Take a mini break... make that a video break with The
Temptations. Who doesn't love them? Visit to watch:
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/1695/c/186/a/3289
------------------------------------------------------------
THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - February 24, 2011
US Denounces Government Violence as "Unacceptable"
by: Jim Lobe
Inter Press Service
Washington - Still struggling to catch up with fast-
moving events throughout the Middle East, the administr-
ation of President Barack Obama Tuesday joined a growing
international chorus in denouncing efforts by the Libyan
government to crush a growing uprising against the 42-year
reign of Muammar Al-Gaddafi.
"The world is watching the situation in Libya with alarm,"
said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement
released late in the day, a government holiday.
"The government of Libya has a responsibility to respect
the universal rights of the people, including the right
to free expression and assembly. Now is the time to stop
this unacceptable bloodshed," the statement asserted. "We
are working urgently with friends and partners around the
world to convey this message to the Libyan government."
Washington's statement followed by nearly half a day a
stronger statement issued by the European Union's (EU)
27 foreign ministers, who were meeting in Brussels. They
said the Council of Foreign Ministers "condemns the
ongoing repression against demonstrators in Libya and
deplores the violence and death of civilians."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who reportedly spoke
with Gaddafi early Monday, also demanded a halt to the
violence, according to spokesman Martin Nesirky. Meanwhile
several senior Libyan diplomats, including its deputy
ambassador to the U.N., resigned their posts to protest
their government's repression. The U.N. Security Council
is expected to take up Libya Tuesday morning.
"We find it impossible to stay silent," Libya's deputy
U.N. ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, told reporters at U.N.
headquarters, accusing the government of "genocide". "The
Libyan mission will be in the service of the Libyan people
rather than in the service of the regime," he said.
The sixth day of what has quickly exploded into a general
uprising against Gaddafi - particularly in Benghazi and
other eastern cities which have reportedly fallen to anti-
government protestors in bitter fighting that has reported-
ly resulted in several hundred deaths since Saturday -
appeared to have taken Washington, which is already
struggling to deal with several other crises across the
region, by surprise.
Until Sunday, when it became clear that Gaddafi may not
survive the spreading unrest, the Obama administration
had been focused on how it could defuse rapidly escalating
tensions in Bahrain and Yemen, which, unlike Libya, are
closely allied to Washington; and considered, respective-
ly, critical to protecting U.S. interests in the Gulf and
defeating Al-Qaeda.
It was also pre-occupied with the evolving political
situation in Egypt a week after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak
and how to contain the diplomatic backlash - notably from
Saudi Arabia, which was reportedly already furious over
Washington's criticism of Bahrain's lethal crackdown last
week against Shia demonstrators - provoked by its veto
Friday of a U.N. Security Council resolution declaring
Jewish settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem
"illegal".
As part of those efforts, the administration had sent
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, William
Burns, to Cairo, where he met with senior Egyptian
officials and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa
Monday and is likely to stay for an emergency Arab League
meeting on the situation in Libya in the Egyptian capital
Tuesday, according to Al-Jazeera.
At the same time, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, began a week-long tour of
the Gulf in Riyadh Sunday where the situation in Bahrain -
which hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and is linked by a
causeway to Saudi Arabia?s Eastern Province - was the top
agenda item.
------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR VIDEO SNACK BAR
Top Viewed Videos...
1. Dancing with Fred Astaire
http://c.gophercentral.com/c7Jx
2. Women in Film
http://c.gophercentral.com/Y8HR
3. Alfred Hitchcock Montage
http://c.gophercentral.com/Qt1M
4. Learn How To Protect Your Identity
http://c.gophercentral.com/yG3o
5. The Amazing Jennifer Hudson
http://c.gophercentral.com/Q0vt
6. I Could Get Used To This
http://c.gophercentral.com/Uewr
------------------------------------------------------------
The Saudis, who have given strong backing to Bahrain's own
Sunni royal family, are reportedly very worried that any
resolution of the current crisis that could bring the
majority Shi'a population in its tiny neighbour to power
could encourage unrest among Shiites in the oil-rich
province.
Mullen will travel to Qatar Monday and will travel from
there to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and two other
countries that host strategically located U.S. military
facilities - Djibouti, which also saw anti-government
demonstrations this weekend, and Kuwait. Pentagon officials
said he might also visit Bahrain, depending on how the
political situation there evolves over the next several
days.
Of all of the challenges to autocratic rule that has swept
through the region - from Algeria to Iran - over the six
weeks, the response by the Libyan regime appears to have
been the most violent by far.
Several hundred people are believed to have been killed in
Benghazi over the weekend as anti-government demonstrators,
apparently backed eventually by army units, took control
of the city. Al-Jazeera reported that at least another 250
people were killed in Tripoli as fighting spread to the
capital Monday. Most international communication links
between Libya and the outside world have been cut.
Gaddafi himself appeared briefly on Libyan television
late Monday night to counter rumours that he had fled the
country, while his son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, warned that
the army had been ordered to "impose security and get
things back to normal, whatever the price."
"Instead of 84 dead people, we will weep over hundreds of
thousands of dead," he declared ominously. "Rivers of
blood will flow."
Those remarks, as well as statements of two defecting
Libyan Air Force pilots that they had been ordered to
bomb demonstrators, have spurred calls here - even from
analysts who have praised the administration for its
rhetorical and diplomatic restraint in dealing with the
crises in Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain - for Washington
to become much more assertive in dealing with Libya.
"It is time for the United States, NATO, the United Nations
and the Arab League to act forcefully to try to prevent the
already bloody situation from degenerating into something
much worse," wrote Marc Lynch, a Middle East expert at
George Washington University, on his foreignpolicy.com
blog Monday. He warned that, left alone, the bloodshed
could reach Bosnia- or even Rwanda-like proportions.
"This is not a peaceful democracy protest movement which
the United States can best help by pressuring allied
regimes from above, pushing for long-term and meaningful
reform, and persuading the military to refrain from
violence," Lynch said, suggesting, among other things,
that the U.S. or NATO declare a "no-fly zone" over Libya
to prevent Gaddafi from using airpower to subdue the
rebellion or seek immediate Security Council sanctions
against the regime.
"It's gone well beyond that already, and this time I find
myself on the side of those demanding more forceful action
before it's too late."
Lynch appeared to be referring to earlier appeals by
several neo-conservative commentators. Elliott Abrams,
President George W. Bush's top Mideast adviser, urged
Obama to call explicitly for Gaddafi's ouster. "Gaddafi
must become an instant pariah for this continuing and
unlimited use of deadly force against his people," he
wrote on the National Review's website.
------------------------------------------------------------
Follow Your Favorite GopherCentral Publications on Twitter:
http://www.gophertweets.com/ More Coming Soon!
------------------------------------------------------------