Religious Protesters Kill US Ambassador To Libya

Christopher Stevens, the US Ambassador to Libya, was killed outside the American consulate in Benghazi in an assault that killed three others Wednesday. He was 52.

President Obama was quick to condemn the attacks.

"I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America's commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives."

The attacks were apparently in response to an independent anti-Muslim film by Florida pastor Terry Jones called The Innocence of Muslims that many found blasphemous. Response to the film included the storming of the American embassy in Cairo yesterday, where protesters desecrated an American flag.

You might remember Terry Jones (not of Monty Python fame) as the same man who caused unrest in the Arab world by his promises to burn a Quaran. Again, because of a conservative evangelical pastor, the United States is caught in the intersection of First Amendment free speech rights, which we hold sacred, and foreign policy.

While free speech is one of the most American of rights, we have never been afraid to put limits on speech. In Schenck vs. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court said that speech can be limited when it may pose a clear and present danger to American citizens. That opinion was later narrowed in Brandenburg vs. Ohio, that holds that government cannot limit speech unless it is directed towards inciting imminent lawless action. There isn't a clear foreign policy application for either of these decisions - but in light of the impact of Terry Jones actions, perhaps there should be.

In a cooly calculated response, presidential challenger Mitt Romney issued a statement before the murder of Ambassador Stevens, sharply criticizing Mr. Obama's foreign policy.

"It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."

It is interesting that this statement came before an official statement from the White House, and ahead of the assassination of Mr. Stevens. Strong words from someone who does not have a clear foreign policy.

Most American embassies in the Middle East resemble fortresses, with a maze of checkpoints, searches and metal detectors that visitors are forced to go through before visiting the ambassador or diplomatic staff. In the U.S. embassy in Lebanon, a car ride from the front entrance of the embassy to the ambassador's quarters is necessary, all within an enclosed compound. Diplomatic staff rarely venture from the compound.

After the recent unrest in Libya, for an American ambassador to be that exposed is unthinkable.

This is now a Libyan Civil War.

Robert Fisk today has an eye-opening story in The Independent about the state of Libya. He speaks of near chaos on the border as 10s of thousands try to leave the country beleaguered by internal conflict for over two weeks. What authorities remain there try to keep refugees supplied with water and food. In the mean time, state media within Libya continues to repeat the assertion that the global press is lying about conditions in the North African country and that the protests were small, localized disturbances encouraged by al Qaeda and hallucinogenic drugs.



Opposition protesters have received weapons training, according to Al Jazeera English, and have volunteered to march on Tripoli. The leaders and organizers of the anti-Gaddafi forces have for the time being decided to fortify and garrison the town of Benghazi.

In the meantime, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's leader, clings to power and title in the capitol of Tripoli. Today he addressed the public with a rambling, two-hour speech in which he reiterated that the protests were encouraged by al Qaeda and claimed that he was the only barrier preventing terrorism from entering southern and western Europe.

Gaddafi forces have engaged the opposition in brutal ground assaults, briefly retaking the city of Brega before the opposition apparently took it back. Though the opposition has the arsenal and numbers to protect itself from ground attack it has no answer to the Libyan air force which has inflicted casualties on protesters in support of Colonel Gaddafi. Gaddafi is also attacking oil producing areas in order to put economic pressure on the West.

As the border system collapses and panic sweeps over some of the population, the opposition stands strong, and Colonel Gaddafi is still in denial. Gaddafi still has a military force of around 10,000 trained troops, and anti-Gaddafi forces have more numbers but less firepower. Neither side recognized the authority of the other, and neither has sovereignty over Libya at this particular moment. Therefore, I conclude that we are witnessing a civil war.

US Gov't to Gaddafi: Will You Please Go Now?

Finally, after days of seeking international consensus and patiently escalating sanctions, the Obama Administration has called for Muammar Gaddafi to step down from the Libyan presidency and leave his country.



This statement may be a little late in the game as Gaddafi has already seen most of his country fall into opposition hands. The opposition movement now plans a march on the capitol, Tripoli.



The statement by Secretary of State Clinton comes after the United States failed to publically call for the end of regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. It is unclear whether the American statements will affect conditions within Libya, however it may lead to more international cooperation to increase external pressures on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, his family and his associates.

The success of the Libyan revolution comes in the face of violent attacks from the regime upon the protesters, including air strikes, tank battles and hired thugs imported from other west-African countries to enter Libyan cities and brutalize pro-democracy groups.

...and now, Libya

Today the northern African nation of Libya stands on the brink of revolution after pro-democracy protests in Egypt and Tunisia succeeded in recent weeks. The revolt started with demonstrations against the 41-year dictatorship of Muammar al-Ghaddafi in the Libyan town of Benghazi. Since the protests began last week, they have grown in power and support, sweeping into the capitol of Tripoli.



Today's reports put the protest death toll estimates somewhere between 230 and 400 people. The secret police of Ghaddafi's regime have been far less hesitant to use force against the protesters. Despite the show of violence by the regime, recent reports claim military defections to the protesters' side and government buildings in the capitol on fire.

Ghaddafi's son appeared on television to try to put down the protests, claiming the country would be hurled toward civil war and that the protests were to create an Islamic emirate in Libya.

Though Libya has very high oil revenues, the country also suffers more than 20% unemployment, one of the factors that contributed to the fall of the regimes in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.

