Mornin’ FARS,
I agree that Libya is not on our side, YET. It’s very telling that Ayman al Zwahiri is calling for Qaddafi’s head in one of his latest audio tapes! al Zwahiri must have realized the loss of potential nukes and/or dirty bombs and cash that he could have gotten from Qaddafi!
al Qaeda is known for shooting themselves in the foot (9/11, slaughtering Iraqi civilians and baking children especially of the Sunni denomination, etc.) that led lately to their all-out defeat in Iraq.
I wouldn’t be surprised when al Qaeda gets Qaddafi angry and scared enough to join the anti-terrorism effort. That will make him a de facto US ally.
Qaddafi is very ill and wants his son to survive and succeed him. Thus has thrown in with us and hopes this will help out. His political opponents are not pro-West, so we are les likely to give them our vote.
Also, Qaddafi was not, at his worst, the type to bake children and feed gthem to their parents, as happened by Al Qaeda in Iraq. Killing a planeload of people was fair game but he did not display a public sadistic streak though rumors abounded about his participation in torture.
Water under the bridge.
As you say, let’s wait and see what transpires.
cheers,