Moderate Muslims Chasing Militia Groups Out By Force! Let's give them a big rave and a round of applause!
ServantOfAllah
2012/09/22 11:14:53
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BENGHAZI, Libya — Thousands of Libyans marched through Benghazi on Friday to demand the dismantlement of the hundreds of armed militias that have ruled the country’s streets since a revolution ended the 42-year rule of Moammar Khadafy. By late Friday, the protesters had overrun at least three militia bases, forcing fighters to flee with their guns.
An attack on the US Consulate last week that left four Americans dead has prompted anger and soul-searching among many of Benghazi’s residents, who believe that religious extremists operating in an atmosphere of weak central governance were behind the attack.
But the government in Tripoli has struggled to deal with the militias, which are composed largely of the young men who fought in last year’s revolution. The government’s efforts to bring some of the militias under a more unified national force have failed to deliver state-run security to Libya’s streets.
As protesters draped in the red, black, and green of the Libyan flag carried signs reading ‘‘Benghazi deserves better’’ and ‘‘No legitimacy, except to the police or the army,’’ the Islamist extremist group that many here have accused of being behind the attack held its own protest in nearby Al-Kish Square. Ansar al-Sharia gathered to call for the implementation of Islamic law in a demonstration that the antimilitia crowd said marked a provocation.
The dueling protests underscored a broader struggle underway in Libya, nearly a year after Libyans from across the political spectrum joined hands in an eight-month war to oust Khadafy. It is a battle to define a new Libya — to answer the crucial question of what the Libyan people, government and culture look like when the shackles of dictatorship are thrown off.
‘‘I think the struggle that’s eating people up right now is the struggle for an identity,’’ said Alya Barghathy, an English professor at Benghazi University, who joined the antimilitia protest Friday. ‘‘After all these years of being neglected and living in darkness, they don’t know who they are.’’
The collapse of Khadafy’s regime left a system in a shambles. After decades of repression, the country has lurched forward in recent months to form political parties and elect a General National Congress. The next task will be the drafting of a new constitution.
Opposition to the militias has been building since shortly after Khadafy’s fall. Late last year, non-Tripoli-based militias were asked by the transitional government to withdraw from the streets of the capital after residents complained their neighborhoods had been overrun by young men with guns. A Gallup poll released this month showed that 95 percent of Libyans want to see the militias dissolved. But Friday’s protest was the biggest public showing of antimilitia sentiment to date.
Not all of the militias are rooted in Islamic extremism. But groups like Ansar al-Sharia have proved a volatile addition to an already contentious debate over the proper role of religion in the new Libya.
Many Libyans, ranging from the liberal elites who now dominate the congress to members of the more conservative Muslim Brotherhood, describe their Islam as a moderate and tolerant one. Few — not even Western-educated secularists — say they want a constitution that doesn’t draw from Islamic law.
But the assault on the US consulate here last week, which left the US ambassador dead and which American officials now describe as a terrorist attack, has thrown that characterization into sudden and stark relief: Not everyone agrees on what Islamic law — or a state guided by it — actually means.
‘‘There is no doubt that in our societies, we have liberal Muslims who say ‘I’m a Muslim and I believe Islam belongs only in the mosque,’ ’’ said Ramadan Eldarsi, a high-ranking official of the Muslim Brotherhood. ‘‘But we think that Islam is a broader way to organize people’s lives, not just what they do within a mosque.’’
Eldarsi said the Brotherhood differentiates itself from groups like Ansar al-Sharia in that it advocates peace and tolerance, and believes in the democratic process.
Extremists such as the members of Ansar al-Sharia say they are also ready for a fight for the kind of state they want to see. But it’s the tools of that struggle that the moderates say they’re worried about.
Ansar al-Sharia, which established itself with a parade in Benghazi in June, opposes Libya’s transition to democracy, saying the system of elected leadership runs counter to Islamic principles. It acknowledged its members’ involvement in the protest outside the consulate, but has denied responsibility for the attack.
See full story here: http://bostonglobe.com/news/world/2012/09/21/libyans-hold-gia...
See full story here: http://bostonglobe.com/news/world/2012/09/21/libyans-hold-gia...
Top Opinion
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Philo-Publius 2012/09/22 13:00:42
Don't try to paint them as the 'bad guys' when we slaughter them in vast numbers with utter contempt for their rights as human beings. Your fellow warmongering scumbags might buy it, but I'm not.
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Further there is no such thing as a Moderate Muslim. They; like you Obama-bots follow blindly, and make no decisions on their own, look to sources like Media matters, or the Huffington post for guidance .
So there you are, you were itching for a fight,,,,
Because I have a Muslim friend. He's a very intelligent and kind person. Not at all an extremist.