Make Surgical Strikes, Take The Guy Out

Image via WikipediaEconomic sanctions would be stupid. This butcher has declared war on his own people. Don't declare war on Libya, economic, military or otherwise. Make a few surgical strikes and take the guy out. Decapitate the regime and the game is over. You know where he is.

That would fit the definition of nonviolence. Violence is to stand by and watch as this guy sends warships and gunships to shoot at crowds like they were shooting at dogs. The guy crossed the line about a week ago.

Take the guy out. This game will be over within an hour of this guy's departure.

He has already killed 1,000 people. He will kill a few thousand more. There is no point at which he will say enough. Because vacating the throne or leaving the country are not options for him. He has already made up his mind to commit suicide.

End the game. Enough. It is getting uglier by the day.

A regime has the option to not accept the demand of peaceful protesters. But it does not have the option to unleash animal brutality upon peaceful protesters. A regime that viciously attacks peaceful demonstrators has no claim to sovereignty upon the land it might be laying a claim on.

Gaddafi is illegitimate. He does not rule any country. He is a mad dog. Take him out. If you don't take him out, you are being violent upon the peaceful people of Libya. The first 1,000 deaths might be on Gaddafi's hand, but the second thousand deaths will be on your hand. Don't wait no more. Take him out. You know where he is. Make the surgical strikes.

This guy will not stop on his own. Just like a mad dog has to be put to sleep, this guy has to be put to sleep. That fits the definition of non-violence.

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This Is Also About Women's Rights

Image via WikipediaThis tumult in the Arab world has to be taken to its logical conclusion of grand success. Everyone in a position to help has to help. Because this is also about women's rights across the Arab world. Only after a country has become a democracy, and the democratic processes come into play can there be sound hope for concrete advances on women's rights.

Gender equality will not come about right away, but steps towards that gender equality are so much harder if not impossible to take when a country is not a democracy. There are no outlets.

The irrelevant old men who run all these countries need to be all pushed out, and in haste. This is not the time to be polite and civil to people who have reigned mercilessly over their peoples for so long.

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When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards

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Bomb Gaddafi's Tent

Image via WikipediaArmchair revolutionaries like myself have to be extra, extra respectful of the people who brave the streets. We have to suggest strategies that minimize human casualties without compromising the broad goal of democracy and human rights.

And so I am proposing America order surgical military strikes, Ronal Reagan style, to bomb Gaddafi's tent in the desert. If he is not in the tent, order surginal military strikes on his presidential palace. If he is not there, bomb the office of Libya's intelligence agency.

This guy actually ordered a missile strike upon peacefully demonstrating people. This guy has ordered machine gun fire and sniper shots at peacefully demonstrating people. This is not a human being.

This guy has left no room for an exit strategy. He is not going to voluntarily leave. He could not vacate the seat of power and stay in the country. He has nowhere to go outside the country. He will either succeed and hang on, not an acceptable outcome, or he will commit suicide, Hitler style, but before that he will have ordered the killings of hundreds upon hundreds of Libyans. Those lives have value. You prevent those deaths by snuffing out Gaddafi. Take him out.

Taking out Gaddafi by an American surgical military strike is the most nonviolent act that could take place at this phase of Libya's democracy movement.

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Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia

Image via WikipediaArab Focus, Microfinance Focus

Los Angeles Times: In Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, protesters take to streets: protesters inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia take part in street marches..... The tumult in a region normally kept tranquil under the heavy-handed security of conservative Gulf regimes underscored the widening reverberations of new pro-democracy movements in the Middle East ...... the protesters' numbers have been small ..... thousands more people who turned out for the main scheduled march were walking quietly along the sidewalks toward Azadi Square ...... clashes that in some cases involved young demonstrators beating security personnel ...... west of Imam Hussein Square ..... "The police support us, the Iranians support us." ...... "We would like to stress that Feb. 14 is only the beginning. The road may be long and the rallies may continue for days and weeks, but if a people one day chooses life, then destiny will respond." ...... Yemen, meanwhile, was undergoing its fourth straight days of protests ..... Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president for more than 30 years 

A political revolution is all about momentum. Right now there is momentum. The right thing to do is to stoke the fire. Get the people out into the streets. An amazing regional level political clarity has been achieved. This can not be let go to waste. 2011 is 1989. Two successes in a row are a lot of momentum. This has to be put to good use. Finally Iran's time has come too.

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Los Angeles Times: Egypt military dissolves parliament, suspends constitution: calling for elections within six months ..... the military, the most respected institution in the nation, was edging toward forming a credible democracy ..... the army left intact the ex-president's Council of Ministers to run the government. ...... Cars honked and drove around the city hub for the first time in more than two weeks as scores of soldiers fanned out into the remaining tent cities on the square and unceremoniously tore them down...... several hundred police officers held a protest of their own in front of the Interior Ministry demanding higher salaries, access to government medical care and rehiring of officers fired for disciplinary or administrative violations.

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Image via Wikipedia

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