Clinton Blasts Anti-Islam Vid Blamed for Mideast Unrest: 'Disgusting and Reprehensible

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday sharply condemned the anti-Islam video blamed at least in part for sparking deadly protests against American missions in the Arab world as "disgusting and reprehensible," but said there was no justification for the violence.

"To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage," Clinton said. "But as I said yesterday there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence."

Clinton said the U.S. government "had absolutely nothing to do with this video" and absolutely rejects it content and message. Still, she said the U.S. has a "long tradition of free expression" and "we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views, no matter how distasteful they may be."

"There should be no debate about the simple proposition that violence in response to speech is not acceptable," Clinton said. "Violence we believe has no place in religion and is no way to honor religion."

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