Gadhafi accepts terms of agreement

It was announced today that Gadhafi is in agreement with the African Union in a plan to end the conflict in Libya. The specifications of these terms are unknown, but it is guessed that a ceasefire would be put in place in Libya that would end the attacks on Libyan rebels made by Gadhafi's forces. South African President Jacob Zuma also mentioned that the agreement would put an end to NATO's no-fly zone. As African Union delegation members are set to meet with opposition leaders this week, they remain skeptical that the African Union will be aimed towards benefiting the oposition in a large enough way, after Gadhafi has been so beneficial to the Union. As the issue continues on without any resolve officially made, people are still dying across the country. NATO's airstrikes appear to be making some impact, killing a good amount of pro-Gadhafi fighters, while rebels are being killed by these supporters on the ground.

I think that it's about time that something be done with this issue in Libya, it has clearly stretched out for long enough. The dillusions of Gadhafi are surprising, but what is even more surprising is that it looks like he might be ready to end the fighting and make resolve. However, you never know with someone as crazy as this. The opposition leaders may be right in that any agreements made by Ghadhafi with the African Union will not help both parties. But I think it is time for Gadhafi to step down, and understand a losing battle; with the UN against him, it would hard to hold them off for much longer. If it is just another set back, it's going to be frustrating to watch this go on for any longer.

Burning of the Koran

There was an article in the Boston Globe today about a priest in Florida who burned the Koran, and the reaction of the Afghani people on American troops. Unsurprisingly, they did not react to the news well, and have so far killed over 20 people. The question raised is whether or not the government needs to step in and take action to arrest him, or does his first amendmnet right of freedom of speech protect him in this instance. In my opinion, I do not believe that the man should be arrested. Yes, I completely disagree with his actions, but there is a bigger issue. We cannot allow Afghanistan, a poor, corrupt, backwards country to control our actions and our misuse of the Constitution. America has prided itself on always adhering to these rights, and if we start to put them aside now, it will create a downward spiral that would lead to these rights not being protected. On another note, it is not this one action for which Afghanis hate us. Sure, it was just adding more fuel to the fire, but the fire was started by many of the actions of America, most importantly the war we began in Afghanistan. We cannot blame this one man for these murders, but the actions taken by this nation as a whole, and the bias that it fed through the media by the government in Afghanistan to the Afghani people.