Category: Libya

Nobody can decide how to spell his name, and yet Moammar Qaddafi continues to hold on in Libya, while oil jumps past $100 a barrel, endangering The American Way of Life. (Ah, for the good ol’ days, when U.S. foreign policy was outsourced to Halliburton and the Mossad.)

Frankly, I expected the Libyan strongman’s regime would collapse shortly after his voluptuous Ukrainian nurse skipped town, but a week later Moammar keeps hanging in there like Charlie Sheen surrounded by a coterie of enablers. So this compels us to update you on the latest news from Benghazi:

Libyan forces attacked rebel-held areas again on Monday, reportedly seizing control of the oil town of Ras Lanuf after most residents evacuated.
But even as troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi tried to reverse the rebels’ territorial gains, a former Libyan prime minister appeared on the state-controlled television station and called for negotiations to end the weeks-long uprising.
In Washington, President Obama warned Libyan officials close to Gaddafi that they would share the blame for “unacceptable” violence against civilians, and he noted that NATO is holding consultations in Brussels on a wide range of options, “including potential military options.”

Which is to say, we’ve got no freaking clue how this thing is going to turn out. I’m sure Qaddafi’s just shaking in his shoes: “A NATO meeting in Brussels? Oh, noes!” Meanwhile, he’s getting support from a fellow member of the Evil Dictators Club:

Moammar Gaddafi is hunkered down, some once-loyal aides have abandoned him for the rebel side, and President Obama and other leaders are demanding he step down.
But he still has a friend – the man who received the al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. . . .
Chavez has in recent days venerated Gaddafi for his revolutionary credentials and asserted that the United States is about to invade the North African country to seize its oil. He also convened a meeting Friday in the Venezuelan capital in which his allies, including Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, agreed to a vague peace mission to end the violence in Libya.
“The countries of the Bolivarian alliance are demanding the United States and the world powers respect the people of Libya,” Chavez said to cheering, red-shirted supporters. “No to imperialist intervention in Libya! No to a new imperialist war that looks for oil over the blood of innocents!”

Hugo and Moammar, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Here’s an Associated Press video report on the fighting in Libya:

On other fronts, it looks like Libya’s neighbors are trying to horn in on some of that “imperialist intervention” stuff:

Egypt Quietly Invades Libya
The rebellion against the Kadaffi dictatorship in Libya has not produced any official outside help, but Egypt has apparently sent some of its commandos in to help out the largely amateur rebel force. Wearing civilian clothes, the hundred or so Egyptian commandos are officially not there, but are providing crucial skills and experience to help the rebels cope with the largely irregular, and mercenary, force still controlled by the Kadaffi clan. There are also some commandos from Britain (SAS) and American (Special Forces) operators are also believed wandering around, mainly to escort diplomats or perform reconnaissance (and find out who is in charge among the rebels).

So we’ve got Egyptian commandos leading anti-Qaddafi forces, while Qaddafi gets love-notes from Hugo Chavez and Obama apparently expects a NATO meeting in Brussels to strike fear into the dictator’s heart.

How’s that Hope and Change workin’ for ya?

Forgive me for suggesting that, in the good ol’ days, this problem would be solved by Dick Cheney picking up the telephone and speaking a single sentence: “Find Qaddafi and blow his ass away.”

And we’d be paying no more than $2.39 a gallon for regular unleaded by the end of next week.

The Libyan regime has apparently shut down the Internet again, which means that no one there will be able to keep track of Charlie Sheen’s latest exploits. Meanwhile, Libyan rebels have announced formation of a republic. And here’s an update on the military situation:

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi waged a second offensive against the western town of Zawiyah on Saturday after rebels drove them out in a morning of fierce fighting, while in the east, opponents of the Libyan strongman pushed toward his hometown.
In a second day of fierce fighting for control of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, government forces retreated to the outskirts early in the day but later mounted a counter-offensive. Rebels said both attacks were repelled. The city bore the signs of heavy fighting, with one building completely burned and smoldering rubble littering the center. Other buildings around the main square, the stronghold of rebel resistance, were riddled with holes from large-caliber weapons.
Rebels in eastern Libya said they were pushing further west after driving forces loyal to Gaddafi from the oil town of Ras Lanuf on Friday. Opposition fighters said they had taken the town of Bin Jawad some 525 km east of Tripoli and were moving on toward Sirte, Gaddafi’s heavily guarded home town 160 km (100 miles) away.

