Experts Say Gaddafi’s Strategic Rhetoric Doomed To Fail

On Saturday, thousands of civilians were brought into Col. Gaddafi’s fortified Tripoli compound, while on Sunday groups of armed Libyans rallied around anticipated coalition targets, bringing children into human walls to deter coalition air strikes.

Under pressure from a Western military operation, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi unleashed a wave of rhetoric over the weekend, calling the coalition members “terrorists” and sending strategically worded letters to its leaders.

But the confusing melange of messages won’t have the desired effect, experts say, despite Col. Gaddafi’s best efforts to divide and conquer.

In a state television address late Sunday, Col. Gaddafi said he is preparing for a long war and that he won’t concede to Western nations he says only want Libya’s oil. “You are terrorists. You are fighting a people that hasn’t invited you,” he said. “Libya has become a hell in the face of enemies. This is an unjustified aggression.”

On Saturday, he wrote two separate letters to members of the Western coalition — one addressed to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and United Nations General-Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, and one to United States President Barack Obama.

While both combative, the letters struck very different tones: “Our son his excellency the president of the United States Barack Hussein Obama” was told the Libyan leader would love him even if the two countries entered into war.

The others were scolded and threatened, told that “Libya is not yours. Libya is for all Libyans,” and that they have “no right to interfere in our internal affairs.”

Observers say the embattled leader has become far more desperate since Thursday’s UN security council resolution to use all force necessary against Col. Gaddafi.

via http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Gaddafi+strategic+rhetoric+doomed+fail+experts/4474401/story.html