And Libya goes on...

[CrowBat]

I'm actually intrigued by the general lack of discussion on the Libyan situation here... as opposed, to, say, the Egyptian revolt at its peak.

Sorry, was busy monitoring the air warfare in Libya....and there is a lot of it.

The Libyans appear to fly less than they used to before the outbreak of the unrest, and their pilots behave...well, kind of weird. At least it is quite clear that there are two kinds of pilots there: Libyans and...well, "non-Libyans". Nobody knows who are the latter for sure. And the best the Libyans do have appears not to be around, or at least rather busy keeping their "peace of mind". Their actions certainly have nothing to do with their levels of professionalism.

Losses are quite heavy too. It's not only that two Su-22-crews ejected out of entirely intact aircraft (total of three pilots; one of whom was subsequently arrested by the rebels because he actually did not want to eject), or that two freshly-overhauled Mirage F.1ED fighter-bombers were flown to Malta, but it seems a Su-24 was shot down just a few hours ago. Helicopter losses should be even heavier, and might include one of brand-new, Italian-supplied, Agusta A.109s of the Police - shot down by small-arms fire over downtown Tripoli.

Anyway, that with the "NFZs"...Isn't there a very strange situation: my understanding is that the West - and the US public in particular - is actually fed up with foreign interventions. Yet, all of a sudden everybody seems to be thinking that the US, Brits and everybody else should intervene - so that, should things go wrong, everyone can also be critic...? ;-)

At least pull one of those antiseptic, "air alone" wars (which are a bit more messy for those on the receiving end, of course).

Now, like every normal person, I also love the smell of napalm in the morning - as long as somebody else is being bombed, of course. And it would be kind of "sexy" if the US would simply go in and wipe out the entire Libyan Air Force, wouldn't it?

But, at least as importantly... well, at least in my humble opinion...the majority of the Libyans I heard from prefer not to have any kind of foreigners "helping" them. They want to finish what they started. Even those in az-Zawiya, where Qaddaffi's thugs are in these hours doing their best to match the performance of Syrian "security" services from Hamah.

That aside, the rebels in the East are currently following the best traditions of their predecessors (sure, they replaced camels with Toyotas, Hyundays and KIAs), and are exploiting the ongoing desert storm for a very rapid advance towards the West. If everything goes well, they might reach Syrte this evening. And, from what one can hear from there, in-fighting between the Qaddafa and another tribe is already going inside that place.

Perhaps a very discrete air attack on the three of regime's brigades concentrated near az-Zawiya might not be a bad idea. Say, send a pair of B-2s and splash their tanks with a combo of something like 160 JDAMS. But, actually, the situation there is playing into hands of the rebels. Then, even though the locals are likely to lose their stand there and end massacred to the last one, they are causing heavy losses to the "crack" units of the regime too, and keeping them busy while those form the East can complete their part of the job.

So, I think it might be worth considering that the Libyans are capable of sorting out this one on their own too...?

One nice day, when Q's and cadavers of most of his family are going to hang from some laterns in downtown Tripoli, drying in the sun Mussolini-style (that is, provided the rebels left them intact once they get them into their hands), the Libyans will not only have something to be proud about, but also something that's always going to remind them what are they capable of achieving, if they all pull on the same string.