LIBYA IN FLAMES – AT 7:24 A.M. ET:  Oh, the agony.  All those oil executives who, just last week, were licking the boots of Libya's brutal ruling family, are now making plans to leave the country.  And I'll bet there's plenty of sweating going on in foreign ministries, including our own, over fears that diplomatic messages will fall into the hands of protesters, revealing the extent of Western collusion with one of the worst regimes in the world.

Libya burns this morning, as Fox reports:

CAIRO – Libyan protesters celebrated in the streets of Benghazi on Monday, claiming control of the country's second largest city after bloody fighting, and anti-government unrest spread to the capital with clashes in Tripoli's main square for the first time. Muammar al-Qaddafi's son vowed that his father and security forces would fight "until the last bullet."

Even as Seif al-Islam Qaddafi spoke on state TV Sunday night, clashes were raging in and around Tripoli's central Green Square, lasting until dawn Monday, witnesses said. They reported snipers opening fire on crowds trying to seize the square, and Qaddafi supporters speeding through in vehicles, shooting and running over protesters. Before dawn, protesters took over the offices of two of the multiple state-run satellite news channels, witnesses said.

A major government building in the capital was on fire Monday morning, a Reuters reporter said. The building is where the General People's Congress, or parliament, meets when it is in session in Tripoli.

Smoke was also rising from two sites in Tripoli where a police station and a security forces bases are located, said Rehab, a lawyer watching from the roof of her home.

The city on Monday was shut down and streets empty, with schools, government offices and most shops closed except a few bakeries serving residents hunkered down in their houses, she said, speaking on condition she be identified only by her first name.

COMMENT:  Although clashes continue elsewhere in the Mideast, with eyes on Bahrain and Yemen, Libya has become the main event, the new Egypt.  Even as the young Qaddafi vowed that blood will run in the streets, with thousands shot – he's not considered a neat date – protesters continue to press their case.

But...what is their case?

Again we must caution readers that all this excitement may or may not end well.  There are already disturbing signs in Egypt that the Islamists are starting to move in on the "revolution."  Tunisia, to its credit, is having an open debate on the role of Islam in that society.  Remember that there is no tradition of democracy in the Arab world.  Remember also that most revolutions go sour.

We watch carefully.

February 21, 2011