Perspective. It’s all about perspective. We have to keep our eyes on the ball, and not let the Marxist driven few dictate what Middle-Eastern policy will be.
I’m glad to see this. It’s been my take for over thirty years that the average Arab on the street would be perfectly comfortable with normalized relations with the West.
We MUST NOT deny them that access. For our own sake we must not.
I’ll bet folks would be shocked by a well balanced blind poll of West Bank and Gaza residents too.
Particularly in Libya. For all the evil things Gaddafi did he westernized Libya in major ways.
Great post.
This is where a true Arab Spring would come from.
Due to the lay of the field before us, and the armed factions increasing each day (being radical), along with the choice or not of choosing to arm those in those countries who support us and perhaps creating a true Arab Spring where those who support us are given their chance, does anyone think it can be achieved without arming people such as the 30,000? What do we do if the 30,000 are a ruse, we arm them, and they return the favor by handing their weapons over to the radicals. I truly don't know where I would turn if I had to make this decision.
“Perspective. It’s all about perspective.”
Your anaylsis is a good one and on target. I hired out as a freelance contractor during the Libyan civil war to an Israeli business company and was offered the Israeli view of the situation.
First, the militias involved in the consulate attack are not powerful. After the interim government was established, the council brought in Osama al-Juwali, the most respected militia leader in Libya who commanded the largest militia, and the government named him defense minister.
He organized the local militias and brought them into the new Libyan army.
It’s a fact that there are other militias who refused to lay down their arms. These are mostly small jihadist groups who want to establish a Muslim government.
After Kaddhafi fell, a pack of hothead jihadists started to cause trouble in Tripoli. These were mostly 16 to 17 year-old 30 IQ punks who were looking for free stuff. Think of them as equivalent to our big city street thugs who think like Obuma if he had sons. al-Juwali sent in the Libyan army to clear up that mess. He also sent out his army to beat back jihadists who tried to take over an airport near Tripoli.
From my perspective, I think we have a pro-western government in Libya that needs to be supported and nurtured. Our surveys in Tripoli of the citizenry, post-Kaddahfi, show that most people are pro-free enterprise in the classical and ancient Arabic sense. They want Tripoli to rival Dubai, the “Gold City.”
I’m out of the loop now, so my view only covers the immediate post-Kaddhafi situation.
Take care, FRiend.
I tend to agree. Probably anywhere from 30 to 50% of Muslims in the mideast are sane, ordinary people who just want to get on with their lives. The problem is that the most violent, radical groups (Salafists, Muslim Brotherhood) usually control things in those countries and take the more moderate Muslims along with them. It's like Germany during Hitler's rule. A very large percentage of Germans probably either hated Hitler or just mouthed the words. But the Nazis took everyone down with them. Ditto for the Islamist radicals in the mideast. They're going to take all the moderates down with them.