The mass murder imminent in Benghazi was prevented. And the UN continues to demand of Gaddafi that he not unleash animal brutality on peacefully protesting Libyans. Armed rebels in Libya have done a swift job of retaking all the territory they had lost.
But now is time for some shift in strategy. Instead of relying solely on military advances, the rebels have to consolidate. They have to organize massive peaceful demonstrations against Gaddafi in all towns and cities they control. The people of Libya have to come out into the streets in large numbers.
The idea is to inspire the people in Tripoli to also come out into the streets. When they first came out, Gaddafi basically declared war on them. And they went into hiding. Now they have to muster the strength all over again. They need to come out all over again. This time if Gaddafi performs a repeat the UN sanctioned powers have to do in Tripoli what they did in Benghazi. Bomb all government installations in Tripoli so as to destroy completely all command and control structures in Gaddafi's army.
The next phase of the drive against dictator Gaddafi has to be nonviolent consolidation of gains made so far.
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe idea never was to bomb Gaddafi into submission. The military action has been designed to make sure he does not unleash animal brutality upon peaceful protesters. Otherwise there were mass protests already in Tripoli. Once Gaddafi has been neutralized, the thing for the Libyan opposition to do is to organize peaceful protests all over again, with the international community standing by. Could you bring a hundred thousand people out into the streets of Tripoli? That is the question. The idea is not for the Libyan opposition to outgun Gaddafi's forces. That never was the idea. The idea always was to win through nonviolent methods.
Come out into the streets all over again. Do it again in Benghazi. Organize peaceful marches in support of democracy. Do that is cities all across Libya. Finally do it in Tripoli. Gaddafi has to go. That is the only acceptable outcome.
Days of military action followed by a few weeks of nonviolent street action. That is the recipe for success. Image by Getty Images via @daylife
And if Gaddafi performs a repeat and unleashes animal brutality upon those peaceful protesters, take him out. Sometimes you don't get to take the criminal to court. He gets gunned down because he decided to fight to the end.
Image by US Army Korea - IMCOM via FlickrGaddafi not only did not respect the UN Security Council resolution, he lied about it first, then openly came out not only defying it, but also went on to threaten Europe. Attacking his troops that have encircled Benghazi is not sufficient. Because the orders are not coming from the outskirts of Benghazi. The orders for those military acts are coming from Tripoli. It is fundamentally important to destroy the command and control centers that are based in Tripoli. All that infrastructure that makes it possible for Gaddafi to make his ground maneuvers have to be destroyed.
The no fly zone has been announced. If Gaddafi continues to fly planes, shoot them down. Bomb the airports that those planes came out of. Bomb the air bases. Bomb the control towers. Bomb the command center in Tripoli.
If you only bomb the planes in the sky, you are agreeing to play the cat and mouse game that Gaddafi wants to play with you. When he announced a ceasefire he lied. That was his way of saying just give me 48 more hours, and I will have Benghazi by then. Then there would be nothing for you to do.
This dude is not going to do the ceasefire thing. It is the nature of the beast. Image by Abode of Chaos via Flickr
You bomb the planes in the sky. And if there are reports - as there are - that he has, if anything, accelerated military action on the ground, then that would be a clear signal that he has not understood the concept of the no fly zone. The concept is to protect Libyan civilians. If he continues to attack civilians, you look for all movements on the ground by the Gaddafi forces, and you conduct aerial strikes upon them. There are open roads that his forces use. They are not hard to find. These are not exactly the jungles of Vietnam. There is nowhere to hide. This is a freaking desert. There are open skies.
But if there is action on the ground on his part, you attack his military establishments in Tripoli. You hit the core of his military organization. You hit the presidential palace, because that is where the orders are coming from.
All this until all military action on his part ceases, not very likely. Instead the guy is threatening to go into a whole different direction. He is threatening military action against France.
