One year after Mohammed al-Bouazizi lit himself on fire in protest against mistreatment by police, sparking a movement that has toppled regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, a global wave of popular protest continues, from the Arabic-speaking world to Europe, India, Chile, the United States and Russia. Today, democracy advocates protest unlawful detention, arbitrary power and socio-economic injustice across the world.

December 17, 2011, marks the one year anniversary of Mohammed al-Bouazizis desperate self-immolation, the 24th birthday of Bradley Manning, a US Army private held in solitary confinement in conditions some have described as torture, for allegedly releasing secret documents, and the three-month mark of the Occupy Wall Street movement seeking to take back public spaces, Constitutional liberties, and the fundamental right to active participation.

Tragically, in Egypt, this day of worldwide celebration and peaceful protest is being marked by a deliberate campaign of killing against unarmed civilian demonstrators, by the last holdouts of the old criminal regime, who now say democratic gatherings are counter-revolutionary activities that warrant deadly force.

The news from Cairo today: military police squads stormed into Tahrir Square, lit the protest camp on fire, have shot and killed an unknown number of unarmed civilians, and have allegedly begin throwing people off of a bridge into the Nile River. The depraved indifference to human life is so extreme, the civilian advisory council, that was supposed to lend some legitimacy to the military junta running the country, has resigned in protest.

It now appears that under the negotiations agreed after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the military council now longer wields any legitimate authority, and it is time forth international community to apply maximum pressure to force all military personnel out of power and implement an immediate, and orderly, transition to 100% civilian rule.

All acts of violence against civilian demonstrators must now be treated by the international community as deliberate, coordinated crimes against humanity, and arrest warrants and/or material witness warrants issued for every member of the ruling military council. International warrants should be put on hold only if the crimes committed are prosecuted through a credible, legitimate, transparent system of due process, in Egypt.

In Syria, after 9 months of resistance to the escalating aggression and violence of the Assad regime against its own people, at least 35 people have been killed in direct military assaults against civilians. Russia and China are blocking direct action through the United Nations Security Council, but Assad has now lost all legitimacy, and will likely be the next dictator swept from the scene. One can only hope it is achieved before he kills another 5,000 of his own people.

In the United States, the use of paramilitary tactics and alternative combat weaponry (including chemical agents, LRAD sound cannon, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets) to evict or shut down Occupy protest camps, has become commonplace. There is, now, a mounting popular concern about the commitment of elected officials to the fundamental principles of the Constitution.

Instead of honoring the historic force of principle being expressed by the American people, city governments across the US have given in to the darkest temptations of arbitrary power, and have declared the commons off limits for peaceful protest, using potentially deadly force at times to bar citizens from exercising their constitutional rights to free assembly, free speech and open protest (to petition the government for a redress of grievances, many and far-reaching).

But TIME Magazine, recognizing the worldwide wave of citizen awakening that has marked the year 2011, has named The Protester its Person of the Year. Across the middle east, across Europe, in India, Chile, the United States, and now in Russia, a movement of citizen-centered activism is not only occupying public spaces to demand immediate positive change in political and economic structures, but is now publishing, webcasting and building a global collaboration to bear witness to any and all obstacles to genuine democracy.

On December 17, 2011, hundreds of thousands of people across the world are honoring the cause of humanity: freedom, dignity, equal treatment and equal opportunity, and the primacy of the citizen over the power of the public servant. #D17 is intended to be a global day of celebration and resistance.

The Occupy movement in the United States marks its third full month in practice today, and a transition to focused actions to right injustices is underway. Occupy assemblies are discussing and deciding plans for new encampments and an OccupyHomes movement is spreading, as legal advisers, protesters, concerned citizens and others, join together to literally take back foreclosed homes from banks the occupiers accuse of criminal activity and predatory mortgage and foreclosure practices.

The world will enter the year 2012 infused with a now explicit and spreading demand for an end to all forms of tyranny, including that great weapon of all tyrants: official secrecy. Technology, democratic process, creative media and nonviolent civil disobedience are converging to allow citizen volunteers to retake the reins of the decision-making process, potentially turning advisory protest movement into a new civic order, designed to uphold and propagate genuine democratic rights and safeguards.

Engaged citizens everywhere should demand that every public official at every level honor the primacy of citizens over the exercise of power.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are gathering for a nonviolent “Last Chance” pro-democracy protest. Military police have killed at least 41 unarmed civilians since last Saturday. Today, the massive numbers of civilians who turned out are demanding an end to military rule, and an orderly transition to genuine democracy. The 9 months of military rule have seen little progress in the dismantling of the violent, corrupt Mubarak regime.

Once again, Egyptian citizens of all ages have converged on the square which was the heart of the peaceful uprising that brought an end to three decades of dictatorship under the presidency of Hosni Mubarak. The demonstrators include families with small children, and a broad cross-section of Egyptian society. The massive show of public support for the pro-democracy movement is yet another show of defiance as civilians demand an end to the use of lethal force against to crush dissent in Egypt.

The Egyptian-American writer and activist Mona Eltahawy, traveled to Cairo, to join the new round of demonstrations, to support her people and her country, and to stand with those brave souls calling for an end to violence and a real transition to democracy. She was detained, battered and abused, and says multiple guards attempted to sexually assault her. She said her treatment was not unique and that such brutality was one of the motivating forces behind the Tahrir Square demonstrations.

News emerging this morning from the battle-torn city of Sirte, hometown of ousted dictator Col. Muammar Qadhafi, suggested Qadhafi was wounded in battle, captured, and had died from his injuries. Al Jazeera quickly began broadcasting images of a body it said was Qadhafi’s. Images were then published showing a young Misratan TNC fighter brandishing a gold-plated handgun he says he took from Qadhafi when he captured him.

Throughout the afternoon, we have seen images of Qadhafi’s body spread across the internet and global media. There are conflicting accounts of what happened in the moments leading up to Qadhafi’s death, including claims by supporters he was killed by the Transitional forces, perhaps executed by a single shot from his own gold-plasted pistol, claims by the Transitional forces that he had been wounded in combat and died of his injuries, and still other claims that he had been accidentally killed by his own fighters.

Video this evening appears to show he was killed by a bullet wound to the head. CNN is reporting that he suffered, in addition to the fatal shot, two other shots to the head and neck and five shots to the back.

The town of Sirte is now in the hands of the revolutionary forces, and it now appears the fight is over. There are reports at least one of his sons was killed as well, and that another was injured. The Transitional National Council forces who captured Qadhafi say he was not executed, that they were transporting him to a hospital for treatment when he died.

There has been anticipation of his capture, along with a trial, an open hearing of four decades of crimes against his people.

The capture appears to have come in the wake of a NATO strike against a pro-Qadhafi convoy. The airstrike is reported to have included French fighter jets and a US “Predator” drone. There is speculation that the strike may have sent the top ranks of Qadhafi’s remaining loyalists into disarray, paving the way for the final seizure of Sirte by revolutionary forces.

As the images of Qadhafi’s bloodied corpse spread across the internet, spontaneous mass celebration spread across Libya. The people of Tripoli, so long held by and tormented by pro-Qadhafi forces, poured into the streets to celebrate the irreversible end of 42 years of brutal authoritarian rule. The new Libyan flag was visible in celebrations across the country, as hundreds of thousands of Libyans cheered the end of the Qadhafi era.

In the US, Sen. John McCain, the Republican rival to Pres. Obama in the 2008 election, said this evening “I’d like to congratulate the administration; they helped out enormously. I think that they deserve great credit. I think greater credit goes to our British and French allies, who really were leaders.” McCain lamented that the NATO campaign had not included “the full force of American airpower”. He then added, “The fact is this is another success for the Obama administration.”

Perhaps more importantly, the demise of Qadhafi showed the forces from Misrata and Benghazi working together to put an end to the pro-Qadhafi resistance, and as some commentators have noted, the rebels can now stop being rebels. The civil war in Libya is over, and the rebuilding of civil society, after four decades of cruel persecution, can proceed.

The four coordinated hijackings, resulting in three deliberate attacks and one downed passenger jet, took 2,977 innocent lives and sowed fear and dismay across the world. They were acts of unconscionable evil intended to not only harm innocents and terrify the wider population, but to destabilize American democracy itself, and derail a people’s journey through history, possibly to erode its most virtuous contributions.

It was a clear, sunny morning and the first plane crashing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center had sparked a sustained global news flash, bringing hundreds of millions of eyes to the television footage. There was confusion and disbelief, and just as it was becoming clear there must have been a devastating loss of life, a massive fireball engulfed the top half of the South Tower, clearly signaling a deliberate terrorist attack was underway.

Less than 2 minutes later, the White House chief of staff told the president, then in a public event with schoolchildren, that “America is under attack.” A third plane flew into the Pentagon, headquarters of the US Dept. of Defense, while the fourth crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers reportedly made a fateful and heroic decision to rush the cockpit and take back the plane from the hijackers.

In the days after the attacks, it was often said such heinous acts would not be allowed to change our open, democratic culture or to reduce our commitment to moral leadership in the world. Pres. Bush made a visible, conscious effort to ask that no one treat Muslims or people of Arabic origin or descent, as anything other than members of an open, democratic society, as neighbors and possibly as victims, of the attacks.

But in the months and years that followed, the pressures and temptations inherent in legislating and prosecuting the war on terror drew the US federal government into planning and implementing policies that marked an appreciable and concerning detour away from many of our most cherished shared principles.

We have suffered, in the aftermath of the attacks, fully a decade of war. From the standpoint of an idealist democracy, or of just war theory, from the standpoint of a civilization committed to peaceful coexistence and negotiated outcomes, war is failure. It is the failure of peace, of the institutions of peaceful negotiation; it is the threat of a descent into chaos. War tests the moral fiber of a society more than any other experience.

In one of the most emotional and solemn of the speeches given to commemorate the legacy of those lost, Vice President Joseph Biden noted that “Never before in our history, has America asked so much over such a sustained period of an all volunteer force. I can say without fear of contradiction or being accused of exaggeration that the 9/11 generation ranks among the greatest our nation has ever produced.”

He spoke of 4,478 “fallen angels” who died in Iraq, another 1,648 who gave their lives in Afghanistan, over ten years, many of them in recent weeks, and the more than 40,000 wounded in both wars. Biden has visited the wounded soldiers many times, and said “I am awed not only by their capability, but by their sacrifices, today and every day.”

To this day, military strategists disagree about whether going to war as a response was a major strategic blunder. It was important, and positive, to oust the Taliban from power, to end the murderous regime of Saddam Hussein, but the unity and the worldwide human fabric of sympathy that grew immediately after the 9/11 attacks bled away as a politics of division and confrontation took hold.

Some professional politicians deliberately adopted the attacks as a “wedge issue”, and sought to paint rivals to their political philosophy or to their job security as enemies of the state. A naturally occurring sense of democratic, civic unity was replaced by a push for ideological uniformity. Many Americans began to feel, for the first time in their lives, as if dissent, or even critical thinking, was not welcome in the public discourse.

The very idea of engaged citizenship was challenged by a prevailing attitude of hardline politics, and for many, fear and suspicion. In retrospect, it may have been possible to depose the Taliban and to counter Al Qaeda, without ever going to war in Iraq, without adopting interrogation techniques borrowed from Cambodian death camps, and without giving in to the suspicion that due process was somehow a risky departure from the best service of justice in a free society.

In retrospect, there may have been better ways to channel the collective emotional upheaval that followed the attacks. Historians were already talking of how quickly the political capital of the moment was “squandered”, as less than two years after the attacks, an aggressive, unilateralist drive had totally overtaken American foreign policy. There was, for several years, a great risk that American democracy would be forever changed, and many of its most vital ideals eroded.

But today, in northern Virginia, Vice President Biden reminded us of something else: the attackers misunderstood the nature of the event they had planned and its likely impact on the nation they were targeting. While the risk was there that our culture could be comprehensively destabilized by the grief and anger that follow such an event, Biden suggested we were ultimately protected against that deviation by something Al Qaeda may never have understood:

With the fully restored Pentagon behind him, Biden intoned: “The true source of American power does not lie within that building, because as Americans, we draw our strength from the rich tapestry of our people.” He added that “The true legacy of 9/11 is that our spirit is mightier, the bonds that unite us are thicker, and the resolve is firmer than the millions of tons of limestone and concrete that make up that great edifice behind me.”

Biden explained the miscalculation of a small group of extremists who “never imagined” that the killing of 3,000 people would inspire 3,000,000 to volunteer for military service, to strengthen and defend a population of over 300,000,000. He spoke of the “sleeping giant” that was awakened by the shock and horror of the attacks. He was speaking not of a will to violence or retaliation, but of a spirit of aid to one’s fellow citizens.

In the hours after the attacks on New York City, a fleet of ferries, fishing boats, tug boats, small craft, commercial vessels and patrol boats, spontaneously gathered around lower Manhattan. The United States Coast Guard then sent out a message to “all available boats” to “report to Governor’s Island”. Hundreds of boats converged on the city to assist in the evacuation, arriving at what witnesses describe as astonishing speed.

