we have to Chemical we need security and balance in our country. The government, sad to say, faces a serious problem, staff members and equipment. And the service of you and the friends who seem to support us during the war is very important.
I want to show you and show the American people the amount it was C we were stunned by the death of four National diplomats. It is a very sad narrative to tell. But I am sure that it's our responsibility, and the duty of the Libyan people, that we have to defend our people, we have to defend the Americans in the first place and possess to protect all the diplomatic missions that are serving in our country. I know that without the help, precise be able to do it.
I hope that the following sad incident which taken place, this terrorist attack that took place against the American consulate in Libya, it will tell us how much we must work closely. Our religion, the west, never tells us that this would be the way to express your perspective. It is C in fact (inaudible) the terrorist act. This is bound by all the world and through all the Libyans at the top level of the Libyan authority.
Please, Madam Secretary, accept our apology and accept each of our condolence for the loss of the 4 Americans, innocent people. That they lost their lives in the Libyan territory. Chris, he loves Benghazi,Nike Total Air Foamposite Max, he really loves the people, he talks to these folks, he eats with them, and he committed -- and unfortunately dropped his life because of this motivation.
Madam Secretary, thank you very much indeed. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Ambassador. I know that which was a very personal loss in your case, as it was for me. I'm the one who sent Chris to be able to Benghazi during the revolution to show assist and be able to advise our federal government about what we could do to take freedom and democracy and probability to the people of Libya.
Religious overall flexibility and religious tolerance are necessary to the stability of any land, any people. Hatred as well as violence in the name involving religion only poison the well. All people of faith plus good will know that the behavior of a small and savage group with Benghazi do not honor religion or maybe God in any way. Nor do they really speak for the more than one million Muslims around the world, many of whom have shown an outpouring of support do your best.
Unfortunately, however, over the last One day, we have also seen physical violence spread elsewhere. Some aim to justify this behavior as a response to inflammatory, despicable fabric posted on the internet. As I said previous today, the United States rejects both content and the message of the video. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the faith of others. At our meeting earlier today, my own colleague, the foreign reverend of Morocco, said that many prophets should be respected because they are many symbols of our humanity, for everyone humanity.
But both of us were crystal clear in this paramount message: There is never any justification for violent acts of this sort. And we look to leaders world wide to stand up and discuss out against violence, also to take steps to protect diplomatic missions out of attack,Air Foamposite cheap.
Think about it. When Followers are subject to insults to their religious beliefs, and that certainly happens, we expect them not to make use of violence. When Hindus or Buddhists tend to be subjected to insults to their faiths, and also that certainly happens, we count on them not to resort to assault. The same goes for all faiths, like Islam.
When all of us who are men and women of faith C and I am 1 C feel the pain of insults, of misunderstanding, of denigration to what we cherish, we must anticipate ourselves and others not to turn to violence. That is a universal normal and expectation, and it is every person's obligation to meet that, to make sure that we make no distinctions, we expect no less of ourselves than we assume of others. You cannot reply to offensive speech with hatred without begetting more violence.
And that i so strongly believe that the good religions of the world are much better than any insults. They have outlasted offense for centuries. Refraining by violence, then, is not a sign of weakness in ones belief; it is absolutely the opposite, a symptom that ones faith will be unshakable.
So tonight, we've got to come together and recommit ourselves in order to working toward a future marked through understanding and acceptance instead of distrust, hatred, and fear. We can pledge that whenever one person speaks out in ignorance along with bigotry, ten voices will reply. They will answer resoundingly about the offense and the insult, giving an answer to ignorance with enlightenment, answering hate with understanding, answering night with light; that if one person commits a violent act in the name of religion, thousands will stand up and condemn out of strength.
In these times, it can be easy to despair of which some differences are irreconcilable, a number of mountains too steep to help climb; we will therefore under no circumstances reach the level of understanding along with peacefulness that we seek, and also which I believe the great faiths of the world call us to practice. But thats not what I believe that, and I dont think this is what you believe either here this evening. Part of what makes our nation so special is we keep trying. We keep operating. We keep investing in your future. We keep helping the next generation, believing that teenagers can keep us moving forward in the positive direction.
So today I think its important that we talk not just about that superior tomorrow that we all look for, but also about some of the factors C the real, practical, touchable things C that youth are doing to help shape in which better future.
Two years previously in this room, at the Eid reception, we launched a plan called Generation Change to cause a grassroots agenda of beneficial engagement with Muslim communities. And I asked the small Muslim leaders in the audience that night to be the unofficial ambassadors, to help build personal relationships, seek out partners in other countries. And I can report to you tonite they did not disappoint. In a few minutes, youre going to meet some of these young leaders, each with a powerful narrative to tell.
The Generation Adjust network that started in this specific room now circles the earth. We are building an international partnership of young people who want to travel change in their own communities. These people act as mentors, spark polite debates, simply offer terms of encouragement when needed. But many importantly, they inspire people to keep expanding the group of mutual understanding as well as respect, one person at a time.
Even as we work to spread tolerance far more broadly, we also are working in order to deepen our appreciation to the experiences of others. Our own 2012 Hours Against Can't stand initiative encourages young people to set themselves in another persons shoes and boots through service projects. So far, young people from all over the world include pledged thousands of volunteer hrs to help people from a different history, to see them as a man human being, not a stereotype, not really a caricature, but another real live individual C people who dont look like you, live like you, wish like you, but with whom we shall share this planet. And therefore, we certainly have work to do.
People of faith and conscience are called being the leaders of patience. In my tradition, like all ways of life, we are expected to love one an additional. And together, we have to turn that into better knowing and cooperation. Im specially pleased that the young people you can hear from tonight are really location an example, not only for teenagers elsewhere in the world but, frankly, for us who are older also.
Let me now call to the issue someone who has been a tremendous assist with me in these efforts. Farah Pandith is definitely the Departments first Special Adviser to Muslim Communities. As well as from the beginning, she has made reaching out to young people and civil contemporary society her top priority. Farah will familiarize you with three young leaders who seem to I am very proud of.
September 15th, 2012 @ 05:24pm
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