Suitably Flip

Q/Gaddafi Comatose?

Perhaps, according to the Jerusalem Post:

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was rushed to the hospital Sunday after a blood clot was discovered in his brain, and is now in a coma, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an claimed.

According to the report, Gaddafi's children, who reside in Europe, were recalled to his bedside in Tripoli.

"The condition of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is very serious and he was brought unconscious to the hospital," the agency reported.

Captain Ed has more.

Gaddafi gave the US its biggest foreign-relations victory of the Iraq War when he voluntarily disarmed his nuclear-weapons programs. The US and UK had held negotiations with Libya on this point for months, but Gaddafi suddenly acquiesced shortly after the capture of Saddam Hussein. He told Silvio Berlusconi that he didn't want to end his days like Saddam Hussein -- hiding in a dirt hole only to be hauled out by American troops. His abandonment of nuclear weapons may have made the entire exercise worthwhile, although most have forgotten about the surprising level of sophistication that UN inspectors found during the disarmament process.

If he is as ill as the Post and Ma'an reports, it puts Libya in a precarious position. Gaddafi has had poor relations with the Arab League of late, and the Saudis have been the problem.

The Post article goes into a little more depth about those poor relations, including accusations of an assassination attempt on Saudi King Abdullah and opposing ideas about how to solve the Israel-Palenstinian conflict.

More from Ed:

It's not altogether sure that a Gaddafi exit would result in a reconciliation; indeed, no one has really considered what comes after Gaddafi. The entire North African situation, as bad as it is already, could rapidly deteriorate as long-oppressed factions fight for power if he dies, or even if he remains incapacitated.

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Q/Gaddafi Comatose?

Perhaps, according to the Jerusalem Post:

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was rushed to the hospital Sunday after a blood clot was discovered in his brain, and is now in a coma, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an claimed.

According to the report, Gaddafi's children, who reside in Europe, were recalled to his bedside in Tripoli.

"The condition of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is very serious and he was brought unconscious to the hospital," the agency reported.

Captain Ed has more.

Gaddafi gave the US its biggest foreign-relations victory of the Iraq War when he voluntarily disarmed his nuclear-weapons programs. The US and UK had held negotiations with Libya on this point for months, but Gaddafi suddenly acquiesced shortly after the capture of Saddam Hussein. He told Silvio Berlusconi that he didn't want to end his days like Saddam Hussein -- hiding in a dirt hole only to be hauled out by American troops. His abandonment of nuclear weapons may have made the entire exercise worthwhile, although most have forgotten about the surprising level of sophistication that UN inspectors found during the disarmament process.

If he is as ill as the Post and Ma'an reports, it puts Libya in a precarious position. Gaddafi has had poor relations with the Arab League of late, and the Saudis have been the problem.

The Post article goes into a little more depth about those poor relations, including accusations of an assassination attempt on Saudi King Abdullah and opposing ideas about how to solve the Israel-Palenstinian conflict.

More from Ed:

It's not altogether sure that a Gaddafi exit would result in a reconciliation; indeed, no one has really considered what comes after Gaddafi. The entire North African situation, as bad as it is already, could rapidly deteriorate as long-oppressed factions fight for power if he dies, or even if he remains incapacitated.