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... And a photo album filled with images of Condoleezza Rice. Huh? Apparently, the infamous Libyan leader's fondness for Rice was well-known -- according to the Washington Post, he told Al-Jazeera in 2007: "I support my darling black African woman. I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders ... Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. ... I love her very much. I admire her and I'm proud of her because she's a black woman of African origin." Well, isn't that nice.

A group of rebels besieging a cluster of apartment buildings near the compound of Muammar Gaddafi said they believed the man who led Libya for four decades was hiding in the buildings with some of his sons. Rebels were exchanging fire with Gaddafi loyalists inside the buildings. They did not say why they believed Gaddafi and his sons were inside. "They are together. They are in a small hole," said one of the fighters involved in the battle, Muhammad Gomaa. "Today we finish. Today we will end that."

British special forces are on the ground in Libya helping to spearhead the hunt for Col Muammar Gaddafi, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. As a £1 million bounty was placed on Gaddafi’s head, soldiers from 22 SAS Regiment began guiding rebel soldiers after being ordered in by David Cameron. For the first time, defence sources have confirmed that the SAS has been in Libya for several weeks, and played a key role in co-ordinating the fall of Tripoli. With the majority of the capital now in rebel hands, the SAS soldiers, who have been dressed in Arab civilian clothing and...

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso, a former recipient of large amounts of Libyan aid, has offered Muammar Gaddafi exile but has also recognised the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya's government. Chad, another major aid recipient, also recognised the rebel council. The African nations join a list of more than 40 countries who have recognised the rebels who have taken control of most of Libya and are now hunting the veteran leader. Burkinabe Foreign Minister Yipene Djibril Bassolet said that Gaddafi could go into exile in his country even though it is a signatory of the International Criminal Court,...

Here is a photo of Obama meeting with Gaddafi: http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h208/papa_giorgio/Politics/G-O.jpg

Thirty-five foreign journalists have been unable to leave Tripoli’s Rixos Hotel since the evening of 21 August. Already in Tripoli before the battle for the city began 48 hours ago, they had been forced to stay in this hotel by the Gaddafi government. Foreign diplomats are also trapped there. The hotel is surrounded by Gaddafi loyalists who are preventing the journalists from leaving. They are held hostage on the hotel’s first floor, the prisoners of a dying regime that refuses to lay down its arms. There are frequent cuts in the power and water supply. Their situation is very worrying....

Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin 08TRIPOLI874 2008-11-10 16:16 2011-08-23 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Tripoli VZCZCXRO7687 OO RUEHTRO DE RUEHTRO #0874 3151616 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O R 101616Z NOV 08 FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4093 INFO RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 4615 UNCLAS TRIPOLI 000874 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR S/ES-CR, S/ES-O, AND NEA/MAG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPDC PREL OVIP LY SUBJECT: LIBYAN LEADER AL-QADHAFI'S CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT-ELECT REF: STATE 118192 ¶1. (U) Post received on November 9 via telefax a letter from Leader Muammar al-Qadhafi conveying his congratulations to the President-elect. We have not...

For Barack Obama, "leading from behind" has never looked so ... decisive. With Libyan rebels celebrating in downtown Tripoli, and Muammar el-Qaddafi apparently in hiding, the president's supporters are claiming vindication for a much-criticized approach to regime change in the Arab world. Obama's strategy amounted to staying resolutely behind the scenes throughout the five-month NATO air operation. To wit: Don't say the United States is openly engaged in ousting Qaddafi. Don't even concede the United States is going to war. Take cover behind a political imprimatur for action from the Arab League and United Nations, and let Europe lead the...

Sen. John McCain said that as Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi faces an "inevitable" end, the U.S. should concern itself with helping contain weapons from Qaddafi's arsenal. "We've got to secure these weapons depots," the Arizona Republican said on CBS' "The Early Show" Tuesday. "that have huge, huge numbers of weapons, and apparently mustard gas and other weapons of mass destruction."

