Someone's Taking Lessons

Those of us who were so uncharitable as to wonder where the Middle East peace envoy had got to recently need wonder no longer, it seems. Whether calling an exquisite double bluff ("I'd have to be mad to shoot at peaceful demonstrators"), warning of an al-Qaida takeover if he doesn't get his way, or spouting Daily Mail fantasies about floods of immigrants, Tony's chum Colonel Gaddafi has clearly been coached by the master. Britain and her gallant allies are apparently considering taking the sort of action against Gaddafi that did so much to help Saddam Hussein against his own rebellious citizens in between the Gulf wars, and the Colonel has seized this opportunity to foam his way to a swivel-eyed paranoid fantasy in the best tabloid-pleasing Vicar of Downing Street fashion. He has actually gone so far as to claim that the forces of enlightenment are interested only in stealing the Libyan people's oil. If that line hasn't got the sweaty little fingerprints of a certain pretty straight sort of guy all over it, I can't imagine what would show them.