After the North Tower collapsed into its footprint, engulfing lower Manhattan in a cloud of toxic dust, heat, smoke and debris, tens of thousands of evacuees—some injured, some in shock, many hysterical with panic, some just acting in service of those around them—were flooding the waterfront. Some were jumping into the water, despite the heavy boat traffic, desperate to get off the island and if possible swim to safety.

In what is now referred to as the great Manhattan “boatlift”, nearly 500,000 civilian refugees were evacuated in just nine hours. It was the largest evacuation by sea in history. By comparison, the legendary military evacuation of Dunkirk, during some of the darkest days of World War II, evacuated 350,000 French and British soldiers from France to Britain.

The great Manhattan boatlift was possible because conscientious citizen volunteers from across the region shot into action, heading into the unknowable dangers of an unprecedented disaster zone, risking their lives and livelihoods to help total strangers in desperate need. This was emblematic of a society infused with a strong sense of public trust and civic responsibility, where citizenship and shared destiny are implicit in our sense of who we are.

Ten years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, we have seen a spiritual recovery, in which people recognize that the values of such a society cannot be cast aside for any temporary sense of security. Our politics have seen a reversal, in which an unprecedented number of people voted, in 2008, for a politics of unity and civic engagement. And the hotly contested political campaigns have continued, with fevered disagreement over policy and ideology, but we can, perhaps say, that the freedom to disagree so vehemently is a celebration of the virtues of a free and open society.

Vice President Biden said to the families of victims today, “My prayer for you is that ten years later when you think of them, ten years later when you think of them, that it brings a smile to your lips instead of a pain in your heart.” There are many ways in which the legacy of the 9/11 attacks has long since been reclaimed from both the terrorists and the hardliners, and has come to inspire a commitment to service and shared responsibility.

Speaking of the bond between her family and the family of her brother’s great friend, coworker and fellow victim of the 9/11 attacks, Debra Epps today said, at the opening of the World Trade Center’s new 9/11 Memorial park, that the tragedy had brought the lesson that “People really do catch you, when you fall. It’s been a blessing.”

There are societies where unity in service of the civic space and one’s fellow citizens is a rare, if not unthinkable eventuality, and there are societies that are strong because free people naturally and voluntarily engage with each other with a sense of holding the civic space in trust, with a sense of commitment to the virtues and the vulnerabilities of their common humanity.

Ten years after the attacks of 9/11, the United States has been through many choices, many complexes of complicating choices, in response to the attacks. Many of those choices were controversial, and many have been reversed. Many curbs on civil liberties are still in place, and top officials disagree vehemently about whether there needs to be a trade-off between commitment to Constitutional protections of civil liberties and security.

Now, we enter a new period, in which withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan is already underway, a sometimes clumsy and always complicated process of nation-building is giving way to remote security actions, forceful “smart diplomacy” and a cooperative effort to prevent civil war in both countries. Osama bin Laden, and a number of “second-in-command” and “third-in-command” Al Qaeda operatives have been killed.

Some say the struggle against militant groups with “global reach” may be entering a more conscious deliberative phase, where the liberty-security tradeoff is not seen as being so economical. There is a hunger for reviving a less militaristic civic space, in which the cooperative voluntary citizenship of free people is the strength and the hope of a great democracy, in which the value of the service of millions of volunteers can be truly honored as an expression of their selflessness.

9/11 should, after this 10th anniversary, and in the aftermath of the deviation from and restoration of core values that we have undergone, become a national day of solemn recognition, collaborative restoration, and an affirmation of our civic space, in which citizenship is a sacred trust and human interest in the principal goal of our activity. It should be a day of national reflection and of the reaffirmation of the value of an open, democratic and voluntary civic space.

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Cross-posted from Independents of Principle

Two days after taking control of most of the capital, and a day after two of Qadhafi’s sons escaped house arrest as pro-Qadhafi forces staged a challenge to the rebel onslaught, Libya’s pro-democracy rebels swept into Qadhafi’s compound in Tripoli. Reports from the Libyan capital spoke of scenes of rebels destroying images of Qadhafi and symbols of his regime, and seizing much of the extravagant wealth he had accumulated over four decades of authoritarian rule.

Beyond Libya’s borders, the capture of Qadhafi’s own main compound is being touted as the true collapse of his regime, though it has not yet brought word of outright surrender by his closest supporters. The whereabouts of Col. Qadhafi himself are as yet unknown, with reports and rumors suggesting he may be hiding in Tripoli itself, or that he may have fled to remote southern Libya, near the Chad border region.

There is also concern the pro-Qadhafi forces’ shelling of civilian areas in Tripoli and Misrata may cause some among the armed rebels to become more radical in the post-Qadhafi era. But the Transitional National Council has reiterated its intention to establish the rule of law, refrain from revenge-oriented actions, and prosecute regime leaders according to recognized standards of due process.

There is optimism that the fall of Bab al-Azizya—Qadhafi’s heavily fortified compound inside Tripoli, guarded by sharpshooters and special forces, and where he survived US airstrikes nearly three decades ago—to Libyan freedom fighters means Libya will see the end of the bloodshed of Qadhafi’s last days. But the mystery of Qadhafi’s whereabouts became all the more urgent this evening, when the missing leader reportedly broadcast a message, saying he would accept only victory or “martyrdom”.

Al Jazeera reported:

“After what we have seen today, after what Mahmoud Jibril (a leader of the rebel National Transitional Council) said, and the international recogntion of NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, it means that Gaddafi is now just a sought after criminal. The idea of Gaddafi as ‘the Libyan leader’, is over.

Meanwhile, 30 journalists remained holed up in Tripoli’s Rixos hotel on Tuesday. The New York Times reported that journalists from the BBC, CNN and other international news organisations were stuck inside the hotel with no electricity and described the hotel as a “prison”.

The capital is still very much a war zone, and pro-Qadhafi soldiers and mercenaries are reportedly threatening the lives of civilians and journalists, in an effort to hold onto the little terrain that has not been taken by the rebel forces. There had been rumors Qadhafi was holed up in a bunker beneath the Rixos Hotel, and there is concern the civilians inside the hotel might be in danger if they are not allowed to leave.

Seif al-Islam, Qadhafi’s 38-year old son, once thought of as a reformer and now a committed combattant fighting to defend his father’s dictatorship, said his father is safe and inside Tripoli. Observers have expressed skepticism about that possibility, and worry a prolonged manhunt could ensue, disrupting the potential for a peaceful transition to democracy. Others say Qadhafi should be treated as an international fugitive, to be arrested on sight, under indictment from the International Criminal Court, as soon as he emerges, wherever he emerges.

There was also fighting reported today in Ajelat, and in Ageila, along the coast outside Ras Lanuf, a key oil facility. It was reported that Qadhafi loyalists were attacking Ajelat with missiles and tanks and that scud missiles were fired from Sirte, Qadhafi’s hometown, toward Misrata, a city besieged by Qadhafi for four months, and only recently liberated by the rebel forces.

UPDATE: Rebel forces have taken much of Tripoli, celebrate with civilians in Green Square and control the Tripoli airport

Reports from Tripoli, the capital of Libya, suggest rebel forces have taken territory inside the capital, and captured one of Qadhafi’s sons, after a top security official ordered troops to lay down arms and let the rebels in. There are reports of convoys of rebel soldiers moving into the capital, being welcomed and celebrated by unarmed civilians. Some news reports have talked of “uprisings” in the suburbs, and possibly within Tripoli itself.

According to Reuters:

In a coordinated revolt that rebels have been secretly planning for months to end Gaddafi’s 41-year rule, shooting started on Saturday night across Tripoli moments after Muslim clerics, using the loudspeakers of mosque minarets, called people on to the streets.

The fighting inside Tripoli, combined with rebel advances into the outskirts of the city, appeared to signal the decisive phase in a six-month conflict that has become the bloodiest of the “Arab Spring” uprisings and embroiled NATO powers.

A source inside the regime reportedly told Reuters that 376 people were killed, on both sides, in overnight clashes inside the capital. In the village of al-Maya, pro-Qadhafi forces reportedly clashed with the rebels, who took the town, painted the walls to declare their presence and their march to Tripoli, then continued with the convoys flowing into the capital.

According to CNN and the Baltimore Sun:

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, a son of Libya’s ruler Moammar Gadhafi and a top official in the regime, has been captured by opposition forces, a rebel official said Sunday night.

Ali Said, general secretary of the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council, said that the arrest had taken place in Tripoli. The head of the same rebel group also confirmed the capture in an Al Jazeera interview. There was no immediate reaction from Libyan government officials to the report.

Al Jazeera English reported, on its Libya Live Blog this evening, that one of Qadhafi’s sons, Mohammed, “has surrendered” to the rebels. That marks the closest any of the top-level defections has come so far to Qadhafi himself. With two of his sons now in custody, and his family apparently splitting over whether to fight or surrender, it is expected Qadhafi himself may attempt to negotiate his own surrender.

But Muammar Qadhafi has been defiant, stating as recently as this morning that he would “fight to the end”. This evening he repeated calls for residents of Tripoli and other cities to rush to his defense and to fight the rebel “rats”.

On Twitter, the news is pouring in, with anecdotal reports mixing with video, audio and official news reports. @ArabRevolution posted this re-tweet: “RT @LibyanLion17 AJA Caller – BREAKING – NATO is taking out the walls of Bab alAziziya so that FFs can move in. #Libya #Feb17 #Tripoli“. (“FF” has become Twitter code for freedom fighter.)

@LibyanLion17 posted this update around the same time: “BREAKING – Saadi, Mohammed and Saif al-Islam have ALL been captured by FF. 4 more to go. #Libya #Feb17 #Tripoli“, around 6:00 pm EDT, midnight in Tripoli. Less than half an hour later, reports broke that Muammar Qadhafi himself had fled the country and was in hiding in Algeria. That report has not been confirmed, and NATO’s secretary general was unable to answer questions about whether Qadhafi had left Libya or not.

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UPDATES

At 12:01 am, 1:01 am Monday, Tripoli time, London’s Guardian newspaper reports:

Tripoli resident Hakeem Guja has told the BBC: “We celebrate the victory. The people are very happy and want to thank the Nato forces for helping us.”

A few minutes before 1:00 am, Tripoli time, @LibyanLion17 tweeted “BREAKING – ALJAZEERA – THERE IS NEWS THAT GADDAFI HIMSELF HAS BEEN CAUGHT #Libya #Feb17 #Tripoli“. But Al Jazeera reported only minutes later that “The ICC has confirmed that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has been detained, and NOT his father, Muammar Gaddafi.”

The BBC is reporting the International Criminal Court has confirmation that at least one of Qadhafi’s sons, Saif al Islam, has been taken into custody. CNN’s Ben Wedeman tweeted, also shortly after 1:00 am Tripoli time: “When the Rixos minders run away, it means the regime has given up on trying to mold the message. Game over. #Libya #Feb17“.

(1:11 am, Tripoli) From the Guardian’s Libya Live Blog:

12.11am: The International Criminal Court prosecutor’s spokeswoman says it has been confirmed that Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam has been detained, Reuters reports.

12.09am: The Libyan rebels reach Green Square in the centre of Tripoli, Sky News reports.

The US State Dept. is urging Libya’s rebels, and the governing authority under the Transitional National Council, to begin planning for the post-Qadhafi period. According to Reuters:

“Clearly the offensive for Tripoli is under way,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

“We continue efforts to encourage the TNC to maintain broad outreach across all segments of Libyan society and to plan for post-Gaddafi Libya. Gaddafi’s days are numbered. If Gaddafi cared about the welfare of the Libyan people, he would step down now.”

A spokesman for the Council, which has been recognized as Libya’s legitimate governing authority, said in recent days that mistakes had been made in the early days after rebel takeovers in the east, and that a plan for secure, non-violent government would be in place once Tripoli falls.

Shortly after 1:00 am, Tripoli time, Reuters reported the rebels had reached Green Square. Other reports suggested the fighting there had ceased and civilians were welcoming the rebels.

At 1:42 am, Tripoli time, Al Jazeera English reported that the rebels had taken control of the Tripoli airport. There have been intermittent reports that fighting had ceased, but news continues to pour in of skirmishes, rebel advances, with no clear sign the regime has fallen, but no clear sign of a forceful ongoing resistance. At 1:44 am, Tripoli time, AJE reported that Libyan state television is “blacked out”, not active.

Reports from journalists in Tripoli that regime “minders” had fled have been taken as a suggestion that the regime is no longer actively seeking to fight the rebel offensive or control the media message. There are rumors the rebels seek to detain fleeing government officials at the Tripoli airport, but no confirmed reports at present of top-level detentions there.

1:48 am Tripoli time: Libya’s ambassador to the UAE (representing the Transitional National Council) tells AJE there is an atmosphere of “jubilation and relief” as cities across Libya celebrate what appears to be the last night of the Qadhafi regime. He said the transitional stabilization team was working to build a non-violent democratic transition process “according to the best practices of stabilization and reconstruction work”.

