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Long ago, a fine history prof. explained to me that it takes about 10% of a committed population to dominate the rest. I believe that to be the case in Iran, and I believe it to be the case in most nations of the Middle East where radical Islam dominates the government or is close to control. The 90% are sheep, some complicit, most fearful and ultimately ruled by the sword. I did not think that I would see the sheep strike back - but it is happening today in, of all places, Benghazi, Libya. This via Michael Totten's blog from a BBC report:
Hundreds of Libyan protesters have stormed the Benghazi headquarters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia in a backlash against last week's attack on the US consulate.
Witnesses say militiamen opened fire as the crowd overran the base, but it is not clear if there are casualties.
Buildings and a car were set alight and fighters evicted following a day of anti-militia protests in the city.
US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others died in the 11 September attack.
Earlier, some 30,000 protesters had marched through the eastern Libyan city calling for an end to the armed groups that have sprung up in the country since last year's ousting of Col Gaddafi.
Several thousand supporters of Ansar al-Sharia lined up outside its headquarters, in front of the crowd, waving black and white banners, AP news agency reported.
They fired into the air to try to disperse the protesters, but fled with their weapons after the base was surrounded by waves of people shouting "no to militias", the report added.
This is a glimmer of hope in what is now a blackhole of despair in the Islamic world. Amazing. Now let's see if this is the first step in a move to limit the power of the Salafists in the first permanent government of Libya. If that happens, then it really will be a major event.
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2 comments:
Don't be naive. For the moment you're starting to buy into the Arab Spring story. It is very difficult to know what is actually happening on the ground there and the reports are often less than truthful. They are made by people who want to sell us the Libyan liberation narrative and highlight these events as some sort of achievement for Obama and progressive theology.
I was browsing some posts on the Daily Beast and one of these posts mentioned that this was not a spontaneous demonstration. Rather it was organized by the police to disband a rival militia group. I think this story reminds me of The Hobbit: after the dragon was killed, 5 armies started fighting one another.
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