LIGNET: West Awakens to 'Real' Arab Spring Implications

           

Undated photo of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, posted on October 10 on the website of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Testimony before Congress yesterday by top State Department officials about lax security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi appeared to change the terms of the debate over the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack that resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. But it also changed how Americans view the Arab Spring uprisings that began last year. No longer will the term 'Arab Spring' automatically connote liberation from oppression for Arabs. It is more likely now to be associated with instability, with the strengthening of Islamist forces who see themselves as eternally at war with the West, and the kind of violence that may make it impossible for the United States to maintain a presence in the Middle East for much longer.

Click here to read the full analysis from top intelligence officials at LIGNET.com.