The ambassador also pledge that there would be no campaign of vengeance against former loyalists or loyalist enclaves and specified that a peaceful post-war was necessary to ensure that the “suffering and pain of so many Libyans and Libyan families does not go in vain”. There are reports at this hour of contacts between US and European officials and representatives of the transitional Libyan government regarding ways to manage the peace.

At 1.59 am, Tripoli time, ThinkProgress posted this report on Twitter: “RT @Reuters: REBELS SAY ALL TRIPOLI IS UNDER THEIR CONTROL EXCEPT GADDAFI’S STRONGHOLD OF BAB AL-AZIZIYAH”.

Representatives of the rebel movement say the Transitional National Council will replace the Qadhafi-era name Green Square with Martyrs’ Square, in honor of the Libyan democracy advocates who died fighting to defend civilian populations against the regime.

2:04 am: @SultanAlQassemi, commentator on Arab affairs, tweets: “Al Jazeera: Sources: Libyan Revolutionaries have taken control of the State TV & Radio building in Tripoli #Libya“. The capture of state media is being treated as an important development for the democracy movement, as Egyptian protest leaders have expressed concern they have not been able to better guide the public debate in the post-Mubarak era.

Unconfirmed cell-phone images are now emerging purporting to show celebrations in the streets of Tripoli.

2:14 am: There are reports on CNN that regime snipers are still holding key positions inside Tripoli, even as rebel forces are said to be holding all territory surrounding Qadhafi’s compound. A statement has been made suggesting the compound is now being seen by rebels as “a five-star prison” for Qadhafi, if he remains inside. There is no confirmed information in the global media about whether clashes continue at the site of Qadhafi’s compound.

11:45 pm EDT, 5:45 am in Tripoli: Al Jazeera is now reporting:

Euphoric Libyan rebels have moved into the centre of the capital, Tripoli, as Muammar Gaddafi’s defenders melted away and thousands of jubilant civilians rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with fighters shooting in the air.

The rebels’ surprising and speedy leap forward, after six months of largely deadlocked civil war, was packed into just a few dramatic hours. By nightfall on Sunday, they had advanced more than 32km to Tripoli.

Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera’s correspondent, said from the Green Square: “There’s a party in the Libyan capital tonight. The people are in charge of the city. They’ve decided the square is now called Martyr’s Square, the original name. They’re shouting ‘we’re free’ and shooting at a poster of Gaddafi.”

11:17 am EDT, 5:17 am in Tripoli: Update from Mother Jones’ Hamed Aleaziz and Asawin Suebsaeng:

Deborah Haynes, an editor at London-based newspaper The Times, is on the ground in Tripoli. Haynes just sent out an unsettling tweet, indicating that the battle for Tripoli may be far from over: “Just been in Green Square. Gunfire erupted, sending rebels scattering. Then saw eight fresh corpses on way out. Tripoli ain’t secure.”

Also, Sarah Sidner, a reporter for CNN, tweeted around 5:15 a.m. Monday in Tripoli that “Green square nearly empty. We were warned to get out. Rebels say Gadhafi troops advancing toward square.”

12:03 am EDT, 6:03 am in Tripoli: The BBC is reporting there are fierce battles raging in the area around the Tripoli Hotel, where the Qadhafi regime has been basing its media operations. Al Libya TV is reportedly offline, but pro-Qadhafi forces are defending the Tripoli Hotel, and there are reports Qadhafi spokespeople claim as many as 35,000 troops may be in and around the capital, “ready to fight” to fend off the rebels.

The Transitional National Council has said rebels will not occupy the city militarily, if Qadhafi and his family leave power.

12:35 am EDT, 6:35 am in Tripoli: US president Barack Obama has called on Col. Muammar Qadhafi to “relinquish power once and for all.” He added that “Qadhafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end”. He said “The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people,” and said the US would work closely with the Transitional National Council, which it recognizes as the legitimate governing authority.

Obama went on to say that “We will continue to insist that the basic rights of the Libyan people are respected. We will continue to work with our allies and partners in the international community to protect the people of Libya, and to support a peaceful transition to democracy.”

12:49 am EDT, 6:49 am in Tripoli: Al Jazeera English Live, tweeting as @AJELive, reports: “Nasser, #Tripoli resident, says they will let NTC take care of anything, are forming local security battalions, won’t take revenge #Libya“. Reports suggesting rebels are ready to establish law and order and to institute a transition guided by the rule of law are winning encouragement, and optimism that the six-month Libyan war may be ending.

More reporting on the Libyan liberation movement:

• Qadhafi Under Siege as Rebels Move into Tripoli – updates - Aug. 20, 2011
• Libyan Rebels Advance on Tripoli, Take Key Cities - Aug. 20, 2011
• US Now Recognizes Transitional Council as Legitimate Libyan Government - July 15, 2011
• Qadhafi Regime Abuse of al-Obeidi Crime Against Humanity - Apr. 4, 2011
• UN Action in Libya is Bid to Rescue Democracy Movement - Mar. 27, 2011
• Airstrikes Underway Against Libya, as Qadhafi Refuses to Pull Back - Mar. 19, 2011
• UN Security Council Votes to Support Strikes Against Qadhafi - Mar. 17, 2011
• Qadhafi ‘has lost the legitimacy to rule’ - Feb. 27, 2011
• Protesters in Central Tripoli Fired on by Irregular Army Loyal to Qadhafi - Feb. 26, 2011
• Ban calls for action to stop Qadhafi killing… - Feb. 26, 2011
• Qadhafi Declares War on His People - Feb. 25, 2011
• Qadhafi Regime on Brink of Collapse - Feb. 22, 2011
• Qadhafi’s Son Warns of Civil War, as Libyan Military Appears Split - Feb. 21, 2011
• Violent Crackdown in Libya; Bahrain Protesters Take Pearl Square - Feb. 20, 2011
• Qadhafi Crackdown Has Killed at Least 84 - Feb. 19, 2011
• Spirit of Democratic Revolution Spreads Across Mideast - Feb. 15, 2011

After 42 years in power, ruling throughout with authoritarian force, the regime of Muammar Qadhafi now appears to be falling. Abandoned by the international community, his top commanders defecting, and reports his troops have laid down their arms and fled, the rebel forces are now reportedly moving into the capital Tripoli.

Al Jazeera is now reporting that “Gaddafi forces shrink on all battle fronts”. According to the Arabic-language news service:

At a news conference, Bani said rebels captured the city of Zlitan, 140km southeast of Tripoli, after more than two months of fighting.

“Zlitan is now completely liberated after a severe fight, and for the first time I can say we have control over it,” Bani told reporters on Saturday.

As rebels battled for towns on either side of Tripoli on Saturday, fighting spilled across the border into Tunisia, where Libyan infiltrators clashed with Tunisian troops.

Tunisian security sources said their forces intercepted Libyan men in vehicles with weapons and fought them through the night in the desert. They reported several casualties.

With the opposition now controlling Misrata, Az Zawiyah, Zlitan, Gharyan, and most of the key port city of Brega, while governing much of the country from Benghazi, rebel forces have reportedly taken control of Tajoura, a suburb to the east of the capital. The rebels have also reportedly cut off supply routes from Tunisia, along the coast and from the east of the country, a key tactical achievement to lay the groundwork for an offensive against Qadhafi’s forces, after months of combat.

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UPDATES

Posted 11:20 pm EDT—From thepoliticalnotebook:

Reports on Twitter regarding Libya are moving very quickly. The front in Zawiya is moving to Tripoli as the fighters plan for an early morning offensive. There are reports, confirmed by Richard Engel of NBC, that there is fighting in the city itself.

Follow the Al Jazeera live blog, which is beginning to update more attentively.

Posted 11:22 pm EDT—From Al Jazeera English:

Head of the Political affairs of the NTC, Fathi Baja, told Reuters:

“There is certain information tells that forces loyal to Gaddafi withdrew and left their weapons behind in areas outside Tripoli. And I think everything is in order in Tripoli, rebels are approaching al-Sareem Street nearby Bab al-Azizia complex.

Gaddafi may be coerced to flee if he managed to co-ordinate it with some countries, but I hope to arrest him to be tried with his sons and his assistants in Libya”

Posted 11:25 pm EDT—From Al Jazeera Live Blog Libya:

Bashir Sewehli, a Libyan activist, tells Al Jazeera that the clashes in Tripoli are still ongoing.

“The military airport is under control of the rebels, and there are other areas in and around Tripoli as well. The rebels are wating for reinforcements.

The news has not been coming through because of the fighting, but we will know more in the next coming hours. The rebel fighters that I have spoken to said they will not go home until this is over.

Most of the people involved in this fight against Gaddafi troops are only civilians.”

- – -

More reporting on the Libyan liberation movement:

• Libyan Rebels Advance on Tripoli, Take Key Cities - Aug. 20, 2011
• US Now Recognizes Transitional Council as Legitimate Libyan Government - July 15, 2011
• Qadhafi Regime Abuse of al-Obeidi Crime Against Humanity - Apr. 4, 2011
• UN Action in Libya is Bid to Rescue Democracy Movement - Mar. 27, 2011
• Airstrikes Underway Against Libya, as Qadhafi Refuses to Pull Back - Mar. 19, 2011
• UN Security Council Votes to Support Strikes Against Qadhafi - Mar. 17, 2011
• Qadhafi ‘has lost the legitimacy to rule’ - Feb. 27, 2011
• Protesters in Central Tripoli Fired on by Irregular Army Loyal to Qadhafi - Feb. 26, 2011
• Ban calls for action to stop Qadhafi killing… - Feb. 26, 2011
• Qadhafi Declares War on His People - Feb. 25, 2011
• Qadhafi Regime on Brink of Collapse - Feb. 22, 2011
• Qadhafi’s Son Warns of Civil War, as Libyan Military Appears Split - Feb. 21, 2011
• Violent Crackdown in Libya; Bahrain Protesters Take Pearl Square - Feb. 20, 2011
• Qadhafi Crackdown Has Killed at Least 84 - Feb. 19, 2011
• Spirit of Democratic Revolution Spreads Across Mideast - Feb. 15, 2011

After six months of fighting, the Libyan rebel forces, representing the pro-demcoracy movement that came under military attack by 42-year dictator Muammar Qadhafi, are reportedly advancing on the capital Tripoli. Since the fighting began, the rebels’ Transitional National Council has won support from world powers, the international community and ultimately the United Nations, as the official governing and diplomatic authority for Libya. Now, an isolated Qadhafi looks likely to lose power in the coming weeks or months.

According to the New York Times:

With unexpected swiftness, the ill-trained and ill-equipped rebels from the western mountains this week overtook much of the strategic coastal town of Zawiyah, with its enormous oil refinery, just 30 miles west of Tripoli. By Saturday morning, there were reports that they controlled it completely.

They had also taken Gharyan, an important outpost along the trade route to the south. And a correspondent for the Arab news network Al Jazeera in the town of Zlitan, a crucial Qaddafi barracks town east of Tripoli, reported that it too had fallen to the rebels. Qaddafi troops had concentrated in all three towns, and their retreat in the face of the amateurish rebels raised new doubts about the will and cohesion of the loyalist forces.

Recent weeks have seen a wave of defections from Qadhafi’s inner circle, as top officials orchestrated their escape from Libya, with their families. The focus is now shifting to Tripoli, where rebels hope to capitalize on their gathering momentum and swiftly end the war.

The main roads supplying Tripoli have now been cut off by the rebel advance. After months of rapidly increasing food prices, the city is now reportedly beginning to experience a siege culture, with reports of waits for gasoline of more than a week, civil services shutting down, garbage uncollected, police missing and a spreading crime wave.

Many are reportedly looking for ways to escape the capital, for fear of a bloody fight to end the Qadhafi regime. Qadhafi and his family had repeatedly vowed to exterminate populations that abandoned him, and barring some unexpected development, are expected to wage a battle of attrition to hold onto power. There are reports of ongoing behind the scenes pressure from the rebels, and possibly from foreign governments to urge Qadhafi’s military leaders to lay down arms.

With rebels now controlling most of the territory of Zawiyah, where the fighting remains fierce, reports suggest NATO bombing is being coordinated, both in the towns recently taken and in the capital Tripoli—where key regime buildings have been under bombardment—to help the rebels advance. The rebel strategy seems to be to take and hold the cities of Zawiyah, Zlitan, Gharyan and Brega, then to close in on the capital and take control of the military and government command structure.