It is like this. A criminal with a gun is on rampage at a department store. The police decide to take action. When he is finally surrounded and it is decided gunning him down is the only way to end the rampage, he sends a message that he is going to come next for the police station - maybe he will blow up the building - if the police try to gun him down.
Do you weigh his words? Do you want to think if it is worth taking the chances? Or do you get further confirmed in your suspicious that what you are facing is a criminal?
Gaddafi has done what Bin Laden did not do. At least Bin Laden went into hiding before he started issuing his tireless fatwas. Gaddafi is issuing his threats against entire countries and he is doing it without going into hiding.
This guy is not the president of Libya. He has no formal title. By his own admission he has no claim to any kind of representation to Libyan sovereignty. This guy is a criminal first, last and foremost.
It is not Al Qaeda that took over Benghazi. The people who took over Benghazi are people who aspire to turn Libya into a modern democracy. I wish that upon all Arab countries.
The uprising in Benghazi was not violent. Gaddafi's army units in Benghazi defected. Can't blame them. Image by BlatantNews.com via Flickr
The way this drama is going to end is this guy Gaddafi is going to commit suicide. As days have passed, he has become even less and less compromising. That is a warning sign. My judgment is he will kill as many people as possible before he will kill himself.
Exile is no longer an option for him. He has killed too many people. If he is captured alive, he gets to go to the International Criminal Court. But I doubt he will want to get captured alive.
The choice is between putting the mad dog to sleep and letting him kill a few thousand more people before he kills himself.
I wish it were otherwise. I wish he would do the ceasefire thing. That there would be no more attacks on civilians anywhere in Libya. Then the people of Libya would have the option to protest peacefully or keep him as their leader.
The international community does not have a democracy agenda. It is the Libyan people who have a democracy agenda. Liberty rings from within the human heart.
Image via WikipediaI was one of Barack Obama's earliest supporters when he ran for president. But the guy confounded me by absolutely refusing to hold discussions on race. Instead he became president and pumped billions upon billions into inner city schools.
Posturing on race, that was Jesse Jackson. To Obama race meant getting the kids some good education. I could not argue against that. No you-love-me-you-love-me-not race talk for my man Obama.
He was right. I was wrong.
Recently I have been impatient with him on Libya. Bomb the shit out of Gaddafi, I thought. But Barack waited and waited and worked behind the scenes until the Arab League did the right thing, until the UN Security Council did the right thing.
He was right. I was wrong.
And now you will see some real democracy action in Libya. The rebels will take over Tripoli, but not at the point of a gun. You take over Tripoli by organizing mass protests. That is the way it was always meant to be.
The best possible outcome would be for a million Libyans to take to the streets in Tripoli after they say their Friday prayers. That would be way better than any surgical strikes, any no fly zone.
People power.
Such a massive show of strength and solidarity might bring about further defections. It might finally engineer the fall of Tripoli, Gaddafi's final bastion.
This guy needs to go.
Rumor is it is not just Muslims in Tripoli, but Muslims across the region, across the Arab world who plan on taking to the streets after their Friday prayer. The moment we all have been waiting for.
Say your prayers, and take to the streets. Insa-allah, victory will be yours.
A big chunk of people in oil rich Libya live on two dollars a day. Can you believe?
Image via WikipediaA no fly zone would be big and complicated. Surgical strikes would be swift and momentary. The goal would be to decapitate the regime.
When law enforcement shoots down a criminal with a track record of violence, with a propensity to violence, in an act of criminal violence, is that a violent act? Or is that law enforcement?
When crimes against humanity are being committed, you don't just wait and watch. You take action. You take all kinds of action, you keep open the military options. And surgical strikes would be a game changer.
The Libyans who have taken the rest of the country will take over Tripoli as well. They will do it themselves. But a little help can go a long way. The threat of surgical strikes has to be maintained by NATO. The idea is to make Gaddafi think twice before he unleashes brutality upon peacefully protesting people. That would be all. The Libyan people will complete the revolution themselves.
Image via WikipediaA Rwanda Was Prevented