The capture of Ras Lanuf is a major victory for the Libyan rebels. Here is a video report:

With gasoline now reportedly selling for more than $5 a gallon in Florida, Americans may wonder what the Obama administration is doing about the Libyan crisis. And the answer is, “Not a whole lot.”

While we have no more reason to support the Libyan rebels than we did to support the uprising in Egypt — an Islamic “republic” might be even worse than a dictatorship — it appears that a rebel victory would be the quickest way to end the current crisis. And ending the current crisis would be the quickest way to (a) lower gas prices and (b) letting Libyans back onto the Internet to check for Charlie Sheen updates.

There’s no point blogging if no one’s reading it. Research indicates that Libyan men really admire Charlie Sheen, so the Qaddafi regime’s Internet shutdown is hurting my traffic.

Such are my own personal foreign-policy priorities. Yeah, “human rights,” blah, blah, blah — but $5 a gallon for regular unleaded sucks.

In January, we told you about Galyna, the “voluptuous blonde” Ukrainian nurse whose . . . um, services to Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi were described by the U.S. ambassador in a diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks. Now, we have a sure sign that the situation in Tripoli has reached dire proportions:

Galyna Kolotnytska returned to Kiev on Sunday morning on a plane with 185 other Ukrainian evacuees, including other medics, Ukrainian media reported.

Lauren Frayer at AOL News has more:

Neighbors spotted her later that day going shopping with her mother outside Kiev.
Reporters surrounded her simple, ground-floor apartment there, until her adult daughter Tetyana emerged to address them.
“Please understand, Mom is so tired right now. Let her have some rest,” the daughter told Agence France-Presse and others, hinting that her mother, who spent nine years in Libya, may speak out at a later date.

Expect Qaddafi to quit soon, because let’s face it: What’s the point of being a brutal dictator if you don’t have a voluptuous blonde Ukrainian nurse to attend your . . . um, medical needs?

UPDATE: Linked by Tigerhawk and by Sean Higgins at JeremyLott.net. Thanks!

Yesterday, President Obama managed to say that Moammar Qaddafi’s crackdown in Libya is a bad thing, without actually mentioning Moammar Qaddafi by name.

Look, man: Nobody’s asking you to spell his name, OK? Nobody can agree on how to spell it.

I’m suffering with a head cold today, but it could be worse. At least I’m not Moammar Qaddafi:

Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has issued a fatwa that any Libyan soldier who can shoot dead embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi should do so ‘to rid Libya of him.’

One thing that always annoyed me about this guy is that nobody could ever agree on how to spell his name. Also, he’s a murderous dictator:

The bodies of protesters shot to death by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi were left on the streets of a restive district in the Libyan capital Tuesday, an opposition activist and a resident said, while the longtime leader defiantly went on state TV to show he was still in charge.
The eruption of turmoil in the capital after a week of protests and bloody clashes in Libya’s eastern cities has sharply escalated the challenge to Gadhafi. His security forces have unleashed the bloodiest crackdown of any Arab country against the wave of protests sweeping the region, which toppled leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

So he’s killing innocent civilians and nobody can decide whether he’s “Muammar Gaddafi” or “Moammar Gadhafi.” That’s two strikes against him. The New York Times has yet another spelling of his name:

Libya appeared to slip further from the grip of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Tuesday, as opposition forces in eastern Libya moved to consolidate control of the region, arming themselves with weapons taken from security warehouses, and fighting continued in Tripoli, witnesses said.
In Tripoli, the capital, the government was striking back at protesters challenging Colonel Qaddafi’s 40-year rule. Security forces and militiamen backed by helicopters and warplanes besieged parts of the city overnight, according to witnesses and news reports from Tripoli.

That’s the biggest puzzle about Qaddafi: If you’re the dictator, why are you still only a colonel? Couldn’t you promote yourself to general? Heck, why not go for field marshall while you’re at it.

All these news accounts, by the way, were filed from Cairo, Egypt, probably because the reporters were afraid that if they went to Libya, they’d be arrested for misspelling the dictator’s name. Here’s some video:

Lots of commentary on the Libyan situation at Memeorandum. I’ll refrain from offering any opinion, because obviously if I can’t even spell the dictator’s name — and all I’ve got to go on is second-hand accounts filed from Cairo — I lack enough facts to form an opinion worth sharing. Allahpundit did a good round-up yesterday of what we actually know about Libya, which is to say, “Not a heckuva lot.”