- – -

More reporting on the Libyan liberation movement:

• US Now Recognizes Transitional Council as Legitimate Libyan Government - July 15, 2011
• Qadhafi Regime Abuse of al-Obeidi Crime Against Humanity - Apr. 4, 2011
• UN Action in Libya is Bid to Rescue Democracy Movement - Mar. 27, 2011
• Airstrikes Underway Against Libya, as Qadhafi Refuses to Pull Back - Mar. 19, 2011
• UN Security Council Votes to Support Strikes Against Qadhafi - Mar. 17, 2011
• Qadhafi ‘has lost the legitimacy to rule’ - Feb. 27, 2011
• Protesters in Central Tripoli Fired on by Irregular Army Loyal to Qadhafi - Feb. 26, 2011
• Ban calls for action to stop Qadhafi killing… - Feb. 26, 2011
• Qadhafi Declares War on His People - Feb. 25, 2011
• Qadhafi Regime on Brink of Collapse - Feb. 22, 2011
• Qadhafi’s Son Warns of Civil War, as Libyan Military Appears Split - Feb. 21, 2011
• Violent Crackdown in Libya; Bahrain Protesters Take Pearl Square - Feb. 20, 2011
• Qadhafi Crackdown Has Killed at Least 84 - Feb. 19, 2011
• Spirit of Democratic Revolution Spreads Across Mideast - Feb. 15, 2011

Pres. Barack Obama, who with Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has managed a complex array of shifting diplomatic relations throughout the developing democratic awakening across the Arabic-speaking world, yesterday demanded that Syria’s authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad relinquish power. Assad has engaged in five months of full-scale military attacks on unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators.

Obama and Clinton have been diligently working to build a global “coalition of condemnation” of the Syrian regime’s brutal crackdown of peaceful protest. Working to win support from China and Russia is crucial, because Assad’s regime benefits from trade with both nations, and substantive action to move Syria into a peaceful transition to democracy will require UN Security Council support for the democracy movement.

With Russia and China agreeing to the US and European demand that Syria end its military assault on demonstrators, Obama was able to say that only the hardline regime in Iran—which also used extreme violence to suppress a pro-democracy protest movement—continues to support Assad. That support for the demand to halt military operations, however, does not equate to a Russian or Chinese agreement that Assad should step down.

Today, Russia expressed opposition to the effort to force Assad to leave power. It is not clear if this opposition would translate into a vote to oppose official UN sanctions or whether the opposition would hold up if Assad continues the slaughter of unarmed civilians.

The government says its troops have pulled out of key cities where the protest movement has swelled its ranks. But protesters in Hama and elsewhere say live fire attacks are ongoing and the Syrian military continues to attack unarmed protesters and civilian bystanders. There are reports at least 17 civilians have been killed by Assad’s security forces today alone, even as he tells the international community he has halted military operations against civilians.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian citizens are reportedly now planning to stage yet another massive protest against the Assad regime, which will soon see revenues declining as new sanctions take hold. The protest movement originally called for reform, but not the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. Assad’s reaction, using lethal force consistently, and over an ever wider area across the nation, killing literally thousands of his own people, has led to the demand that he resign and leave power.

The Syrian protest movement has asked foreign nations not to intervene militarily, because they want their movement to have the legitimacy of a non-violent protest movement. But spokespeople for the movement say the protesters support diplomatic opposition to Assad’s government and sanctions designed to cut off oil and gas revenues that flow to the ministry of defense, which is engaged in full-blown military operations against unarmed civilian demonstrators.

Syria may be the next of the pro-democracy protest nations to set up a transitional democratic council, to oversee an orderly transition to democracy. This has been done in Libya and in Yemen. The Libyan Transitional National Council has won international recognition as the official legitimate authorities in Libya, after Qadhafi military officers defected, explaining the dictator hard ordered ballistic missile strikes against crowds of demonstrators and Qadhafi himself threatened to annihilate the population of Benghazi, taking every man woman and child from their homes.

The Yemeni transitional council has not yet won support from the international community though there is talk that if Pres. Saleh—currently receiving medical treatment outside the country—does not follow through on his three pledges to step down, he may be detained, in favor of a coordinated effort to support the pro-democracy movement’s transitional governing authority.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is being sued for allegedly formulating policies that led to the torture of multiple American citizens, at the hands of American military personnel in Iraq. Now, for the second time this month, in two distinct cases, a federal court has found that Mr. Rumsfeld does not enjoy any immunity for actions occurring either during his service as Secretary of Defense or in a war zone.

The government had argued that Mr. Rumsfeld enjoyed a special immunity from liability for any actions taken during his tenure as Secretary of Defense or for any activities that occurred in a war zone. The two criteria, according to the court, would result in the essential stripping of any right of citizens to seek redress for grievances against public officials or against unlawful military action in a “warzone”, loosely defined—there was never a formal declaration of war against Iraq.

According to the Christian Science Monitor:

“We agree with the district court that a … remedy is available for the alleged torture of civilian US citizens by US military personnel in a war zone,” Judge David Hamilton wrote for the two-judge majority.

He said the government’s argument, if accepted, would “deprive civilian US citizens of a civil judicial remedy for torture or even cold-blooded murder by federal officials and soldiers, at any level, in a war zone.”

“United States law provides a civil damages remedy for aliens who are tortured by their own governments,” Judge Hamilton wrote. “It would be startling and unprecedented to conclude that the United States would not provide such a remedy to its own citizens.”

The court’s finding is consistent with other cases, where serious crimes have been alleged and government officials were found to have been involved in ordering, overseeing or condoning the unlawful activity. In Mr. Rumsfeld’s case, it is public knowledge that he helped Pres. George W. Bush institute a program of “harsh interrogation” techniques and military detention without charge.

The lawsuit is likely to open up, in some cases for the first time, details of how the use of the term “enemy combatant” came to be applied in what some constitutional scholars say was an unprecedented campaign of extrajudicial detentions. It is also likely to bring into court some startling revelations that emerged when WikiLeaks released documents detailing official awareness of extreme, and even fatal, methods of torture being used by Iraqi forces.

According to official US government documents, US soldiers reported the torture being conducted by Iraqi military personnel on at least 100 separate occasions to their superiors, but were uniformly ordered, by command “at the highest levels”—reports the Christian Science Monitor—not to intervene.

According to the court filings, Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel were in Iraq working for a private military contractor, when they became suspicious the company was engaged in corruption. The firm’s reaction, allegedly, was to strip them of authorization to enter the so-called Green Zone—relegating them to urban areas subject to persistent open combat.

Vance and Ertel then took their case to the US Embassy, to ask for assistance. The two men allege that instead of being rewarded for blowing the whistle, they were detained and held incommunicado by the US military. They say they were subjected to phyical and psychological abuse throughout their entire term of detention, and that Mr. Rumsfeld was the government official who orchestrated the type of detention and abuse to which they were subjected, with no foundation in law.

The appeals court ruling brings the case one step closer to a full hearing, and raises the possibility that Rumsfeld could be found personally liable for criminal abuse, illegal detention and civil rights violations, in civil court. Such an outcome would almost certainly raise the prospects for domestic criminal charges against the former Defense secretary, and possibly other officials of the former administration.

prime minister pushing for reforms, as protests widen

Faced with rapidly rising housing prices, a growing movement of Israeli citizens has staged protests across the country. Modeled on the protests of Tahrir Square and Europe’s anti-austerity protests, the Israeli protest movement includes encampments and demands for sweeping political reform. Protesters of all ages are accusing the Netanyahu government of abandoning vulnerable Israelis unable to afford the soaring cost of living.

The protesters have begun calling for Netanyahu’s resignation, accusing the prime minister of abandoning the founding ethical principles of Israeli democracy. They have also said they intend to push for early elections to oust him if he does not step down. Netanyahu has sought to balance his desire to prevent such a vote with his intention to continue pushing for a free market ideology.

Mr. Netanyahu, long a hardliner on security and an aggressive proponent of market deregulation, is now facing the complexity of a democratic system. Even as protesters demanding fairer economic policies demand his ouster, the UN, the US, and his own domestic opposition, are all pressuring him to compromise in order to make peace. And, there are mounting complaints from doctors that his father-in-law has been given special treatment, possibly to the detriment of many other cardiology patients.

According to Ha’aretz:

Doctors at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem have sharply criticized the unusually long hospitalization of Shmuel Ben-Artzi, father of the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, in the intensive care cardio ward. The 96-year old poet was hospitalized there for a month, while the average time a patient is hospitalized in that ward is less than four days.

On Tuesday, Ben-Artzi was released to his home for further care. There are a total of 216 beds in all the intensive care cardio wards of hospitals in Israel. Doctors have been complaining about the shortage of beds in these wards, where care is not only very expensive but also highly specialized.

The protests have had an impact. Ha’aretz also published this account of Netanyahu’s transformation, in terms of economic philosophy:

[In Israel,] “there isn’t real competition. Because it’s all cartels and monopolies. That’s the main problem and I am going to change this. We will address this, we will lower indirect taxes, we will build many more apartments and we will lower the cost of buying and renting.

“This could be our big opportunity. Are they saying that after this protest the country will be different? Definitely. Very different. You can’t complain about the economy. The economy works. Education, communications and transportation work. There are complaints, justified complaints, about the cost of living. My political strategy for the coming year is simply to address all these problems seriously.”

The speaker of these words was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In his marathon discussions with his cabinet ministers and advisers, held mainly at night, Netanyahu sounds like he is committed to change and like he identifies with the protest and its enthusiasm. He doesn’t necessarily sound, however, like he identifies with those who are leading and fueling it, whom he thinks wish him ill.

Tzipi Livni, however, leader of the opposition Kadima party—which holds a plurality in the Knesset, while Netanyahu governs at the head of a right-wing coalition—has said Netanyahu is just paying lip-service to the protest cause. She was characteristically tough and direct in her critique: “Benjamin Netanyahu does not concern himself with changing national priorities, but with how to reduce the scope of protests, that is all he cares about.”

Livni and other Kadima leaders are calling on the prime minister to revise the 2012 budget and essentially replace it with an entirely new budget committing the government to many of the priority issues being put forward by the protest movement. Whether Netanyahu concedes or not has a lot to do with the overall political climate; he is moving to make peace and may be willing to accede to the 1967 borders for a two-state solution, in order to achieve a bilateral peace agreement before a possible UN vote to recognize the Palestinian independent state.

If he achieves this, it will strengthen his position immeasurably, but protesters believe they can bring the disappointment with his government to a vote, in early elections, and remove him from power. Livni, as leader of the largest party in the Knesset, would likely replace him as prime minister, and is positioning herself now to do just hat.

TheHotSpring.net :: Yemen may be where the Arab spring, this sweeping current of democratic upheaval in the Arabic-speaking world, takes a turn definitively toward violence or toward civic solutions. The regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, a tribal dictatorship using feudal power tactics, based in the capital Sanaa, is now waging one war against extremist Islamists and another against non-violent pro-democracy protesters.

Yemen is an intensely poor country, likely to see its dwindling fresh water resources 100% depleted before any nation in the world, and could be the global home-base for jihadist extremists. Yemen could also, however, be a sparkling example of how peaceful democratic change can bring sustainable prosperity and security to an otherwise impoverished society ruled by feudal warlords and kleptocratic dictators.

The gap between the democracy movement and the regime is stark: while protesters are lawyers and doctors, university professors and economists, the dictator Saleh has only a high-school-level education. Saleh’s former allies have tired of his brutality, and are demanding that he immediately cease all violence against civilians, and honor his multiple pledges to leave power, allowing for a peaceful democratic transition.

Much of the country is illiterate, and tribal politics continue to be an easy way to sow division, to justify cold-blooded killing, and to undermine the progress promised by peaceful protesters. Even the government seems unable to comprehensively put down the Islamist militia vying for power in the deep south. And neither the protesters nor Saleh have been able to fashion a secure plan for bringing prosperity back to Yemeni ports on the Gulf of Aden.

The Yemeni democracy movement is well read, well educated and rooted in a commitment to nonviolence. Yet there are grave concerns that if the regime succeeds in applying the tactics of Col. Muammar Qadhafi—the once and possibly former Libyan dictator of four decades—Yemen could descend into a failed state status reminiscent of its neighbor across the water, Somalia.

Heavily armed Somali pirates—linked to a vast black-market criminal network which feeds the ongoing Somali civil war—have become a menace to global shipping through the Gulf of Aden, the main southern route of entry into the Suez Canal. That vast criminal network has expanded the power of Islamist militia in southern Somalia, and has contributed to the intensification of drought, famine and social collapse.

Yemen may be more at risk than Somalia in many ways, should collapse follow the atrocities committed by Saleh against the Yemeni people. The pro-democracy movement needs to maintain its non-violent approach, but plan for significant innovations and improvements in the process of governing and of economic development and planning.

Yemen is strategic enough to warrant major foreign investment, debt forgiveness and development aid, and its ports might be able to benefit from a secure, reliable, democratic challenge to the armed chaos in Somalia and throughout the Gulf of Aden. Mokha (on the Red Sea), Aden and Ta’izz could form a powerful new economic hub for regional trade, facilitating passage from the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea.

Ta’izz, the intellectual capital of Yemen, could develop into the administrative center of power governing the new port industry. Such an outcome would be very much in the interests of the international community, as Ta’izz is the virtual home base of the surprising, liberal and modern pro-democracy movement.

Al Mukallah, in the remote east of the country, could be a first-stop along the coast of safe passage, if such a situation could be cultivated and secured. Mokha could be a Red Sea trading post, bridging the African and Asian continents in ways strategically designed to sow stability, mutual interest and prosperity.

