MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

If Gaddafi falls, expect Obama to tout his ‘leadership’ and take credit the following day.  When the Islamists take over, expect Obama to deny that he had anything to do with Libya …

By Richard Spencer – “Abdel-Elah al-Khatib, the former Jordanian foreign minister appointed by the United Nations to try to negotiate an end to the conflict, said he was meeting representatives of both sides of the Libyan conflict in Tunisia.

The rebel leaders’ Transitional National Council denied that its representatives were involved, but no such claim came from the Gaddafi regime.

The rebels now believe they have no need to offer concessions on their demand for Col Gaddafi to leave Libya or surrender, after cutting off his supply lines in the last four days.

Mansur Saif Al-Nasser, their ambassador to France, said they hoped to have secured victory by the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in two weeks’ time.

‘Our forces totally control Zawiyah, which will open the way to Tripoli,’ he said in a radio interview. ‘This will allow the population there to revolt.

We are entering a decisive phase.

‘Soon we will liberate all of southern Libya. We hope to celebrate the final victory at the same time as the end of Ramadan.’

Nato leaders are also increasingly confident that the war is moving towards an endgame. ‘I think the sense is that Gaddafi’s days are numbered,’ the new US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, said in Washington.” Read more.

Flashback: Libyan Rebel Commander Admits His Fighters Have al-Qaeda Links – “By Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham – In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited ‘around 25′ men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are ‘today are on the front lines in Adjabiya’. Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters ‘are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists,’ but added that the ‘members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader’.” Read more.

Flashback: FBI Counter-Terror Official: Al Qaeda ‘Thrives’ After Dictators Fall – “On the same day reports emerged of a new al Qaeda video that praised the revolutions sweeping the Arab world, one the U.S.’s top counter-terror officials warned the terror organization ‘thrives’ in the political unrest that follows.” Read more.