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The deaths of the US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other consular staff on Tuesday September 11th has sparked a strong reaction from Washington, with the deployment of US Marines, warships, and unmanned drones to the area. The US Embassy in Benghazi was attacked by a rocket propelled grenade leading to the deaths, possibly by asphyxiation, of Ambassador Stevens and others. The protests were in response to a 14 minute US-made anti-Islam film posted online. Earlier that same day, there were protests against the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, where portions of the film were aired on Television.

The film, called “The Innocence of Muslims,” whose origins are still shrouded in mystery, is supposedly the work of an American Los Angeles based business man originally thought to be Jewish Israeli American, now considered to be a Coptic Christian, operating under the pseudonym of Sam Bacile. His film depicts Prophet Mohammad as a philanderer, child molester, womanizer, and murderer. YouTube has now taken down the offending video but clips of the film are still showing up online. Bacile has been reported in an interview as saying “Islam is a cancer.” The actors in the film allege that they had no idea the film was about the Prophet Mohammad and in fact it is clear that post-production editing has been used to insert in references to the Prophet.

The protests have now spread to a number of countries with Muslim populations, including Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Sudan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Malaysia, Pakistan and even Indian-controlled Kashmir. The US Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen was stormed yesterday with protesters burning American flags – two people were killed in the protests. And the embassy in Egypt has faced protests for four days straight. US diplomatic missions in the broader Middle East region are on high alert for more violence.

While the Obama administration has been strong in its condemnation of the Libya Embassy attacks, it has also denounced the video. The day after the attack, Obama said “The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack… make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the film “disgusting and reprehensible,” and added “[t]he U.S. government had absolutely nothing to do with this video.” Meanwhile GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has come under fire for his criticism of Obama’s response. He said it was “disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”

GUEST: Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he chairs the program in Middle Eastern Studies