The United Nations would likely need to be involved in helping to secure a fledgling Yemeni democracy against the chaos and sabotage sought by militant groups on the one hand and by regime loyalists on the other. But the development strategy makes sense for the region and for the wider world: instability anywhere inflates risk everywhere, and long-term planning for the Gulf of Aden trading zone is more than worth any time, effort and resources required to lay the groundwork.

An added benefit would come to Yemen, which as a safe harbor state with revitalized, modernized port cities, would be able to more easily gain access to an affordable imported flow of fresh water, and to afford state of the art desalinization facilities. We know that fresh water resource is urgently needed to prevent the total collapse of civil society in Yemen, and brining that resource value to Yemen could raise its profile among Arabian states, building into the fabric of economic cooperation which as of now, eludes it almost entirely.

The road from Mokha to Sanaa, like the road from Aden to Sanaa, should run through Ta’izz, allowing for what could become a virtuous feedback between the ideals of democratic government and the ideals of a vibrant trading culture in which not all wealth flows to or through the hands of the individuals who hold political power. It could create a more balanced and decentralized relationship between the people of Yemen and the power of those who govern them.

In short, the storied and problematic history of Yemen, along with the vast and surging need for new economic development, creates a real opportunity for massive coordinated international assistance to the nonviolent political activists who are seeking to build a modern, democratic civil society, and to build unprecedented cooperative links between Yemeni society and the outside world.

The Libya Contact Group held its most recent diplomatic summit today in Istanbul, to discuss how best to deal with the exigencies of the security crisis there, and possible political solutions. Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, of the United States, now fully recognizes the Transitional National Council, based in Benghazi, as the legitimate government of the Libyan people.

According to the New York Times:

Speaking at an international gathering here to discuss the five-month-old conflict in Libya, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the United States would join more than 30 countries in extending diplomatic recognition to the main opposition group, known as the Transitional National Council, The Associated Press reported.

“The United States views the Qaddafi regime as no longer having any legitimate authority in Libya,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And so I am announcing today that, until an interim authority is in place, the United States will recognize the T.N.C. as the legitimate governing authority for Libya, and we will deal with it on that basis.”

The news is a major breakthrough, as it shows consensus among the NATO powers authorized by the United Nations to use “all necessary measures” to protect civilian life in Libya, and clarifies that the mission to do so can only be completed when Col. Muammar Qadhafi has resigned and left power. The NATO mission is intended to enforce UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973.

The Libya Contact Group (LCG) is also studying how best to deal with severe and mounting humanitarian crisis across Libya, especially in the east, where the military forces of Muammar Qadhafi have been waging a brutal siege against the civilian population. The LCG intends to establish “humanitarian corridors”, starting in the east, in Benghazi, to make sure the civilian population is not cut off from aid by the ongoing fighting.

In recent days, there have been reports from numerous foreign governments that “contacts” with key Libyan officials suggest Qadhafi may be preparing to step down, if a political solution can be reached. There had been reports Qadhafi may have been planning “to blow up Tripoli”, but Libyan officials deny the allegation.

The rebel forces have come under fire from human rights watchdogs who report incidents of vandalism and burning of homes and villages, in areas considered loyal to the Qadhafi regime. Apparently under pressure to scale back such offensives and support efforts to negotiate a comprehensive political settlement, rebels are reportedly holding back from a rumored assault on the capital, Tripoli.

The mounting protest movement in Jordan is organizing massive new demonstrations, calling for constitutional reform that will maintain the monarchy, but establish a fully elected, democratic government. The protests were reportedly sparked by high and rapidly escalating food prices.

There are reports that riot police today attacked demonstrators, though protest organizers say they do not believe security forces linked to the monarchy were involved in any violence. They are calling for comprehensive anti-corruption reform, and the ouster of all political officials linked to corruption and/or intimidation of the civilian population.

King Abdullah II has pledged substantive political reform, including a path to some sort of constitutional monarchy, but protesters now say the reforms have been too slow, and may not be happening at all. There are now demands for immediate action to punish the police responsible for the attacks, against both peaceful demonstrators and journalists.

According to the AFP:

At least 10 people, mostly journalists, were injured on Friday when police tried to stop clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and government supporters in central Amman.

Police used batons to disperse the clashes outside city hall, beating and injuring nine journalists who were wearing orange vests marked “press,” an AFP reporter at the scene witnessed.

The Washington Post is reporting the attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators were carried out by gangs of pro-government demonstrators. It is unclear whether these gangs reflect the wider trend in the region, of regimes using armed thugs to intimidate opponents, in an attempt to debilitate pro-democracy movements.

The Post also reports, however, that King Abdullah II has agreed to key democracy demands: “to have prime ministers and Cabinets elected from parliamentary majorities, but he later said it may take two to three years to put an elected government in place rather than one appointed by the monarch.”

The protest movement that ousted Hosni Mubarak, after three decades of authoritarian rule has returned tens of thousands of people from all walks of Egyptian life to Tahrir Square, to demand significant democratic reform. Protesters say the military governing council has been slow to prosecute former regime figures guilty of corruption and/or crimes against humanity, and alleges it may be trying to slow-walk the revolution into non-existence.

The military council has said it views the protesters occupying Tahrir Square as a “minority” that does not speak for the Egyptian people and which is trying to disrupt the routines of civilian life. Protesters say this rhetoric mirrors that used by the Mubarak regime for three decades to use violence, harassment and intimidation to crush dissent, and they now fear there may be a military offensive against the peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators gathering at the square.

On Wednesday, after the defiant military message accusing the protesters of disrupting Egypt’s recovery, one witness at Tahrir Square told the press that if the military governing council takes a hard line against the peaceful pro-democracy movement, and fails to implement promised reforms, it will be time to call for the military “to return to their barracks” and accelerate the rise of an interim civilian government.

One source of anger among those who helped to stage the peaceful revolution that brought down the Mubarak regime is the large number of detentions (some say over 7,000) of civilians suspected of “disrupting” the military  council’s rule. Protesters also allege there has been little appetite in the military council for prosecuting and punishing former regime officials, or returning assets they may have wrongfully taken control of to the Egyptian people.

There are concerns that mounting tensions may result in a showdown, as protesters say they will not abandon the square until substantive reforms are implemented and real progress is made in dismantling the apparatus of the Mubarak regime. Some observers have accused the military council of prioritizing the power and influence of its own leadership, as Mubarak’s regime essentially established a security state in which most economic activity went through the military, massively enriching top officers.

Pres. Barack Obama upset many in Israel yesterday, when he called for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea, saying it would not allow Israel to effectively defend itself, and conservative opponents of Obama are now actively trying to vilify him as having abandoned Israel. This is not only not true; it is a dangerous lie that ignores the fact that Obama’s roadmap to peace strongly favors Israeli security.

At no time has Pres. Barack Obama threatened Israel, or sought to undermine its security. That his view of what will work best to secure a lasting peace between two states living side by side differs from the view of those who do not want two states is no surprise. No commentary based on the bias of those who do not favor a negotiated settlement should be taken seriously by anyone who favors Israeli security.

Hard-liners in Israel, under then PM Ehud Olmert’s questionable leadership, fought two needless wars of aggression that achieved nothing to improve Israel’s security, but which did entrench Israel’s enemies and greatly expand their influence along the Lebanese and Gazan borders. The hard-line solution is not always the wisest, and those who care about the state of Israel need to remember this: true power is exercised not by force of arms, but by mercy, wisdom and forethought.

Decisions based on fear often lead to overreactions, poor planning and counterproductive outcomes. In the case of Israel, such missteps could erode fragile diplomatic arrangements on which the future of Israel depends. The panic and hysteria that have overtaken some on the far right, over a US president, in trying to act as mediator between two people’s facing not so much political as existential questions, calling for intelligent compromise, is shameful and could endanger Israel’s security.

There has been a consistent pattern, over decades, in Israeli-Palestinian politics, whereby rhetoric of moderation has moved the cause of moderation forward and rhetoric of hostility has ignited or intensified hostility. The art of statecraft is, in many ways, the art of doing what is right, despite the inability of soundbite media to fashion an honest rhetoric to address the issues.

Netanyahu stands at an historic crossroads: in the wake of two widely unpopular, poorly conceived and ultimately botched wars of choice, Israel finds the region where it has so long been the only democratic state actively democratizing, from the ground up. This is a positive development for the region, for Israel and for all of humanity, and it needs to be addressed appropriately, not according to the reflexive panic of other times.

Israel, like the United States, has an opportunity to quietly guide and reward the democracy movement, not dictating policy or imposing its will, but making friends, and keeping them. Nothing is more vital to the future of Israeli security, and hard-liners whose minds are lost in other wars need to take note of the actual truths of this moment in history.

Heavy-handed security clampdowns are now perceived across the world, by Israel’s allies and by its neighboring populations, as evil acts, illegitimate under law and politically impardonable. A hard-line politics directly endangers Israel’s ability to play a credible, humane, leading role in this period of widespread democratization.

This is the moment democrats and peacemakers, statesmen and ordinary people have been dreaming of for decades, across the region, and it cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to slip away. But as in all places in all times, there are hard-liners who are invested in the paradigm of conflict and hostility, who do not see a future for their own way of thinking in a world of peace and security.

In Israel, specifically, there is a hard-line view that only by affirming every security-oriented action taken over the last four decades can Israel be made secure: that is largely because those individuals were the progenitors of those actions and cannot conceive of a world in which their actions were not the only, the best and the most necessary of all possibilities. Those who have invested everything in the politics, the mindset and the vocabulary of conflict, have a hard time transitioning into the age of peace and stability, and that, more than anything, can undermine a nation’s ability to negotiate effectively.

But on the matter of what Pres. Obama actually said yesterday: he did not say that Israel should confine itself to the borders of June 1967, and he most certainly did not suggest that when the borders of two states agreed upon, Israel should be surrounded by foreign military forces. What he did say was that the 1967 “lines” should be the “starting point” for negotiations regarding territory, and that the final agreement should result from mutually agreeable “swaps”.

In no way was there a suggestion that Israel should be less secure or that Israel should be forced to agree to anything not “agreeable”, from its perspective. The problem of the moment, however, appears to be that Mr. Netanyahu speaks vaguely of “generous compromises”, only to reject outright any consideration of any kind (let along compromise) on several issues without which no Palestinian government could make any move toward peace.

Seasoned diplomatic negotiators in Israel, in Europe and in the US, all of them invested in Israel being secure as the two-state solution goes forward, are accusing Netanyahu of short-sighted political intransigence. And in furtherance of what seems to be blocking a reasonable approach to serious negotiations about what is actually going on, on the ground, numerous hard-line organizations have begun trying to raise money by cynically raising false alarms based on deliberate distortions of what Pres. Obama called for.

What’s more, the policy enunciated by Pres. Obama is not new: the speech was applauded by the Quartet of moderating powers (the US, joined by the EU, the UN and the Russian Federation), and it has long been considered to be the only reasonable starting point from which a viable peace settlement could be reached.

What is new is that Pres. Obama signaled the willingness of the US to push for those negotiations to begin in earnest. That push is an invitation to PM Netanyahu to act in the interests of his people, and commit to moving forward with the difficult, but urgently necessary work of resolving this conflict.

After what was described as a tense meeting with Pres. Obama today, Netanyahu id they agreed that “illusions” about what is possible should not guide the negotiations, because the resulting agreement would not be tenable. What he did not seem to notice, however, is that a viable two-state solution requires balance, fairness, and transparency, that compromises have to be not so much “generous” as difficult, to have the desired effect—that of purchasing a viable peace.

To love and support the people of Israel is to do more than focus with anger and worry on the inexcusable atrocities to which previous generations were subjected. It means to defend the right of the people of Israel to be led by people who support, no matter how inconvenient, the ethical principles of the Jewish faith and the political virtues of modern democracy. It means supporting the right of the people of Israel to establish a viable cooperative peace with their neighbors.

Pres. Obama is absolutely committed to the security of Israel, now and after the two-state solution is reached, and during the negotiations. And, he is committed to helping the people of Israel, and their Palestinian neighbors, achieve a peace that is worthy of the great and noble ideals on which Israeli democracy was founded.

Nothing will make Israel more secure than Israel finding a way to allow for the Palestinian people to enjoy the same freedom, democracy and security to which Israel’s leaders feel their constituents are entitled. Getting there will not be easy, but it requires something more intelligent than the fantasy that without giving anything, something can be secured.

Barack Obama’s security policy is pro-Israel. It favors Israel’s culture of faith and democracy. It favors the security of the state of Israel, and of the Israeli people. And, perhaps most importantly, Obama’s Israel policy is not fatalist: instead, it favors the idea that Israel and its leaders are capable of achieving the seemingly impossible task of harmony, security and democracy, without waiting for circumstances to dictate outcomes.

For days now, pro-democracy protesters have been calling Deraa “liberated territory”, and today, after two days of government forces massacring civilians in public demonstrations, the al-Assad regime has sent tanks to invade and to “retake” the city of Deraa. Sporadic eyewitness reports to the BBC suggest the streets are littered with bodies of the wounded and killed, and that no one dares to retrieve or assist them.

