It's not all anti-America in the Middle East

(Getty Images)

Last Friday in Benghazi, tens of thousands of pro-American protestors marched on the base of an Islamist militia suspected of involvement in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens. This, says an editorial in the Washington Post, should change the minds of those who see only "intractible anti-Americanism" in the Middle East.

In Egypt, the country's most prestigious sheiks and other Islamic leaders called the protests outside the US embassy in Cairo "shameful and contrary to Islam". Numerous commentaries in the country's newspapers added to this pushback, warning against incitement by radical groups, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

There is further import to proceedings in Cairo. The Obama administration has been working on a $1 billion debt-forgiveness deal that could help revive the Egyptian economy - but has postoponed its implementation in the wake of the Sept. 11 demonstration, perhaps wishing to deflect Republican accusations of weakness. The Washington Post says "such demagoguery ought not to derail the effort to help stabilize Egypt's economy".