Qadaffy...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years...
stand trial at the international war crimes tribunal, despite growing Western consensus that the longtime dictator be allowed to stay in his homeland if he relinquishes power.
NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
jet planes, meanwhile, struck the capital Tripoli near Qadaffy's headquarters at Bab al-Aziziyah in the early hours of the morning Saturday.
Several bright flashes and loud kabooms split the night at around 2:30 a.m. local time while jets could be heard circling overhead.
NATO bombing raids and other military operations began this spring to protect civilians rebelling against the Libyan regime, but Qadaffy has managed to keep his grip on the capital, Tripoli, to the frustration of Western leaders.
NATO planes struck a factory near the embattled oil city of Brega on Friday killing six guards, Libyan officials said.
The plant, located six miles (10 kilometers) south of the strategic oil installation, builds the huge pipes that carry water from underground aquifers deep in the south to the coast as part of the Great Man Made River irrigation project.
"Major parts of the plant have been damaged," said Abdel-Hakim el-Shwehdy, head of the company running the project. "There could be major setback for the future projects."
At least 70 percent of Libyans survive on the water carried through the pipes to the coast in the project, according to government figures.
"Most Libyans drink from the Great Manmade River, most Libyan land is farmed from the water, so any harm against this vital project is a harm aginst all Libyans," warned government front man Moussa Ibrahim. "We believe this a very dangerous development in NATO'S attacks."
Washington, Gay Paree and Rome have all proclaimed their acceptance of the idea that Qadaffy remain in Libya on the condition that he give up power and the Libyan people grant their approval.
In Rome, rebel front man Ali al-Issawi met with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
Asked how the so-called "leave Qadaffy in Libya option" squares with the warrant for his arrest by the
International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
, al-Issawi told news hounds that there was "no contradiction between the two."
"The first principle is that Qadaffy should step down," al-Issawi, a leader of the rebels' executive office said after a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. "After that you can talk about the details."
"We would like Qadaffy to be taken to the ICC," al-Issawi said, referring to the Hague-based tribunal.
Al-Issawi's office essentially serves as a Cabinet for the National Transitional Council, the Benghazi-based anti-Qadaffy front that was recently recognized by Washington as Libya's legitimate government.
Frattini noted that Libya isn't among the signatory countries to an agreement obligating arrest for such warrants, and he stressed that while "impunity (for Qadaffy) would be a mistake, it has to be the Libyans to decide" Qadaffy's fate. Whatever that decision is, "we'll respect it," the foreign minister added.
Whether Western support to allow Libyans to keep Qadaffy in his country once out of power indicates waning desire to drive him out of Tripoli is unclear. There have been fears the civil warfare could end in a kind of stalemate, with the rebels in charge mainly in eastern Libya and Qadaffy's forces entrenched in Tripoli.
Al-Issawi said that a blast at a Tripoli hotel Thursday where several top members of the regime, including Qadaffy's son Saif al-Islam, were meeting was caused by a rocket launched from within the city.
"This is a good signal that people inside Tripoli are organizing" against Qadaffy,
...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere...
Frattini told news hounds.
The rebel front man said the attack "severely maimed" Abdullah Mansour, apparently a high official in Qadaffy's inner circle.
A Tripoli-based opposition group called the Free Generation Movement said in a statement that three rocket-propelled grenades were used to attack the hotel.
However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
the government front man, Ibrahim, denied any attack had occurred, saying it was only an accident turned into a propaganda ploy by rebels.
"There was no attack yesterday whatsoever, there was an kaboom near the Sheraton caused by a (cooking) gas cylinder," said. "It was a kitchen kaboom that was immediately turned into an attack to boost (rebel) morale."
Libya, a major supplier of oil and natural gas to Italia, was Rome's biggest trading partner before the outbreak of civil war, and al-Issawi assured Frattini that Italia would regain that rank in Libya's future.
"We invite all the Italian companies in Libya to restart their activities," al-Issawi told news hounds.
Among those eager to return to full operations is Italian energy company Eni, which the Libyan government has banned from operating in Libya due to Italia's participation in the NATO attacks.
Frattini delivered some good news to the rebel's political arm. He said that within days, the first tranche of 350 million ($503 million) in cash and fuel would be transferred to Benghazi to help civilians there, while Italia and other countries wait for U.N. sanctions officials to free up billions of dollars in frozen Qadaffy regime assets.