I agree much of it is conjecture.
The apology report was early this morning (hence my reference to "early reports") and I could not find it later in the day. I think it may have been a misreading or misreporting by a reporter of the semi-apology to Egypt a day or two ago. Or, perhaps the reporter thought that the Egypt apology made us look weak, and facilitated the Libya attack, but just did a poor job of stating it. I don't think it was necessarily a factual report, but it was reported all the same.
The State department website had the Egypt thing.
But, I have a couple of relatives who were in Libya for years, and the freedoms they report weren't so many as we have here - by any measure. I think when you're a citizen of a place, you're unaware - like a fish is unaware of water - but when you go as a visitor, you notice all the restrictions you didn't have at home. So other places always *seem* more restrictive than home. You know - you're used to wearing a Burqua, but not having to wear a seatbelt - the seatbelt law seems very restrictive.
No argument on the lousy-reporting issue. I've lived through a few international events and watched how they were reported here. I *know* it's abysmal.