The U.S. Stood Up For the Libyan Opposition

The U.S. State Department called on Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, to “listen to his own people.” The once-quiet Libya has already been reeling from anti-government protests for several days. Already frightened by the revolutions in the neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, the Libyan authorities have brought into the streets their supporters and conducted some warning arrests of opposition activists.

Anti-government protests in Libya are not as large as in other Arab countries. A small opposition group that has survived in the country amounts to several hundreds of people. About a hundred young people encountered the police in the town of Al Bayda on Wednesday evening. The young people pelted the local police department with mixed incendiary-filled bottles. After that, the opposition representatives assert, the police opened fire with live ammunition to defeat the protesters. Moreover, the Libyan regime opponents say, during the clashes that engulfed the city of Zentan, the police department and the city administration building were burned down. In total, several dozen people were injured during the clashes. However, this information, provided by independent sources, couldn’t be verified.

The Libyan state television reported that recent clashes were in fact demonstrations in support of the current government. The Libyan leader came to power as a result of a coup d’état in 1969 and, indeed, a mass demonstration in support of Muammar Gaddafi was organized yesterday in Tripoli. Apparently, the government decided to play a forestall game. The point is that the Libyan opposition was planning a nationwide “Day of Anger” on Thursday. The opposition activists were calling on Libyans to voice their demands of change and to “throw off the dictator the way their brothers in Egypt and Tunisia did” via Facebook and Twitter.

“The Libyan authorities did not limit themselves by only mobilizing their supporters. Warning arrests of “unreliable elements” were conducted in the country yesterday. Human Rights Watch, referring to sources in Libya, says that at least 14 people were arrested, mainly writers and lawyers who were going to join the “Day of Anger.”

Yesterday, the U.S. stepped out in support of the Libyan opposition. “… Countries across the region have the same kind of challenge in terms of the demographics, the aspirations of their people, the need for reform. And we encourage these countries to take specific actions that address the aspirations and the needs and hopes of their people. Libya certainly would be in that same category,” said Philip Crowley, the current United States Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.

The U.S. administration, as it turned out, appeared to be caught by surprise by the wave of tension in the Middle East and the fall of formerly stable regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. But they are now trying to make society believe otherwise. Yesterday’s issue of The New York Times reveals that President Barack Obama ordered a secret report last August, which concluded that there is an existing instability in the Arab world — including Egypt and a forewarning of popular revolts in a number of countries.

According to the publication, this report sparked intense interest of the White House. After that, the White House held weekly meetings of an expert group watching the Arab world. The backbone of the group was: Dennis Ross, the president’s senior adviser on the Middle East; Samantha Power, a senior director at the National Security Council who handles human rights issues; and Gayle Smith, a senior director responsible for global development. They seemed to be reporting to the president about the future unrest in the region. Nevertheless, the president decided to keep the information secret, worried about the reaction of his allies.

But experts perceive this information as an attempt of the U.S. administration to keep their face brave. In their opinion, the uncertainty the White House showed at the beginning of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt means that Washington had been caught unaware.