Days of Our (Libyan) Lives

It never fail to pour for our poor, poor rebels. It’s doubly ironic that the coalition doesn’t think twice about stretching Resolution 1973 to its utmost limit by bombing mobile field forces of Gaddafi that aren’t immediately threatening the civilians in urban areas, but sees no problems withdrawing the gunships from places like Misurata, where civilians ARE being targeted. Some will think of this as tacit admission that Gaddafi has outwitted the coalition now with his new tactics of deep entrenchment in city centres and using rebel tactics of travelling in civilian vehicles without heavy armour following. All this means is that the rebels keep getting flanked, which is really child’s play when the rebels could never pull off any similar counter with their deep disorganization and poor morale.

Which is not to say they’re not TRYING:

Al Jazeera’s Sue Turton, reporting from the frontlines of the battle to reclaim Brega from pro-Gaddafi forces, said that overnight NATO air strikes allowed the pro-democracy fighters to gain some momentum, with discipline and co-ordination improving.

“They sent spotters out on the flanks before moving a unit forward,” Turton said. “It worked for a while before the more excitable rushed forward.”

Gaddafi’s forces, she said, reacted swiftly.

“Mortars obliterated one car and damaged two others. These rookie soldiers are learning the hard way,” Turton reported.

Progress seems painfully slow though. In other more hilarious news, turns out the Federal Reserve was snookered completely by the Libyan crisis. This is pretty much going to be gasoline on the anti-Fed fire in the US. The Tea Party is sure to make a lot of political capital off this.

UPDATE:Seems like cooler heads are now prevailing.

Maybe the comic will evolve into BC down the road, eh?

Not content to take on the NuAtheists and skeptics (I can’t see how this surprises anyone, given his ravings in God’s Debris), now Scott Adams is thinking of riling up 50% of the human population. Well done, have a Citizen Kane slow clap!

But never fear! Here comes the apology…well sort of. What’s hilarious is that although he’s been writing about IT hijinks forever, the guy has no idea that “TROLOLOL JUZ A JOKE” is probably the first indication someone’s completely lost an argument on the Internet. The only thing lamer would be a “HATERS GONNA HATE” gif. I’m not sure what Flame Warrior category that falls into, but passive-aggressiveness has to be one of the traits.

Now for the (slightly) lighter side of the Libyan conflict

Ah, parody imitates life. Turns out that Libya’s very own (admittedly not very entertaining) Baghdad Bob has a certain German wife, and her blog IS very entertaining. How can it not, with posts like these?

I’m not sure what to write really. I am stunned by the atrocities I have seen committed by these so-called rebels. Hangings. Beheadings. Immolations – and then they pulled out the heart and stamped on it. Is that what they want Libya to become?

I SPIT ON THEE DEFENCELESS HEART, NOBLE SOLDIER OF GADDAFI!

P.S: Meanwhile, back in reality, things are as grim (or comedic, depending on how dark your humour genes are) as ever for the ragtag rebels this week. How can it not? As one Guardian journalist puts it:

He [Gaddafi] seems to have adopted the rebel tactics of using pick-up trucks with machine guns mounted on the back. Highly mobile, much faster than using heavy armour, they’re able to sweep through the desert and around the rebels. Not only is he copying what the rebels are doing, he is doing it much better in the sense that he has much more disciplined troops.

Not hard to beat a force that has no radios, doesn’t listen to what few military commanders they have, wastes ammo, shells its own forces by mistake, is quick to brag but equally quick to blame the coalition for not fighting 99% of the war for them.

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