... But beyond his warren of personal passages beneath Tripoli is a vast complex of tunnels stretching out under the desert and connecting many of the key towns and cities. In 1984, concerned about the threat to his regime from an increasingly hostile West, Gaddafi ordered the construction of thousands of miles of what were described as 'irrigation tunnels'. The project, which cost a staggering £15 billion was titled the Great Man Made River and promised to bring water from the Saharan aquifer in the south of the country to the major cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. But built from...

BEIJING: China's state media said Tuesday the West has a responsibility to "clear up its mess" in Libya after rebels overran the capital Tripoli and declared the Gaddafi era over. The Global Times said the future of the North African country lay in the hands of the Western countries that have backed a NATO campaign against veteran strongman Muammar Gaddafi. "Overthrowing Gaddafi is entertainment for the media, but talk of rebuilding is not," the conservative English-language daily said in an editorial. "The West has to take responsibility for clearing up its mess in Libya." The newspaper did not specifically mention...

The ICC was negotiating the evasive heir-apparent's transfer to The Haag already- what does this say about the enigmatic rebels we've all but installed in Tripoli? When asked, the only thing the main rebel spokesman had to say -in his best imitation of Baghdad Bob- was "This could be all lies!"... even as the elusive younger Gaddafi spoke on live television. But it is possible he actually was captured (the ICC had confirmed it) yet escaped rebel custody: in fact, the opposition forces appear astonishingly incompetent, as his oldest brother Mohammed Gaddafi -who was not an element of the regime- already bolted...

The Pentagon says attacks by armed Predator unmanned planes have risen to 1.4 a day. Washington (CNN) -- As the rebels in Libya push closer to ending the regime of embattled Col. Moammar Gadhafi, U.S. warplanes have been increasing their attacks on government positions as part of the NATO campaign. New numbers released by the Pentagon on Monday show that the number of U.S. air attacks on Libyan air defenses, ground forces and other targets has nearly doubled over the past 12 days, compared with air attacks in the first 132 days of the NATO mission. There was an average...

The dust has not yet settled over the Libyan capital of Tripoli since rebels took control over the weekend. But already, a draft constitutional charter for the transitional state has appeared online (embedded below). It is just a draft, mind you, and gauging its authenticity at this point is difficult. There is also no way to know whether this draft or something similar will emerge as the final governing document for a new Libyan regime. As both the Morning Bell and Washington in a Flash noted today, Heritage Fellow Jim Phillips recently pointed out that Islamist forces “appear to make...

Muammar Gaddafi has cultivated a collection of bizarre ensembles. After four decades as a ruthless autocrat, the "Brother Leader" probably doesn't get much pushback from his tailor.

Moammar Kadafi’s fall from power would be a vindication of the Obama administration’s strategy in Libya after the president endured months of criticism for “leading from behind” and letting European allies take a more upfront role in fighting Kadafi’s forces, a former adviser to Obama said. “The administration is entirely vindicated,’’ said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution who has advised three presidents on the Middle East and south Asia. “They said from the beginning that the primary actor here needed to be the Libyans and they weren’t going to put boots on the ground.’’ After briefly...

For the second time since the start of the Libyan uprising, the days of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi appear to be numbered. The first time around, in late February, he made such an impressive comeback that a coalition of countries led by the United States, France and Britain felt compelled to intervene forcefully against him by mid-March. Now, as jubilant rebels are seen dancing in the center of the capital Tripoli, he seems truly vanquished. However, it is unlikely that we have seen the last of him. The "astonishing speed" (to quote The New York Times) with which his forces pulled...

Cairo - One of sons of embattled Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi has escaped after being placed under house arrest, the Al-Jazeera broadcaster reported Monday. [Mohamed Gaddafi was captured while doing an interview with Al Jazeera yesterday and was being held in his house.]

I saw a pic in a turkish web site, claiming that pic freshly came from Libya and showing Gaddafi dead.

With the imminent departure of Muammar Gaddafi from absolute power as the rebels are closing on Tripoli two CIA-backed Libyan groups and an al-Qaeda affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a declared foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the US State Department since 2004, could emerge as real power in Libya when it is clear that the rebel military forces are a patchwork of armed groups, former soldiers and freelance militias including self-appointed neighborhood gangs. The main rebel group, based in Benghazi in the country's east, consists of former government ministers who have defected, and longstanding opposition figures, representing a range...