Obama Calls on Muslim States to Protect US Diplomats

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he expected governments in the Muslim world to protect American diplomats, despite their revulsion at a film made on US soil deemed offensive to their faith.

Obama said during a taping of the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS that securing US missions overseas was a top priority, following the killings of four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya, in Benghazi last week.

The president added that “as offensive as this video was — and obviously we denounced it, the United States government had nothing to do with it — that’s never an excuse for violence.”

Excerpts of the film “Innocence of Muslims,” produced by a small group of US-based extremist Christians, appeared on YouTube and sparked a contagion of violence against American installations in the Arab world.