Middle East Theory: The Fifth Column

[howeird]

In the past month, it seems like every Arab country has had anti-government demonstrations after 30+ years of relative peace, against the same dictators they have had for those 30+ years.

Anyone who thinks this is spontaneous, or Facebook/Twitter inspired is nuts. There is no way this is not the result of what used to be called The Fifth Column. There is some covert force operating in the area, using combinations of land lines, cell phones, radio (CB/ham), word of mouth, sneaker-net and written word (letters, graffiti) to get people out on the street to protest. I have no idea who is behind it, but the lack of any strong leadership in all of these protests points to the CIA. It's not Al Qaeda, they take credit for their work, and they have charismatic leaders who would have been at the forefront.

Tangentially, the clips I am seeing from Libya of the anti-government fighters makes me cringe. Point a camera at them and they shoot their guns into the air. Machine guns mounted on nearly deceased pickup trucks? Something is wrong with this picture.

Also, as soon as one picks up arms one ceases to be an innocent civilian. Gadhafi is well within his rights to put down an armed rebellion. At least half the country is loyal to him, which is better than we can say for most recent US Presidents.

NATO should not have anything to do with Libya's rebellion. Where is the Arab League? They are the ones who forced the UN resolution, and they are well equipped and know the territory far better.

Comments

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

You answer your own question, the Arab league is dealing with fires in their own collective backyards.

[howeird]

I don't buy that for a minute. Egypt's fire is out, the military is in control. The Saudis aren't using their vast air force at all to deal with their pipsqueak protests.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

Right, the military is in control... anything they do outside of their own country endangers that.

As for the Saudis, a) they don't do anything that they can't pay someone else to do, and b) again, they're likely afraid to devote too much of their military on outside endeavors for fear of creating an opening for their own dissidents. Arabia, out of all of the Arab world has the most to fear from AQ.