Gadaffi: Crazy Like a Fox!

Though events in Libya are moving very fast, their outcome is uncertain: Muammar Gadaffi is hunkered down in Tripoli, defended by army units from his tribe and mercenaries from black Africa. Watching Colonel Muammar deliver a bombastic, defiant speech last week from the ruins of Tripoli's Bab al-Azizia barracks brought Eric Margolis back to 1987, when Libya's leader led him by the hand through the wreckage of his former residence. On 14 April, 1986, US aircraft attacked Libya after a Berlin disco frequented by US soldiers was bombed. US President Ronald Reagan blamed Libya, and denounced Gadaffi as the "mad dog of the Middle East." But a defector from Israel's Mossad later claimed the US had been duped by a false flag operation into believing Libya was behind the attack. A 2,000 lb US bomb crashed through the ceiling of Gadaffi's private quarters. He was outside in his trademark tent, but his 2-year old adopted daughter was killed. Some 87 other civilians and a few French diplomats were also killed. Americans thought this raid was "dandy": "Why Mr. Eric," a clearly confused Gadaffi plaintively asked him, "why are the Americans trying to kill me?" "Because they think you are funding every kind of anti-western group" replied Eric Margolis, and they will never forgive you for provoking the rise in Arab oil prices."