Libya: It ain’t over ’til the dictator swings

Listen to Dave Ross Commentary – Libya: Is it over?

Some Libyans are trying to behave as if it’s over…

“People are still around and still trying to go about [boom sound] their daily lives whilst this firefight is going on,” said one report with blasts in the background.

But maybe not quite yet. For example, we were told that Qaddafi’s sons were all under arrest, and then … CNN’s Matthew Chance was roused from his bed at the Rixos hotel, and ran downstairs to find Saif Al-Islam, Qaddafi’s second son, sitting in a white armored Landcruiser:

“I walked up to the Landcruiser and knocked on the door. It opened up and I said, ‘Saif, I need to see you with my own eyes.’ I leaned in, I turned on the light on the ceiling in the backseat of this Landcruiser, and there he was.”

And as for the reports Qaddafi himself has left Tripoli:

“I asked him about where his father was, he said all of his family are in Tripoli. He then went on to say that it was all a trick, the rebels coming into Tripoli, and that we’ve now broken their backbone.”

And then he took journalists on a little combat tour:

“He then invited me to get into the car and drive around Tripoli so he could prove how much it was under the government’s control,” said Chance.

The door closed before Chance could get in … but it turned out to be a pretty short drive for the other reporters — to the nearby Qaddafi compound, where guns were being handed out to loyalists, who apparently plan to fight to the end.

NATO issued a statement saying that end is near — but finding the truth is like spelling “Qaddafi.” There are many correct versions. I’m tempted to say it ain’t over … ’til the dictator swings. But sometimes, even that’s not enough.

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