THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Col Muammar Gaddafi's location could not be established on Sunday night after missile attacks prompted the Libyan leader to go to ground.The only response from Col Gaddafi to scores of missile strikes and air force bombing raids came in phone calls to state television in which he vowed to distribute arms to all Libyans and turn the Mediterranean into a battleground.
Col Gaddafi disappeared from view after cancelling a planned speech to loyalists at his Bab al-Azizia compound in central Tripoli late on Saturday night.
News of the missiles strikes marked the first chink in Col Gaddafi's fortified sanctuary, as the chanting crowd, which had vowed to die with the leader, slunk away.
As the sound of songs and chanting was replaced by trudging feet, questions started to flow. "Why do you bomb us? Tell us why," said Aeshia Tajbouri. "Why don't you tell your governments there is no killing here." The two phone calls were broadcast yesterday on state television against the backdrop of a golden fist crushing a US jet – a monument to the 1986 bombing of Tripoli by President Ronald Reagan.
Col Gaddafi's failure to appear could mean he has left the compound to evade probable attack or represent a double-bluff to fox the coalition.
His speech amounted to a belligerent rejection of the UN-backed action to protect civilians in areas targeted by his troops.
"We will not leave our oil to America or France or Britain or the enemy Christian states that are aligned now against us," he said. "We will not leave our land. We will fight for every inch of our land and liberate every inch of it." Officials said the government was handing out weapons to one million Libyans, men and women, in preparation for a last ditch defence of the regime. » | Damien McElroy, Tripoli | Sunday, March 20, 2011
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