In February, a three-day siege ended with the deaths of seven alleged perpetrators of a murderous attack on a government agency some months beforehand.

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But Mr. Romney's suggestion the Obama administration may have had political motives in failing to initially call the siege on the U.S. consulate a terrorist attack led to one of the sharpest exchanges of the debate.

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Politicians such as Mr Advani and Mr Vajpayee, who quickly flew to the scene of the siege, made it clear to him that the attack was not to be used as an excuse for a second round of attacks on Muslims.

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