Two very senior members of the Libyan government defected today, but Muammar remains defiant:
Colonel Qaddafi, who has not been seen in public recently, was quoted on state television as saying that the leaders of the allied countries were “affected by power madness,” The Associated Press reported.
“The solution for this problem is that they resign immediately and their peoples find alternatives to them,” he said in remarks that ran on the “scrawl” at the bottom of the screen.
It’s quite amazing how he has this almost infinite capacity for Freudian Projection.
Meanwhile, I continue to be pleased with the performance of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He told Congress today that we wouldn’t be putting any uniformed boots on the ground in Libya while he is serving in this administration and then he told them that we shouldn’t arm the rebels.
“What the opposition needs as much as anything right now is some training, some command and control and some organization,” Mr. Gates said. “It’s pretty much a pick-up ballgame at this point.” But, he said, providing training and weapons is “not a unique capability for the United States, and as far as I’m concerned, somebody else can do that.”
As far as I am concerned, somebody else could have done the whole thing. I wish they had. I am somewhat more hopeful today, though. Things look bad on the battlefield, but maybe Gaddafi’s team is starting to break up. Obama took a big gamble, but it could still pay off.
