The Libyan People Do Want Peace

     There were many memorable lines from Romney's "We are the 53%" video to his donors. However, his comments on the Palestinians were interesting: he claimed that they don't want peace.

      This dovetails with what he said in that ill-fated trip of his back in July when he claimed that Israel has a superior culture to Arabs. Since the tragic attack on the U.S. Consulate last week, there has been a concentrated attempt to tie in this tragedy with the GOP's "leading by behind" narrative for the President's foreign policy.

      There have even been some attacks on the Libyan people as being anti U.S. and desiring terrorist attacks. However, a recent march by regular Libyans showed this is false, no matter how much Romney thinks

      "Thousands of Libyans are marching in the city of Benghazi today, demanding that the militias that run rampant be disbanded, the AP reports:

The giant march, which filled a major boulevard in the city of 1 million, is part of a new public backlash against militias sparked by last week’s attack against the U.S. Consulate here that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. At least one militia is suspected of participating in the attack.

     http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/libyans-march-to-demand-militants-disband

     So this libel against the Libyan people is barking up the wrong tree. Most did not support the miserable attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Libya. Many want the militant groups to disband and stop the attacks. Strangely you have certain groups who supported the Libyan civil war but are still supporting acts of violence.

     Still these attacks are not welcome attacks for most Libyans. You wonder if Romney doesn't take his claims to seriously-that Arabs suffer from an inferior culture-in believing that Libyan people welcome a war zone in their own backyard where their families including kids live.

     This whole "leading from behind" canard, seems to suggest that the GOP misses George W. Bush and his gunboat diplomacy. Simply refusitng to launch a new military offensive for the Tell of it. The President carries a big stick as Biden tells us but he doesn't need to engage in the gratuitous saber rattling of Bush.

      What happened in Libya was not the people but a few al queda extremists and similar Right wing groups using that unfortunate video as an excuse to start up hostilities again.

      The irony is that this is one of the President's foreign policy successes. The government in Libya was quick to act as well-the reason Egypt was slow is the more complicated relationship since the Arab Spring as many in Egypt don't want friendly relations with the U.S. right now.

      Overall, however, this is a very welcome development and we would do well to realize that the Libyan people deserve our admiration here. Unfortunately Romney is losing his election that he's been running for 6 years. He is grasping at any straw he can find.