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2011-02-21 Africa North
Gaddafi flees Tripoli
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Posted by Fred 2011-02-21 10:19|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11127 views ]  Top

#1 Say 'goodnight', Gracie?
Posted by  Anonymoose 2011-02-21 10:37||   2011-02-21 10:37|| Front Page Top

#2 I'm strongly in favor of the Romanian treatment although the way Mussolini ended would be fine, too.
Posted by European Conservative 2011-02-21 10:39||   2011-02-21 10:39|| Front Page Top

#3 The Islamic Emirate of Barca is taking shape. A colonel in the military who might have been an Islamist infiltrator is apparently the leader of a group of mutineers.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-02-21 10:42||   2011-02-21 10:42|| Front Page Top

#4 BBC out of Cairo a few hours ago: Almost all major tribal leaders seem to have joined the opposition, as well as important religious leaders and several senior Libyan ambassadors.

The east of the country is already almost entirely out of the hands of the government. Col Gaddafi's hold on power is becoming weaker by the hour.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-02-21 10:51||   2011-02-21 10:51|| Front Page Top

#5 What will happen to Qadaffi's Girlzz Guards?
Posted by Lord Garth 2011-02-21 10:52||   2011-02-21 10:52|| Front Page Top

#6 And what's their plan? Blow up airliners?
Posted by European Conservative 2011-02-21 10:52||   2011-02-21 10:52|| Front Page Top

#7 "What will happen to Qadaffi's Girlzz Guards"

Berlusconi will take care of them
Posted by European Conservative 2011-02-21 10:53||   2011-02-21 10:53|| Front Page Top

#8 Oh. He only left Tripoli, not Libya.
Posted by gromky 2011-02-21 10:53||   2011-02-21 10:53|| Front Page Top

#9 Qdaffy's secret plan is to bribe Berlusconi with Libyan Girl Guards to let him into Italy.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-02-21 11:05||   2011-02-21 11:05|| Front Page Top

#10 AFP on the Islamist rebels leading the charge:

The group calls itself the "Islamic Emirate of Barqa" after the ancient name of a region of northwest Libya, and the official said its leadership is made up of former al-Qaeda fighters previously released from jail.

The official said the same group was responsible for the hanging of two policemen in Al-Baida on Friday that was reported in Oea newspaper.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-02-21 11:23||   2011-02-21 11:23|| Front Page Top

#11 LA Times: Libyan fighter jets land in Malta.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-02-21 11:39||   2011-02-21 11:39|| Front Page Top

#12 This worries the hell out of me. Why? Because the bumbling fools at the State department have no clue how to handle this, CIA is too checken to actually try to intervene and guide it, and we have a narcissistic left-wing union-tool Chicago machine pol moron in the White House who is proving utterly unqualified for the job, and incapable of actually LEADING when its necessary. All he will do is look for a political angle for himself.

Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-21 11:53||   2011-02-21 11:53|| Front Page Top

#13 #sigh# Okay, I said to various friends that if the Muslim Brotherhood got rid of Qadaffy I would - just this once and only this once - say "Thank you Muslim Brotherhood." So: thank you Muslim Brotherhood.

There. Now I feel all dirty inside.
Posted by Secret Master 2011-02-21 12:16||   2011-02-21 12:16|| Front Page Top

#14 Old Spook: yes, if we had a CIA worthy of the name Qadaffi and his evil spawn son would have been whacked long ago.

It would't be too late if State and CIA had some contacts in Libya so that we could perhaps get a soft landing and allow average people there some voice in their country. As it is we'll end up with a hostile emirate.

Perhaps we could name Michael Totten as our trouble-shooter -- he at least knows the country.
Posted by Steve White 2011-02-21 12:51||   2011-02-21 12:51|| Front Page Top

#15  allow average people there some voice in their country

Steve, neither a tribal culture nor Islam allows for the individualism that this would require. I'm expecting that within two years ALL of these "countries" will look like a cross between Gaza and Iran.
Posted by Alan Cramer 2011-02-21 13:09||   2011-02-21 13:09|| Front Page Top

#16 I suppose a cross between Gaza & Iran is better than Somalia...
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-02-21 13:55||   2011-02-21 13:55|| Front Page Top

#17 Better for who, them or us?
Posted by Pearl Gleaper1127 2011-02-21 14:13||   2011-02-21 14:13|| Front Page Top

#18 This could all still go either way, but Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, and now this -- it's starting to feel a little like 1989-91 when the Warsaw Pact collapsed. Not a 100% good outcome, but a considerable improvement over the USSR and friends.