If true, the news of Assad’s military assault on civilian protesters comes a day after talk began to circulate of indictment at the International Criminal Court, for the slaughter of more than 120 unarmed demonstrators on Friday and Saturday.

Syria’s government has so far refused to acknowledge the obvious, blaming the shooting of unarmed civilians on “Taliban-like gangs” and foreign conspirators. A spokesman for Human Rights Watch, speaking from Beirut, has called on world leaders to take aggressive legal action against the Syrian regime to halt the violence.

The UN’s human rights chief has called on Assad’s regime to halt all use of violence against civilians. With Assad still not admitting to the massacres, his military has invaded the old city center in Deraa, and sealed the Jordanian border.

Using tanks, supported by snipers, the military has reportedly moved into the city center, killing civilians indiscriminately. Witnesses say shooters are firing into homes at random, to put even those who seek shelter in danger.

The sealing of the Jordanian border is being viewed from abroad as a sinister attempt to prevent protest leaders from fleeing, and to prevent any eyewitness testimony from escaping the country. Th bloodiest crackdown of this Arab spring has come in the immediate aftermath of Assad’s lifting the emergency law that allowed for such strong-arm tactics, and concurrent with the agreement by Yemen’s president to step down in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Assad’s regime is the latest —after Bahrain’s embattled monarchy— to botch its response to a moderate protest movement, by use of extreme force. In Syria, as in Bahrain, the protests initially called for legal reform, not for the resignation of the head of state, but the use of extreme violence, deadly force and repeated massacres, to hold power, have pushed protesters in both countries to call for the resignation and prosecution of their respective heads of state.

Syria’s authoritarian ruler Bashar al-Assad has lifted a notorious emergency law, after 50 years during which his family has used it to stamp out dissent and democratic process. It was the boldest and most significant concession to date, in the political response to ongoing protests in Syria, but it has not quelled the pro-democracy protests, as video continues to circulate showing the brutality of the regime’s violent assault on protesters.

Assad’s security forces are accused of a flagrant campaign of assassination, disappearance and torture of dissidents, and the protest movement is reported to be improving its media campaign, staging better communication among dissident groups and getting video out that shows the violence used by the government to put down the protests.

Assad’s government is the last stronghold of the Ba’athist Arab socialist movement, and while secular in its politics, is unpopular with western powers, due to its involvement in Lebanon and its position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In March, the largest public demonstrations in Syria for decades took place, and Assad is now facing the destabilization of his regime.

Assad’s arrogant, violent and rhetorically hamfisted response to the protests appears to have further destabilized his position with the Syrian public, which had initially been calling for civil rights and a return to political process. It now appears the extreme brutality of Assad’s response has hardened the protest movement, so that only a resignation of the entire Assad regime, and a transition to nonviolent democratic process will suffice.

Assad continues to say his government is not at risk and will not step aside, but the protest movement has more evidence of a campaign of violence and impunity and is calling for responsible parties to be held accountable for killing civilians. Rights groups and foreign observers are talking about crimes against humanity, and Assad is under pressure to halt the crackdown.

Reports today say the security forces have again fired indiscriminately into crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators, as more than 100,000 gathered to call for comprehensive political reform, an end to authoritarian rule and justice for the victims of state oppression. The news is bei treated internationally as a frightening escalation, and a sign the concessions of this week may have little effect unless real power his handed over to civil authorities.

UPDATE, 9:41 pm EDT: Just one day after long-time strongman Bashar al-Assad lifted the emergency law his family has used to rule Syria for five decades, his security forces reportedly fired live ammunition into crowds of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators, killing at least 75 people across the country, on Friday.

Today, as thousands of mourners demanded his regime relinquish power and face punishment for war crimes, his security forces again fired into the crowd, with at least another 11 people estimated to have been killed. The violence appears to show a regime now determined to shed the blood of innocent civilians, even mourners at a funeral, to impose the extension of its rule on the people of Syria.

The al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain has seen its international reputation deteriorate from apparent friend of western nations and western values to violent police state using foreign mercenaries to kill its own people. No human rights lawyers were needed to bring about that shift; this was the flagrant, unapologetic and coordinated response of the regime to its people’s fairly moderate demand for political reform.

Initially, pro-democracy demonstrators gathering in central Manama were not calling for the ouster of the ruling family or the end of the monarchy. Despite this fact, the regime quickly began calling on foreign mercenaries to attack demonstrators, and when some were killed, and the protests gathered momentum, security forces fired into crowds of unarmed demonstrators and began a campaign of naked aggression against rights activists.

As it became clear the people of Bahrain no longer trusted in the al-Khalifa family to wield power legitimately and with respect for basic principles of fairness and civility, the regime invited Saudi Arabia’s military into the country to prevent what it alleged was a sectarian uprising. Political roundups began, and now rights activists are being jailed for little more than criticizing this violent crackdown.

Zainab al-Khawaja, a 27-year-old human rights activist, whose father, brother-in-law and husband, are also prominent human rights activists in Bahrain, went on hunger strike, demanding the unconditional release of her family. She told the international press that they were detained in a midnight raid. She said her father was severely beaten, kicked and brutalized, despite crying out “I can’t breathe” and that he was unconscious when they took him away.

Zainab wrote an open letter to Pres. Obama, urging him to withdraw support for the al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain. The letter began as follows:

Mr. President:

I write to you from Bahrain, after living through horrible injustice that I would never wish upon anyone in the world. Security forces attacked my home, broke our doors with sledgehammers, and terrified my family. Without any warning, without an arrest warrant and without giving any reasons; armed, masked men attacked my father. Although they said nothing, we all know that my father’s crime is being a human rights activist. My father was grabbed by the neck, dragged down a flight of stairs and then beaten unconscious in front of me. He never raised his hand to resist them, and the only words he said were “I can’t breathe”. Even after he was unconscious the masked men kept kicking and beating him while cursing and saying that they were going to kill him. This is a very real threat considering that in the past two weeks alone three political prisoners have died in custody. The special forces also beat up and arrested my husband and brother-in-law.

Since their arrest, 3 days ago, we have heard nothing. We do not know where they are and whether they are safe or not. In fact, we still have no news of my uncle who was arrested 3 weeks ago, when troops put guns to the heads of his children and beat his wife severely.

Having studied in America, I have seen how strongly your people believe in freedom and democracy. Even through these horrible times many of the people supporting me are Americans who never thought their government would stand by dictators and against freedom-loving people. To the American people I send my love and gratitude.

She urged Pres. Obama to recognize the gravity of what is taking place in Bahrain, the brutality of the regime, and that the leaders of the al-Khalifa regime “do not care about our rights or our lives.” She urged him to think about the meaning of his hopeful campaign, which demanded rights for all people and an end to injustice.

Zainab announced her hunger strike to the world in this letter to Pres. Obama, and finished with an emotional plea from a daughter to a father:

I ask of you to look into your beautiful daughters’ eyes tonight and think to yourself what you are personally willing to sacrifice in order to make sure they can sleep safe at night, that they can grow up with hope rather than fear and heartache, that they can have their father and grandfathers embrace to run to when they are hurt or in need of support. Last night my one-year-old daughter went knocking on our bedroom door calling for her father, the first word she ever learnt. It tore my heart to pieces. How do you explain to a one-year-old that her father is imprisoned? I need to look into my daughter’s eyes tomorrow, next week, in the years to come, and tell her I did all that I could to protect her family and future.

For my daughter’s sake, for her future, for my father’s life, for the life of my husband, to unite my family again, I will begin my hunger strike.

Zainab Alkhawaja

The US government has not officially withdrawn support for the al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain, and doing so would be intensely complicated, given the presence of Saudi troop in Bahrain to shore up the regime, but the State Department has demanded a full investigation of at least four deaths in custody of human rights activists and is reportedly pressuring the regime to stop its violent assault on dissenters.

After 10 days, Zainab ended her hunger strike, under pressure from rights groups to make sure her voice is not extinguished by the crimes of the regime. Amid fears the breastfeeding mother was already near death, activists in the region and across the world urged her to make sure she stays alive to continue to be a voice in the Bahraini people’s struggle for basic human rights.

Another relative, Batool, relays the terror of that night in a gripping account:

At around 1 am of the 9th of April, 2011, I was sitting with my fiancé, Hussein Ahmed, at my sister’s apartment when my father, AbdulHadi AlKhawaja, came to us and asked me to check the internet if there’s any news about security forces going to my grandmother’s place. I checked and I saw that my cousin had written that security forces had gone there and to our apartment, too.

She tells of how the family prepared for the imminent attack, and made sure the children were out of harm’s way, then how a gang of masked men burst into the apartment screaming and attacking the men.

I followed them out and when I reached the staircase I could see my dad on the ground being beaten by the security forces who were all masked and I saw my fiancé and brothers-in-law being shoved and handcuffed. There were other men in civilian clothing all masked and armed. I heard my sister shouting that my father couldn’t breathe and that they shouldn’t beat my father since he wasn’t resisting arrest and the security forces were shouting at her and one of them was saying “who is she?! Take her too!!” One of them grabbed my sister by the shirt, shoved my mother aside, and dragged her up the stairs and pushed her into a room and told her to stay inside or she would be arrested too.

He told us to go inside too and closed the door on us. He then suddenly opened the door again and it hit my sister Zainab in the face. He was telling her that she should better shut up or she would be taken too and my mother stood in front of her and pleaded with him not to take her. We could hear sounds of beating outside but couldn’t get out of the room. One of the masked men in civilian clothing came inside and told us that he would be filming with a video camera and that we should cover our faces. He filmed the place and they searched it then closed the door again and told us not to leave. At that point I couldn’t help crying but my mom and sisters were telling me to be strong and not to cry.

Maryam al-Khawaja, Zainab’s sister, and also a human rights activist, is currently in the US. She told CNN she cannot go back to Bahrain right now, because “I know I am under very high risk of arrest or disappearance”. She said she had not been able to get news of her father’s whereabouts or wellbeing, and that as a rights activist who has documented torture in Bahrain, she is concerned he could be suffering psychological, physical and even sexual abuse.

Today, Maryam and Zainab’s father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is slated to face trial, allegedly for “inciting hatred of the government” by bearing witness to the regime’s crimes. In 2004, was sentenced to one year in prison for the very same, very dubious crime, because he had criticized the prime minister. It is expected he will again be sentenced for a non-existent crime, as the regime continues its brutal crackdown on dissent.

The regime has targeted rights activists and doctors, because they are the witnesses who have most direct information about the regime’s crimes. Not only were doctors at hospitals in Manama seeing patients with gunshot wounds possibly inflicted by snipers, and other obvious signs of the government’s assault on its own people, but the hospital was taken over in military fashion, to prevent wounded protesters from getting treatment, and to ensure that any who sought treatment could be detained.

That military takeover of a hospital where unarmed civilian protesters were seeking treatment is one of the very same crimes committed by Muammar Qadhafi in his violent attack on the people of Libya. The UN called the military raid on the hospital a “shocking and blatant violation of international law”.

Roundups have been constant and brutal, and there are spreading allegations of a campaign of torture being carried out against dissidents. Last week the Los Angeles Times reported:

A fourth person has died in police custody and his body shows signs of torture, Bahraini human rights groups alleged.

Businessman Karim Fakhrawi, a member of the opposition movement Wefaq, was arrested last week and pronounced dead Tuesday. The party released a statement on its Facebook page claiming Fakhrawi to be the fourth of its supporters to die in custody.

The attack on dissidents is far-reaching, and appears to be expanding. This week, arrests have continued, and there are reports from detention centers of so many political prisoners that family members have to wait in 2-hour queues to speak to authorities or to deliver food or clothing. There is no word at this hour on the sentence that may have been handed down against Abdulhadi al-Khawaja or the other activists imprisoned with him.

Iman al-Obeidi, the Libyan woman who was abducted by Qadhafi agents while telling foreign journalists that she had been held captive and gang raped by Qadhafi’s military, says after several days in custody, she continues to suffer physical assault, repeated arrests, and threats, from Qadhafi’s regime.

The Qadhafi regime has orchestrated a coordinated campaign of abuse against al-Obeidi, which now appears to include intense physical abuse, a violent attempt to force her to confess —video of which has now emerged in Libya— and reporters on Libyan state television reportedly calling her a “whore”, a “traitor”, and worse.

The horror of what this woman appears to have been subjected to is in itself a series of deliberate crimes against humanity, and the regime’s persistent use of violence to attack the victim and suppress her testimony amounts to a confession of complicity in the campaign of rape, assault, torture and ongoing threats.

Iman al-Obeidi is reported to be living all day every day with the constant threat of extreme violence and assassination. She reportedly made it as far as the Libyan border, where she was again abducted by pro-Qadhafi forces, forcibly escorted back to Tripoli, and has been subjected to house arrest, while she is in fact the victim in a case where at least 15 Qadhafi agents should be charges or rape, abduction, and torture.

