Qadafi's warning

Asked if he had a message for other leaders, especially the heads of Syria, Iran and North Korea, [Qadafi] replied: "They should follow the steps of Libya, or take an example from Libya, so that they prevent any tragedy being inflicted upon their own peoples."  article

Was there a threat in that nine months of secret negotiations Bush and Blair were in with Muammar, now that he's been sanctioned into a weak spot, you think? A winning combination of tactics there - weaken to incapacitate through a decade or so of sanctions and then threaten to blast what remains of them. Hit 'em while they're down, I always say.

Go team!

US oil companies were leading players in the Libyan oil industry until 1986, when they were ordered out of the country by President Ronald Reagan. Marathon, Amerada Hess and ConocoPhillips jointly hold permits to develop the huge Waha field.

Most of those permits expire in 2005, raising fears among US oil executives that their rights could be transferred to European firms.

Okay, well, there's that. I guess we couldn't afford to wait any longer to level the blasting to hell threat. Plus, it's a nice little package of timing with the "capture" of Saddam.

There's more to this Libyan thing, though. Don't know what it is. And there may not have been a blasting to hell threat, although that seems the most likely at this point with the evidence we can see. But there's something else - and it involves that "capture" - and arms that just recently ended up in Libya from Yemen.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Conspiracy nut. Like a stupid bulldog, huh?

Some day my suspicions shall be vindicated, but I'm not holding my breath.

....but hey, you do what you want....you will anyway.

And the fact that the administration can always promise anything in terms of the big factor - mula - because they can always get Congress to approve spending by hook or by crook now with the terror hammer - has got to be a good bargaining chip with dealing with any country. Too bad it doesn't always follow through, huh Africans waiting for AIDS money? Huh, Poland?