To paraphrase someone much wiser than me ('cause I haven't the time go looking for the exact quote): dictatorships always look invincible right up to the moment they collapse.
Posted by Mike 2011-02-21 15:10||   2011-02-21 15:10|| Front Page Top

#19 This would be a real good time to have an energy policy, where we'd be seriously drilling for oil and building natural gas pipelines. But I guess in the short term all we can do is hope that Gaddafi's Ukrainian nurses seek asylum in the US.
Posted by Matt 2011-02-21 16:46||   2011-02-21 16:46|| Front Page Top

#20 ALL of these "countries" will look like a cross between Gaza and Iran.

An excellent outcome IMO.

Primarily because it will force the West into a sane energy independence policy. The transition will be painful, but if not now (soon) then when?

This nonsense (ME energy dependence) has dragged on since 1971. Enough already.
Posted by phil_b 2011-02-21 18:02||   2011-02-21 18:02|| Front Page Top

#21 More likely it will lead to general war. No doubt B. Hussein Obama see's himself as the second coming of FDR. But he won't have to wait for a third election to run as a wartime president.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2011-02-21 19:00||   2011-02-21 19:00|| Front Page Top

#22 Nationalism might manifest. Are you an "English"? Why have we been describing the 300,000,000 people who speak the worthless language called "arabic" as "arabs?" Savages from the Hijaz and Negd sections of what is now the saud terrorist entity, raped and plundered their was across the near and far east, north africa and europe. They slaughtered millions, and forced the islam ic cult on peoples who lived better without the beast from the east.
Posted by Cromort Henbane7174 2011-02-21 19:10||   2011-02-21 19:10|| Front Page Top

#23 War?

The likelyest place war will break out is East Asia, as this where an oil supply crisis will hurt the most.

China's economy will crash.
Posted by phil_b 2011-02-21 19:30||   2011-02-21 19:30|| Front Page Top

#24 Oil shortage causing a war in Asia. Where have I hear that before?
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2011-02-21 19:50||   2011-02-21 19:50|| Front Page Top

#25 In the case of Libya, the IB isn't strongly rooted, so there may be some hope if we have any assets in that part of the region that are capable of assisting the right people and sidetracking the wrong ones. Thats if the clandestine services have any capability and guts left - and we have leadership willing to green-light these things.
Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-21 20:10||   2011-02-21 20:10|| Front Page Top

#26 My dear and much respected Mr. Spook,
I have one question for you...

When you wrote if the clandestine services have any capability and guts left - and we have leadership willing to green-light these things.

Did you type it with a straight face and without the help of alcoholic beverages?
Posted by Alan Cramer 2011-02-21 20:44||   2011-02-21 20:44|| Front Page Top

#27 AC: You got me. Just wishin and hopeing...


... and remembering the old days where we did have the swagger in the ranks and in the leadership and the thing you worried about was when (not if) you would put your ass on the line for your country, not how to cover it.
Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-21 21:28||   2011-02-21 21:28|| Front Page Top

23:58 USN,Ret
23:42 SteveS
23:08 badanov
22:43 JosephMendiola
22:39 Procopius2k
22:38 Barbara Skolaut
22:37 Procopius2k
22:34 Procopius2k
22:31 Pappy
22:29 crosspatch
22:26 Pappy
22:25 Procopius2k
22:22 JosephMendiola
22:04 swksvolFF
22:02 JosephMendiola
21:58 Jack Salami
21:56 Bright Pebbles
21:55 Ebbaiter Poodle4718
21:50 Ebbaiter Poodle4718
21:46 M. Murcek
21:44 JosephMendiola
21:41 OldSpook
21:39 rwv
21:38 JosephMendiola
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