CNN was able to interview her tonight, and she said she lives in constant fear for her life, but that she won’t retract her allegations. She said she only wants to escape the capital, where she says the Libyan people are living in a state of fear of the regime, and civilians are regularly subjected to arbitrary abduction and harsh interrogation.

Today, Juan Cole published an open letter to the political left, asking them to understand the humanitarian urgency of the situation in Libya, and to balance their desire for an end to war and foreign interventions against the need to protect human life and ensure that a viable democracy movement is not put down through massive slaughter of thousands or tens of thousands of civilians. Cole is right. Though military action is never the best of all possible outcomes, it is sometimes the only way to protect innocent human life against plans of deliberate mass murder.

The Jasmine Revolution, the spreading pro-democracy movement that has reached into the capitals of so many nations across North Africa and the Middle East, marks an historical moment entirely without precedent in the history of the region. Peaceful, pro-democracy movements telling dictatorial regimes they are no longer afraid and they will not accept any future that continues to fail to be democratic. Muammar Qadhafi has already inspired several regimes to follow his lead and use extreme, massive, lethal violence to put down this peaceful revolution.

In Libya, that scheme of slaughter has gone further than anywhere else. What happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and in Tehran in 2009, has been turned into an all-out ground and air war against civilians across the nation of Libya. Qadhafi openly explained, in multiple public speeches, that he would slaughter thousands in Benghazi. He already did so in multiple other rebel-controlled cities. It has only been with sustained coalition airstrikes, and the imposition of a no-fly zone, that the pro-democracy resistance has been able to drive Qadhafi’s forces out of Ajdabiya, Brega and Ras Lanuf.

The pro-democracy movement became a de fact armed rebellion, when large factions of the military defected and joined the resistance. Qadhafi made hysterical claims that he was fighting a perverse coalition of al Qaeda, Israel, the United States, Iran, and “drug addicts”. His son said they were at war with “terrorists and gangsters”.

On one after another occasion, Qadhafi’s government declared a “ceasefire”, in an apparent effort to cause the coalition air forces and the pro-democracy resistance to stand down, while his air and ground assault continued virtually unabated. Footage from international journalists able to gain access to Qadhafi’s front-line positions showed a continual barrage of hundreds, if not thousands, of heavy artillery shells being fired into rebel-held civilian areas.

Yesterday, a woman found her way to a gathering of press at a government-controlled hotel in Tripoli, and screamed and cried that she had been kidnapped by Qadhafi’s militia, held prisoner for two days, and violently raped by 15 men. Reporters scuffled with hotel employees and government agents who tried to silence her. A TV camera was destroyed, the woman was threatened by at least one hotel employee with a butter-knife, and Qadhafi’s forces then forcibly removed her to an unknown location.

The incident clearly amounts to a brutal physical assault by pro-Qadhafi forces on foreign journalists. The woman’s fate is now unknown. The Qadhafi regime is using all force possible to brutally subdue not only the pro-democracy movement itself, but support from the civilian population and the ability of foreign journalists to report facts from the conflict.

In the United States, and across Europe, there has been friction on both the progressive left and the conservative right, among factions that do or do not favor military intervention in Libya, for ideological, practical or political reasons. There has been an unfortunate split between people who feel human life and democracy matter more than ideological preference and partisan interest, clouding the landscape and raising questions about the commitment of the allied forces to helping promote justice in Libya.

It has to be said, no one, of any political persuasion, in the US, Europe or the Arabic-speaking world, views Qadhafi as a legitimate head of state. This means there is a moral blur and intellectual incoherence among those who seek to oppose a limited airborne intervention to limit Qadhafi’s ability to use force against his own people.

In the US, there has been a split on the right between those who have been pushing for swift military action and those who seek to oppose Obama, either for partisan reasons or in adherence to an absolute prioritization of budget cuts. On the left, there has been a split between those who vehemently oppose the so-called “imperial presidency” and those who prioritize the interest of the pro-democracy movement.

In both cases, there has been significant rhetorical confusion about what is happening, how to characterize it, and whether or not there is public support for military action. In the US, polling clearly shows support for Pres. Obama’s response to the Libyan crisis. The people of the United States believe Qadhafi needs to be stopped from slaughtering thousands of civilians in a quest to perpetuate a 42-year-long dictatorship.

The United States Congress will likely soon face the choice of whether or not to retro-actively authorize military force, perhaps for a sustained period, to assist in maintaining the no-fly zone. If NATO officially takes control of the mission, it may be unnecessary to secure a Congressional vote on assistance to NATO, but politicos right and left will be challenged to find coherent positions: do they favor limited action to prevent massive civilian death, or a world in which principled people stand by and watch the slaughter go forward, with the explicit intent of crushing the pro-democracy movement spreading across the Middle East?

The wishful defeatism that is cynically promoting the idea that we should not be involved in implementing the Libyan no-fly zone because it cannot succeed is a cynical attempt to undermine the success of the action, and little more. It depends almost entirely on the view that because we cannot guarantee the perfect democratic success of the people of Libya, in their aspirations for democratic freedom, they don’t deserve recognition or assistance.

This flies in the face of the entire historical political culture of the United States. Though seen as imperialist leanings in much of the rest of the world, the Monroe doctrine —that the US would defend democratic freedom anywhere it cropped up in the Americas— and the Truman doctrine —extending this principle to the entire world— resonated in the US because they echo the sentiment of the American people that the American revolution was 1) not ideological, 2) universal, and 3) a humanitarian and morally necessary action to which all people should have a right.

The aspirations of the Libyan people are the aspirations of people everywhere, to be free of the brutality and torment of a rapacious dictator who imposes his will through thuggish secret police, kidnap, torture and the use of naked military force against civilian populations. But perhaps more significantly, in this particular historical moment, these aspirations are linked to the fate of millions of people in at least a dozen countries, where non-violent protest movements are calling for change, and where even “moderate” regimes appear tempted to try their hand at violent suppression.

The international community failed to act to protect civilians in Rwanda, and nearly 1 million people were murdered in cold blood, in medieval fashion, in just 100 days. The international community has never intervened effectively in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and over the last 13 years, an estimated 6 million people, most of them civilians, have died. Darfur continues to live under threat of genocide and in the case of Libya, the international community has three things that warrant immediate action:

1. Qadhafi’s open declaration of an intent to use his military to slaughter thousands of civilians in Benghazi;
2. The invitation of the resistance movement in Libya, which has formed a transitional government;
3. The unanimous support of the Arab League and the UN Security Council for imposing a no-fly zone, using “all necessary measures” to protect civilian life.

To not act, with the historical imperatives, the moral imperatives, the democratic movement at risk, and these three factors, aligning with an international legal imperative to act, would be a morally bankrupt betrayal of our own fundamental principles as a free people that prize the value of individual human life over the whims of the powerful.

The royal family ruling Bahrain has taken a military approach to its people’s demand for more democracy. The royal family, increasingly desperate to hold onto power by any means necessary, first called in foreign mercenaries, then the Saudi army, which now effectively occupies the capital, Manama. Reports coming from Manama say doctors and demonstrators gave told the press that Bahraini and/or Saudi forces surrounded the city’s largest hospital to prevent people attacked by gunfire and teargas from getting treatment.

If confirmed, that report alone would be significant evidence that the regime us carrying out crimes against humanity. Not only are security forces using teargas and violent means to disperse protesters; they are reportedly firing into the crowds with live ammunition, then barring entry to medical facilities, to ensure maximum harm to those affected.

Initially, the protest movement there wanted to replace political leaders that were viewed as corrupt, but stopped short of calling for an end to the monarchy. It was after forces working for the al-Khalifa family bean using deadly force against protesters that the pro-democracy demonstrators started calling for the king, the crown prince and at least one other close relative to leave power and to flee the country or face prosecution. Pressure has been mounting to abandon the al-Khalifa family, despite Bahrain’s close alliance with the west.

The military takeover of hospitals has become a hallmark of the regimes seeking to crush pro-democracy movements. In Egypt, there were reports of pro-Mubarak forces blocking access to hospitals and even attacking volunteer doctors and nurses seeking to treat the wounded. In Libya, there are reports today from Misratah that pro-Qadhafi forces have seized control of the hospital and are targeting civilians seeking treatment from sniper positions on the rooftop.

The tactic is a particular show of extreme brutality, and is raising questions about what might constitute crimes against civilians serious enough to warrant UN intervention. The situation in Bahrain appears to be escalating, with tensions across the region, from Saudi Arabia to Iran, mounting over the perceived Sunni-Shi’a struggle there.

In fact, observers on the ground appear to suggest that the sectarian tension that has begun to emerge in the Bahrain situation was promoted deliberately by the Bahrain regime to win sympathy from foreign governments hostile to Iran, and to justify its use of foreign mercenaries to attack civilian demonstrators.

The result is that now the United States and Iran find themselves taking similar views of what is going on in Manama, demanding that the al-Khalifa regime immediately halt all violence against civilians and open credible negotiations with the anti-government demonstrators. The regime’s allegation that Iran’s call for a non-violent response to pro-democracy demonstrators is unwarranted “interference” in its internal affairs is a direct attack on one of its closest allies, the United States, which is also demanding civility.

The al-Khalifa regime has seized dictatorial powers for a three-month state of emergency, and has demolished the iconic pearl monument at the center of Pearl Square in central Manama, an increasingly proud symbol for the opposition movement. The demolition has been seen as another in a series of acts by the regime to undercut the popular pro-democracy movement by use of force. State television has reportedly begun referring to Pearl Square as the GCC roundabout, a reference to the Gulf Cooperation Council, the official title of the Saudi occupation force.

The US is increasingly alarmed by Bahrain’s violent crackdown on dissent. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has said Bahrain is in violation of an American law —which he authored— that prohibits any US aid to foreign governments that violate human rights. He is calling for an investigation into ongoing human rights abuses by the al-Khalifa regime and a serious examination of the suspension of all military assistance to Bahrain.

Yesterday, there were reports of snipers taking up positions around peaceful, unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators, then firing into the crowd, inflicting fatal headshots and hitting other victims in the neck. At least one journalist was killed and another injured in the crackdown, and dozens of journalists have reportedly been targeted —detained, beaten, shot at— since the Saleh regime’s crackdown began.

The violence yesterday has reportedly left at least 48 people dead, and Pres. Saleh has used the killings to declare a state of emergency. Critics say the snipers were plainclothes government agents sent to kill and to terrorize peaceful demonstrators. It now appears the Yemeni government has been involved in deliberate crimes against humanity, using lethal violence against unarmed civilians.

With the crisis in Libya, these other outposts of the “Jasmine Revolution”, the wave of democratic protest spreading across the Arabic-speaking world this winter, have been pushed to the margins of major global news reports on the region. The Center for American Progress publication Think Progress has studied the incidence of news reporting and found the Yemen protests getting significantly less coverage than Libya.

The al-Khalifa monarchy in Bahrain has also been escalating its deliberate use of violence to crush the protest movement there, putting the US in a difficult situation, as it goes to war to protect civilians in Libya, while two close allies are systematically engaging in brutal and deadly attacks on their own people, to maintain fundamentally undemocratic regimes.

Saleh has denied involvement in the mass killing of civilian demonstrators in Sana’a, and it now appears likely the state of emergency will be used to impose extreme penalties on anyone associated with the protest movement, which the government is characterizing as promoting unrest and violence.

With clear evidence now emerging of a systematic, centrally controlled campaign of extreme violence against civilians, apparently planned and carried out by the Saleh regime, the international community must now face the uncomfortable prospect of imposing harsh sanctions on one of the most unstable states in the world, where major powers have key strategic and security interests and there is currently a war ongoing against an al Qaeda linked insurgency.

UPDATE, 4:02 pm EDT: New reports from the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, suggest a new wave of attacks on civilians, leaving more than 80 people dead in the course of this weekend’s bloody crackdown.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously this week to authorize the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya, and gave member nations the power to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilians. NATO and an alliance of Arab countries are now orchestrating airstrikes against Libyan military positions, to clear the ground for a secure no-fly zone.

The Libyan reaction was mixed and confused. Muammar Qadhafi, the Libyan president of 42 years, warned his forces would attack any Mediterranean traffic close to Libya, while his son Saif al-Islam al-Qadhafi said Libya would protect civilian lives, then said his father’s forces were at war with “gangsters and terrorists”, a suggestion of the defense they might use to continue their military offensive.

But the Libyan foreign minister surprised a group of international journalists being barred from leaving a hotel in Tripoli unaccompanied, and explained that the regime was declaring a unilateral ceasefire and would abide by all of the terms of the UNSC resolution.

On Friday, US president Barack Obama warned the Libyan leader that allied forces would consider him in breach of the resolution if he did not immediately halt the military offensive, withdraw his troops from key cities they had taken back from the rebels, stand down and restore power, water and communications systems to all civilians across the country.

Diplomatic and military analysts have characterized the conditions Qadhafi must meet as beyond his reach, or beyond his will. Today, Qadhafi declared the UNSC resolution illegitimate. International leaders are slated to meet in Paris to plan the assault against Qadhafi’s military installations and artillery, but the Libyan leader seems to be planning an escalation of his planned blitz against Benghazi.

