Libya Trivia

After 42 years of ruling Libya, why is Moammar Gadhafi still only a Colonel?  I think if he had gotten a promotion or two along the way things might be going better for everyone.

NATO is considering possible military intervention.  The debate is the actual number of civilian deaths required to insight action on NATO's part.  Apparently, until it gets to about 100,000, nobody is mobilizing anything.  It is not clear who is doing the counting either.

According to reports, Libya's military is ruthlessly attacking its citizens.  This apparently has not caused Libya to lose its seat on the UN's Council for Human Rights.   Long live the UN.

Some Libya trivia from the 20th Century:

Gadhafi drew a line in the sand (actually it was a line in the water) claiming certain international waters as Libya's property.  The US, whose job it is to draw lines, got upset and decided that no one else should be allowed to draw lines on the planet.  This resulted in two Libyan fighter jets getting shot down by Iceman and Maverick when the Libyan pilots accidentally pointed their nose cones at the 2 US F-14 Tomcats.

The Colonel then drew a line in the sand (real sand this time) a little farther south but tricked the US by later launching six SA-5 missiles against the U.S. Sixth Fleet and missed (not a good idea).

Gadhafi, realizing he was in trouble, then moved his tent complex farther south and drew another "line in the sand".  By this time, the US had enough of his line drawing and launched Operation El Dorado Canyon, involving Air Force F-111s from airbases in the United Kingdom. The refusal of the French government to grant authority for an American overflight of their country greatly complicated matters and necessitated the accidental bombing of the French embassy in Libya.  Ooops, sorry.

At that point Colonel Gadhafi moved farther south and drew another line in the sand but by this time he was standing in the country of Chad.

No wonder he never got promoted.