World: Mr. Qadhafi, why are you bombing your own people? Qadhafi: I’m not. World: Mr. Qadhafi, your people are in revolt! Qadhafi: No they’re not. (ok, more specificaly, “They love me, all my people with me, they love me all. They will die to protect me, my people,”) World: Oh. Ok. Have nice day then.
This guy cracks me up. He reminds me of the Monty Python “Argument” sketch.
This is probably the place to bring up the Gaddafi Theory of Popular Revolutions: “It’s the Americans and Al Qaida- ha, bet you didn’t know they were secret allies- putting hallucinogenic drugs in Libyan coffee.”
He seems to be mentally disordered. Some years ago he kept noisily breaking gas during an interview with a journalist (the paper eventually headlined the article as Warm Wind Of Compromise Blows From Gaddhafi)
“Hello everyone!! Welcome to this week’s episode of Dictators for Dinner on Cannibal Isle! It looks like the friendly locals are running low on Saddam, so we’re releasing the next batch of ex-dictators! With a complementary barrel of Soylent Steak Sauce for our friends the islanders! Soylent Steak Sauce, available at a fine store near you!”
Moammar isn’t delusional. He’s held onto power for 40 years, and that doesn’t happen by accident.
He won’t admit publicly that there’s a problem because he believes that would make him look weak in the eyes of the people trying to oust him. He’s not a Panglossian fool- he knows the threat to his power is very real, and he’s doing everything he can to stamp out that threat.
Moammar may or may not survive this current assault on his rule, but he’s proven himself adept at survival and at annihilating his enemies. It’s not at all obvious he won’t survive THIS crisis. And IF he does, he knows damn well that he can say whatever he wants, and there won’t be any negative consequences, because too many nations are dependent on his oil.
Laugh at him if you want, but are you SURE he won’t have the last laugh?
Odds are, if he doesn’t end up hung by his heels in a gas station, he could end up in Panama. We had the Shah for a bit, and at one point I think we had a Nicaraguan President, two Ecuadorian Presidents, and a couple Haitian junta members here at the same time.
Yeah, I am. He’s toast. He’s lost too much of his army to survive in the long run. Once big chunks of the army defects, dictators don’t last long.