Bahrain Explodes

The small Persian Gulf country of Bahrain has witnessed anti-monarchy protests against the government of the Khalifa family there. The situation inside the key US ally escalated as the government opened fire on protesters yesterday, killing 3 and injuring many.



Today the protesters returned to the Pearl Roundabout, a location that has become their country's Tahrir Square, only to be assaulted once more by government forces. These assaults come despite requests from the United States that the Khalifa family show mercy and tolerance for the peaceful protesters. This chilling tweet from the New York Times Nicholas Kristof came amidst the chaos:

Panicked crowds running thru hospital after police attack. Drs rushing to ER. Tear gas grenades outside, wafting in.

Clearly, the United States is in another bind - support peace and democracy and lose a key ally, or support violent dictators and keep an important geostrategic foothold in the Persian Gulf?

Photo thanks to Al Jazeera English, whose excellent live blog can be found here.

Police storm protesters in Bahrain, at least 2 dead

Two to three hours ago police stormed the Pearl roundabout in Manama, Bahrain where peaceful demonstrators are camped out in protest of the dictatorial al-Khalifa family in power there. Al Jazeera English has the story (as usual):



This follows recent crackdowns on protesters by the regimes in Iran and Libya, which were condemned by the United States government. I would not expect such a condemnation from the Obama Administration over Bahrain, however, since the small island nation in the Persian Gulf is a key regional ally and the command base of the US 5th Naval Fleet.

Bahrain is one of the places from which the United States hopes to contain Iranian influence. Losing it as an ally would be a detriment to an already crumbling American hegemony in the region.

The People Have Toppled the Regime

After 3 weeks of protest the regime of Hosni Mubarak has crumbled, fallen under the weight of a united people seeking greater freedom and prosperity for their country. This is certainly a development that will have aftershocks throughout the Middle East. No longer are Middle Eastern dictators and strongmen safe, even if they are supported by western powers.



Some pundits call this the Middle East's Berlin Wall moment. It certainly has deep consequences on the potential for democracy in the Middle East and whether the 'global war on terror' perpetrated by the West against Islam and the Arab people was necessary in the first place.

There is real fear that this revolution might be exported around the region to places with long-standing authoritarian governments like the Assad regime in Syria, the Hashemite Monarchy of Jordan and the Saudi family's control of Saudi Arabia. None of these regimes should be assumed to be safe. After all, just a few months ago the Egyptian government was thought to be one of the most stable and entrenched in the entire region, and now people are dancing in the streets of Cairo celebrating its collapse.

There is also legitimate concern that western powers may try to form a vanguard of democratic revolution from the remnants of the movements in Tunisia and Egypt. I have serious doubts as to whether such an arrangement would be possible, but I have no doubts as to the likelihood of such an plan to fail. The only way democratic movements will work in the Middle East is for the people of these countries to lead themselves to their own freedom.

After the re-establishment of the Shah in Iran in 1953 by the United States and a long history of involvement and interference in the political affairs of the region by colonial powers like Britain and France, the people won't accept revolution pushed by the United States. The most responsible and effective policy seems to be the one Barack Obama has already taken - let the people decide for themselves.

What is Mubarak thinking?

By now everyone has heard of Hosni Mubarak's speech to the people of Egypt. The defiant dictator refused to step down from Egypt's presidency in the face of massive protests and a crippling general strike.



What happened last night in Egypt/this morning in the US caused a great deal of confusion. Multiple leaks to the media from the military and other cabinet members insinuated that the Egyptian president would address his people and announce that he was stepping down from his post, turning the country over to Vice President Suleiman and the leaders of the military.

In response, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians made their way in celebration to Tahrir Square (Tahrir translates to 'liberation'). There they rejoiced and sang, danced and smiled with the feeling that their weeks of protest and struggle had finally come to fruition.

When Mubarak did finally speak, refused to step down and furthermore blamed foreign intervention for the deeply held feelings of his own people, he basically stuck up his middle finger at the demonstrators in Egypt. Needless to say, their response was not a happy one.



Mubarak has become a symbol of absolutism, a Sun King for the Muslim world, and Egyptians will not suffer his heavy-handed rule for much longer.

Now we are a few short hours away from sunrise on Friday. Fridays in the Middle East are kind of like Sundays in the West - people traditionally do not work on Fridays. They do, however, congregate and protest en masse before and after Friday prayers. With the anger at a tipping point after Mubarak's blatant disregard for the needs and wishes of his people, the sun could be about to rise on the final day of his regime - and his final disposition might not be one of his own choosing.

The only other possibility is that Mubarak wants his fall to be a bloody one, to go out in a blaze of glory. If that is the case, then he has revealed himself to be a violent, decietful and hateful individual that Egypt - and the US - and the whole world - might do better without.

Clashes rage in Tahrir Square - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Clashes rage in Tahrir Square - Middle East - Al Jazeera English



Every indication on the ground is that these 'counter protesters' are actually thugs hired and paid by the government of Hosni Mubarak. Earlier today they erupted in a cavalry charge across the main protest area in Tahrir square on horseback and camel back attacking the mostly peaceful demonstrators there. Not only are they whipping and immolating protesters in Tahrir Square, but they are also throwing molitov cocktails into the museums and destroying the cultural heritage of Egypt.

Again, this is not really a segment of the population demonstrating in support of Mubarak, according to international media and protesters on the ground - these are men hired to create chaos and injury to the population of Egypt.

Reports are out that pro-Mubarak groups are paying counter-protesters as much as two weeks worth of wages to take to the streets and act against the pro-democracy rallies in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.