EU powers ask U.N. Security Council to condemn Syria

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – European nations moved on Wednesday
to have the U.N. Security Council pass a resolution condemning Syria
for its bloody crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, diplomats said.

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Crowds press for Yemen president’s ouster

Blamed for blast that killed 100 at munitions plant

Protesters at Sanaa University participated in a sit-in to demand the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule. (Khaled Abdullah/ Reuters)

By Ahmed al-Haj Associated Press / March 31, 2011

SANA, Yemen — Hundreds of thousands of antigovernment protesters packed the streets of cities throughout Yemen yesterday, demanding the president’s ouster and blaming him for a munitions factory blast that killed at least 100 people.

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Enraged men chanted as they walked toward public squares in Sana and elsewhere, waving their national black-white-and-red flag. Many sported green bandannas wrapped around their heads emblazoned with the word “leave,’’ while others scrawled the word on their palms, waving their hands in the air.

C.I.A. Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and Meet Rebels

Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Libyan rebels with a machine gun near the town of Brega. C.I.A. operatives have been working in
Libya for weeks as part of a shadow force of Westerners.

WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into
Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the beleaguered
rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, according to American officials.

Change in Yemen

There may have been a time when Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, could have maneuvered a more graceful departure from the office he has held for three decades. But he has lost his legitimacy and should go as quickly as possible. Continued instability is not good for Yemen or for the United States-led fight against Al Qaeda.

Top Qaddafi Aide Reaches out to US

Libya’s Foreign Minister Musa Kusa speaks during a news
conference at a hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli

Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa initiated a telephone call to assistant
Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, a senior State Department official directly
involved with the Libyan crisis. The call took place Sunday night. The contents
were unknown. This is not the first contact a top Qaddafi official has had with the
US Government since the US-European campaign began.

Syria protests spread, authorities pull back

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis  (Reuters)

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Unrest spread in southern Syria on Monday with hundreds of people
demonstrating against the government in three towns near the main city of Deraa, but authorities
did not use force to quell the latest protests.

Security forces killed four civilians in demonstrations that erupted last week in Deraa, in the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad‘s rule since the 45-year-old succeeded his father 11 years ago.

Key military leaders join Yemen opposition

By Ahmed Al-HajAssociated Press / March 22, 2011 ( Boston Globe)

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SANA, Yemen — A top military officer and at least 18 other senior commanders defected yesterday to the opposition movement demanding the immediate ouster of Yemen’s embattled president, depriving the US-allied ruler of most of his fast-dwindling power base.

The looming collapse of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime throws into doubt the American campaign against a major Al Qaeda wing that plotted attacks in the United States.

Opposition Member: Liberated Libya Will Remember its Friends

Ali Tarhouni, member of the Economic and Oil Committee in liberated Libya says pro-democracy Libyans want a no-fly zone

James Butty March 16, 2011

Photo: AP

Libyan rebel fighter

A Libyan opposition member says those opposed by Moammar Gadhafi will be disappointed with the United States and the rest of the international community if they fail to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.

Ali Tarhouni, member of the Economic and Oil Committee of the Provincial Council running the liberated areas of Libya, says the days of the Libyan leader are numbered and the people will remember those who supported them in their time of need.

“I think it is actually a shame that the Western world, particularly the United States, that advocates for democracy [and] human rights, and now we see more of a cowardly position. The Libyan people are not asking for much. All they are asking for is for no-fly zone,” he said.

Invest in Libya? Too risky

BY RICK MARTINEZ – Correspondent

Tags: news | opinion – editorial

The Obama administration should say no to a no-fly zone over Libya. Our military men and women have enough wars to fight at the moment.

Make no mistake, participating in a no-fly zone, either unilaterally or under the auspices of the United Nations, is an act of war. As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted earlier this month, step one in establishing a no-fly zone is to destroy Libya’s air defenses, hardly a diplomatic move.

Obama cautious on possible U.S. military action in Libya

By the CNN Wire staffMarch 11, 2011 — Updated 2127 GMT (0527 HKT)

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama said Friday that all options for responding to the crisis in Libya remain on the table, but he added that any military option means that “you’ve got to balance costs versus benefits, and I don’t take that decision lightly.”

Obama told reporters the desired outcome would be for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to “step down” in the wake of civil war that has erupted in the North African country and Gadhafi’s military attacks on his own people.