UPDATE, 11:12 am EDT: Shortly before 11 am EDT, French president Nicholas Sarkozy emerged from the Paris Summit in Support of the Libyan People, where he met with allied heads of state and foreign ministers, including US Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, to announce that French aircraft had already launched operations inside Libya, attacking ground positions and armored vehicles, in an effort to protect civilians in areas held by rebels or recently retaken by Qadhafi’s forces.

There have been reports from outside Benghazi that Qadhafi’s forces violated the ceasefire the Libyan foreign minister had declared just yesterday. The refusal to withdraw from rebel-held territory or to cease operations in the vicinity of civilian populations, along with Qadhafi’s declaration that he would not recognize the legitimacy of the UN no-fly zone, give France, the US and the allied forces clear authority to use “all necessary measures” to prevent violence against civilian populations.

UPDATE, 3:25 pm EDT: At present, it appears the Arab countries’ participation in military operations includes both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. While France and the UK are leading NATO combat operations, and Italy and Spain are providing basing support, the US is reportedly providing radar, satellite and targeting information, as well as mobilizing submarines in the Mediterranean, to assist the air campaign.

UPDATE, 3:38 pm EDT: News has just broken that US forces have fired the first ballistic missiles into Libya, in support of the NATO-led air campaign. US retired military officers speculated the strikes were likely Tomahawk missiles fired from submarines in the Mediterranean.

French airstrikes earlier in the day reportedly shot down at least one Libyan military plane over Benghazi, suggesting Qadhafi was moving ahead with his plans to attack the rebel-held city. At present no US combat aircraft have been reported to be taking part in the airstrikes.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today —with five abstentions— to support the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, authorizing military action against Muammar Qadhafi, to halt his war against the people of his own country. Qadhafi and his sons have been waging a full-scale military assault against civilians and rebel forces supporting the pro-democracy opposition.

The abstention of crucial powers Russia and China —both permanent members with veto power—, as well as Germany, Brazil and India, was itself a clear sign of international consensus that the brutality of Qadhafi’s assault on his people needs to be stopped. The vote was a victory for Arab states, European powers and the United States, which wanted UN support for air strikes against Qadhafi.

In anticipation of the vote, Qadhafi said on state radio that “If the world gets crazy then we will get crazy too” and threatened to accelerate his air war against the people of Benghazi. Thousands of people in Benghazi gathered in the city center, watching news reports of the results of the Security Council vote.

A massive cheer went up from the crowd when it was announced the Security Council had voted unanimously to take “all necessary measures … to protect civilians”. The resolution authorizes any force necessary to prevent violent military action against civilians, and will likely result in an intense barrage of airstrikes against Qadhafi’s forces.

It is not clear at this writing whether Qadhafi will be given an opportunity to back down or to leave the country before strikes begin. The UN has called on all member nations to protect civilians. Enforcing a no-fly zone requires forward clearing strikes. US Sec. of State said it would be necessary to attack Qadhafi’s defenses to ensure the safety of international pilots enforcing the no-fly zone.

What Qadhafi has been planning for in Benghazi, a medieval siege with heavy artillery attacks and waves of bombing raids, is a planned, premeditated war crime, designed to include the mass killing of civilians. Because the Security Council resolution mandate the protection of civilians, any ground action by Qadhafi against the people of Benghazi may result in a full-scale military attack on relevant military positions.

The regime in Bahrain is now officially killing civilians in order to halt what is increasingly a demand for full democratic rights. At first, the democracy movement in Bahrain was not calling for the removal of the king or the al-Khalifa family. But once security forces began cracking down violently on peaceful demonstrators in central Manama, the al-Khalifa family fell out of favor.

By this week, pro-democracy demonstrators began calling for the king, the crown prince, and a royal uncle, the three most powerful men in Bahrain, to leave power and go into exile, largely because they had responded to peaceful protests with arbitrary detentions, foreign mercenaries and lethal force.

This week, the regime escalated tensions dramatically by inviting Saudi military forces into the country, talking of the need to impose an atmosphere of security. The regime’s decision to treat pro-democracy demonstrators as harbingers of chaos and insecurity. Demonstrators said the presence of foreign troops would be viewed as an illegal act of war by the government against its own people.

Today, Nicholas Kristof reported for the New York Times:

It is heartbreaking to see a renegade country like Libya shoot pro-democracy protesters. But it’s even more wrenching to watch America’s ally, Bahrain, pull a Qaddafi and use American tanks, guns and tear gas as well as foreign mercenaries to crush a pro-democracy movement — as we stay mostly silent.

In Bahrain in recent weeks, I’ve seen corpses of protesters who were shot at close range, seen a teenage girl writhing in pain after being clubbed, seen ambulance workers beaten for trying to rescue protesters — and in the last few days it has gotten much worse. Saudi Arabia, in a slap at American efforts to defuse the crisis, dispatched troops to Bahrain to help crush the protesters. The result is five more deaths…

Kristof added:

One video from Bahrain appears to show security forces shooting an unarmed middle-aged man in the chest with a tear gas canister at a range of a few feet. The man collapses and struggles to get up. And then they shoot him with a canister in the head. Amazingly, he survived.

While the UN has approved military action against Libya’s Muammar Qadhafi, who is in the process of waging a full-scale war on his population and Europe, the US and Arab states are preparing to stage military strikes against Qadhafi, to stop the slaughter, western ally Bahrain is flagrantly killing civilians in the streets.

What is taking place in Bahrain is the deliberate participation in crimes against humanity, with the specific intent of crushing a fully legitimate, entirely non-violent protest movement calling for fair and open democratization. The international community must take action to isolate the al-Khalifa family and pressure the regime to stand down.and to honor the basic, universal rights of the demonstrators and of all of the Bahraini people.

Bahrain’s government has asked for and accepted foreign intervention to help secure the nation against a spreading opposition movement. Pro-democracy demonstrators have said they will view any presence of foreign troops as an illegal foreign occupation. There are concerns the foreign forces might inflame sectarian tensions, as they are Saudi Sunni forces defining a minority Sunni regime against a mostly Shi’a pro-democracy movement in a mostly Shi’a country.

For weeks, there have been reports of emissaries from the Saudi royal family pressuring officials, first in Egypt, now in Bahrain, to resist pressure to reform or to resign. Now, Bahrain’s king has declared a three month long state of emergency, which gives him sweeping powers with which he can fight the spreading democracy movement.

Violence has been escalating over the course of the protests. The regime blames protesters gathered at Pearl Square in central Manama, but protests and outside observers say foreign mercenaries and armed thugs, hired by the government, have been attacking protesters, imposing at atmosphere of violence.

The state of emergency is being viewed by many as a declaration of war against the democracy movement, which had begun calling for the king to relinquish power in disgrace for having used violence against unarmed civilians.

The United States Congress today debated the possibility of establishing a military no-fly zone over Libya, to pressure Muammar Qadhafi to leave office. It is not known how close the Obama administration may be to planning for such an operation, though White House and State Dept spokespeople have said the administration wants a UN Security Council resolution to give legal support to a no-fly zone.

Republican Sen. John McCain called for the intervention, saying it was well within the power of the United States to do so and that it would help the people of Libya in their quest to end the Qadhafi dictatorship. But another Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, said Pres. Obama should get a full declaration of war from the Congress, before seeking to establish a no-fly zone.

Coptic Christians have been staging a prolonged sit-in at the state television station in Egypt. They began their protest nine days ago after a Coptic Church was burned down. Yesterday, most of the protesters reportedly left and went home after receiving assurances from the military that the church would be rebuilt.

Those who did not leave were removed by force. A local Coptic hospital reported a number of patients who had been at the site of the protests had suffered bruises, “muscle pain”, and in at least one case, a fracture.

Pres. Barack Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, yesterday said to the UN that “When a leader’s only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against [his] people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule.” The Obama administration has now taken the position that Muammar Qadhafi can no longer be recognized as leader of Libya, and an interim government should be instituted to oversee a transition to democracy.

On Friday, Ban Ki-moon called on the Security Council to take concrete action to stop the violence in Libya. The US has frozen Qadhafi’s assets in the United States, imposed a travel ban on top Libyan officials and is exploring further sanctions. The United States Congress is talking about whether or how to impose a “no-fly zone”, a tool used to contain Saddam Hussein and ultimately to destroy his weapons program, during the Clinton administration.

In Libya, there are conflicting reports about the security of the Qadhafi regime. With most of the east of the country now in control of rebel factions, the pro-democracy movement is reportedly closing in on Qadhafi’s strongholds in central Tripoli, and Qadhafi and his sons are said to be using private mercenary armies to attack civilians in a quest to hold onto power.

More top diplomats and officials have defected, and military leaders are reportedly in talks with opposition leaders to establish a process for non-violent transition to democracy. According to VOA:

A former Libyan army officer and head of a leading opposition group says he knows of growing defections among Libya’s military not just by individuals, but in some cases, entire units. Ibrahim Abdulaziz Sahad is the Secretary-General of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, or NFSL, which was organized in in October 1981 by a group of former military officers, diplomats and businessmen with one goal – to end the regime of Colonel Moammar Gadhafi. He spoke to VOA’s Cecily Hilleary from his base in the United States.

Leading US senators are now calling for official recognition of the Libyan opposition as the legitimate interim government of Libya. Libyan opposition leaders are denouncing foreign business interests, including US multinationals. The Huffington Post is reporting:

A broad coalition of interests from oil companies, defense manufacturers and well-connected lobbying firms to neoconservative scholars and Harvard Business School professors has worked in recent years to advance a rapprochement with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and take advantage of business opportunities in the country, even in the face of the longtime international pariah’s brutal repression of his people and his legendary belligerence.

Yet Libya’s opposition leaders say that such efforts have harmed the interests of the North African country by helping enrich Gaddafi’s family and close allies at the expense of the majority of Libyans, serving only to prolong Gaddafi’s brutal reign. They also blame U.S. policy for prioritizing national security interests over issues of reform and human rights, the lack of which helped fuel the country’s ongoing violent upheaval.

The uprising in Libya has been cited as a potential watershed moment in world history, because while the Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes fell in the face of non-violent protests, Qadhafi has used extreme violence to try to crush the protest movement. If he fails, the analysis reads, it will be a lesson to other hardline regimes that violence will not save them from the call of history, the need to institute real, credible and irreversible democratic reform. But if Qadhafi succeeds, it could lead to a wave of violent crackdowns across Africa and Asia.

The US administration is ready to provide “any type of assistance” needed by the Libyan opposition, according to a statement from Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The major powers in the United Nations, and the world’s most influential democracies now have a vested interest in making sure Qadhafi’s violent extremism is fully exposed and his regime falls to the popular uprising.

Benghazi, Tobruk and much of the east of Libya are now said to be firmly under the control of anti-Qadhafi protesters. Tripoli and smaller surrounding cities have been the scene of intense gun battles, reportedly including helicopter gunships and rocket-propelled grenades fired into crowds of demonstrators. Today, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the Security Council to take “concrete action” to end the bloodshed.

With an estimated 8,000 soldiers comprising what is increasingly a private army of “irregulars” loyal to Qadhafi, the BBC is reporting at least 5,000 elite special forces troops are now believed to have defected to the opposition. There are increasing reports flowing out of Libya of heavy fire against unarmed demonstrators.

A top Qadhafi general who defected to the opposition, who was interviewed at an undisclosed location by the BBC, said Qadhafi takes incredibly dangerous decisions in fits of anger, adding that “It’s impossible to think he’s completely sane.” General Yunas addressed Qadhafi directly, his boss since 1964, saying “My dear brother… I hope you’ll leave for Venezuela or anywhere else. May God show you the righteous way and stop the annihilation of our people.”

Muammar Qadhafi reportedly remains in Tripoli, in one of several heavily fortified locations, and is said to be arming civilians loyal to his regime. There are now reports of African mercenaries in “yellow hats” or “yellow helmets”, snipers firing from rooftops, “irregular armies” controlled by Qadhafi personally and his sons, the freeing of violent convicts and now the arming of civilian “gangs of thugs”.

The United States government is now freezing the assets of Muammar Qadhafi, citing the violence against civilians as an unacceptable break from international norms of legitimate government.

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, today called for “concrete action” by the Security Council to stop the violence in Libya. He did not make clear if the action he considered “concrete” would be sanctions or military action.

While no UN official has raised this prospect explicitly, there is mounting speculation there could be a move to coordinate an attack on Qadhafi’s core of power, and the installation of peacekeepers, should the opposition take control.

In central Baghdad today, thousands of young men gathered to protest the pervasive corruption many Iraqis say dominates life in their country. At least 12 people were killed when government police reportedly fired on demonstrators, who were reportedly throwing stones.

In Egypt, protesters again massed in Tahrir Square, two weeks after the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, to demand the complete dismantling of the Mubarak police state. Demonstrators said the emergency law must be lifted immediately and specific old regime figures must step aside.

Protests continued in Bahrain, as the king removed more top officials, in a quest to placate pro-democracy protesters’ demands.