The assassination of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the murder of three other embassy personnel in Libya, along with the riot at our embassy in Egypt, were carefully planned attacks meant to challenge America’s presence and influence in both nations. They weren’t spontaneous protests against the otherwise-unnoticed video mocking Islam. The film was an excuse, not a reason for the attacks.

There is no coincidence that the Egyptian rioters tore down an American flag inside our embassy compound and raised the black flag of al Qaeda in its place on the 11th anniversary of 9/11. Though Americans still remember 9/11, the date’s significance is far greater now to our enemies than it is to us. The brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was reportedly present at the Cairo riot.