(Credit: White House Flickr)

American embassies from Tunis to San’aa are under assault today from angry mobs of Islamists allegedly protesting a poorly made YouTube film that offends the Prophet Mohammed.

Reports from a variety of outlets, including a potential bombshell by the UK’s Independent, make clear these are targeted assaults organized by anti-American groups, not simply a grassroots reaction to an offensively (bad) movie.

But the Obama administration continues to cling to the notion that all of these assaults on American embassies are not actually directed at America. So says White House Press Secretary Jay Carney:

CARNEY: We also need to understand that this is a fairly volatile situation and it is in response not to United States policy, and not to, obviously, the administration, or the American people, but it is in response to a video, a film that we have judged to be be reprehensible and disgusting. That in no way justifies any violent reaction to it, but this is not a case of protests directed at the United States writ large or at U.S. policy, this is in response to a video that is offensive to Muslims.

With reports of 400 attackers with RPGs and AK-47s storming the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing the ambassador, attacking the State Department’s safe house and making off with sensitive documents, it strains credulity to call it a response to an internet video.

The Obama administration is increasingly coming off as Carter-esque in their handling of this situation. If the Independent’s report holds up that they had warning 48 hours prior to the attacks and did nothing, we honestly don’t see how Obama can hope to win re-election.

How were American embassies and consulates not on high alert on the anniversary of 9/11?