In the first of a two-part series, Fault Lines examines how the Obama administration is reacting to the enormous changes taking place across the Middle East.

The decision by the US to intervene in the Libyan conflict has a profound impact on the future of the country. But what are the driving forces behind America's decision to get involved?

White House officials claim that they acted to prevent a humanitarian disaster - but was such a disaster imminent and what were the other factors involved?

Did the US intervene to stabilise Libyan oil production for the global markets? Did the White House decide to depose Muammar Gaddafi to send a message to others in the region? And how does this open up the US to accusations of double standards in its foreign policy?

In the second part, Fault Lines travels to the Persian Gulf to look at US policy in the region, and to explore why the US has taken an interventionist policy in Libya, but not in Bahrain, where there has been a brutal crackdown on protesters. Why does the White House strongly back democracy in one Arab country, but not another?