Qadaffy,...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland...
hiding for the past two months, is still defiant
Defiance doesn't make you bullet-proof.
It seems that he little realises that he is no longer a leader.
Skorzeny may have noticed much the same about Mussolini.
His dictatorial days are over. He cannot dictate anymore from wherever hole is tries to raise his voice. Therefore little notice was taken of his threats Wednesday or his vow to fight on "until victory or martyrdom". He is no longer in control of his troops, or Tripoli, let alone the country, Libya
... seeing as how the rebels fell into his carefully laid trap...
In the umpteenth audio address given from an unknown location
| I vote for the tunnels Halliburton or some such dug for him (they do have their planning maps on file somewhere, I hope) |
"I'm just so confused!"
Al Qadaffy, sounding subdued, and without any of his usually fiery rhetoric, said that his withdrawal from his headquarters was a "tactical move after the compound was levelled by 64 NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
air strikes".
The defiant dictator, whose whereabouts remain unknown,
| Yes, you said that already... |
He asked the Libyans: "Why are you letting them wreak havoc?" and called on residents of the Libyan capital and loyal rustics across his North African nation to free Tripoli from the "devils and traitors" who have overrun it. He said he would fight "the aggression with all strength until either victory or death."
However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
after his remarks, Libyans were asking how could he fight his battles when he is in hiding. They added that he does not appear to have stock of the situation, and that most probably he is not able to follow the news and rests solely on what those few still around him feed him.
The government front man and secretary for information Moussa Ibrahim might be one of them. It is hard to believe that he is living the reality of the conflict when he goes on air, this time by telephone on the same medium of communication to say: Tripoli is symbolically important. We have the ability to fight for it, not only for months, but for years."
"But," he added: "Tripoli is not all of Libya. We still have tens of cities under our control, all of them are liberated cities, and all are still fighting. Our main mission now is to free Tripoli and free the whole of the country."
Ibrahim routinely talks to press in gatherings at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli. It was strange that this time he had to voice his remarks in a telephone converation without making an appearance.
For the past two months, Al Qadaffy too, addressed his supporters from state Libyan television, but to add to the regime's misery, the rebels took the channel off the air on Tuesday.
The rebels' capture of Tripoli has been achieved for a price. The three days of fighting cost them dearly. They announced that 400 of their fighters were killed, while 2,000 were maimed after fighting heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
during which, Al Qadaffy loyalists, used mortars, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns.
Th rebels, constantly chanting "
Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, told La Belle France 24 television that the battle would not be over until the Libyan leader himself was a prisoner
Tripoli's new rebel military chief, Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, had said late last night that a small area of the vast compound was still under the control of regime fighters and toward midnight heavy shooting could be heard across town