Current Uprising

Unrest in the Middle East: Libya

The recent uprisings in Libya starting on February 17, 2011. The uprising began as a civil protest but eventually grew into a full-scale revolution. Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, had just relieved tension from Western nations by putting an end to Libya's nuclear problem. However, the Libyan people were not satisfied because there was a large youth population with little opportunity for economic success.Small protests began erupting in Benghazi which the police tried to put down, but resistance only made the revolt spread and grow spontaneously. It took a brigade's worth of mercenaries, ground attack jet fighters, and helicopter gunships to remove the protesters from the city, which shows a major weakness in military efficiency for Libya. The revolution became difficult to deal with because Gaddafi had a great structure but a small amount of soldiers, while the rebels were great in number but lacked structure. The revolutions was successful because it was able to get much support from the populace, but they lacked the structure and leadership to overthrow their ruler and establish a new government. The U.N. is now taking extensive measures to assure that Libya does not turn into a national disturbance.