TRAGEDY IN LIBYA – AT 7:16 P.M. ET:  While our dynamic president contemplates the philosophical nature of the world situation, and consults various authorities, Libya is becoming a bloody mess.  The government forces are striking back, and the battle now seems to be tipping in their favor.

RAS LANUF, Libya — Forces loyal to the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, attacked rebel fighters on the outskirts of this strategic refinery town, provoking a response that included the firing of missile fusillades and rocket propelled grenades, in perhapsthe fiercest engagement yet between the budding opposition army and the government during the three-week old conflict.

Backed by their heavy weaponry the rebels managed to advance on foot for a couple of miles to the west, witnesses said, until they were frozen by mortar fire and heavy machine guns and forced to retreat in trucks. At least five soldiers died in the fighting.

In the western half of the country, elite government troops continued to pound the besieged, rebel-held city of Zawiyah , only 30 miles from Colonel Qaddafi’s stronghold, the capital city of Tripoli.

Across the country from each other, in fights of vastly different complexions, Ras Lanuf and Zawiyah have become proving grounds in Libya’s emerging civil war. In the east, on a battlefield of desert, dunes and scrub, the rebel force has matured and, improbably, retained control of the town for more than week. But under steady bombardment by government jets and kept at bay by superior artillery, the rebels have not been able to advance towards Tripoli, the colonel’s stronghold.

A broadcast report said that all the talk about outside nations imposing a no-fly zone has actually given impetus to the Qaddafi loyalists.  They want to get in as much aerial bombing as possible before such a zone is established, if it ever is.

We look awfully weak right now, and other nations in the Mideast are undoubtedly noticing.  Obama has demanded that Qaddafi leave office, but has done absolutely nothing to back up the demand.  NATO is going to meet on the Libyan crisis.  However, it's widely believed that NATO will take no action without UN approval, and UN approval is virtually impossible to get, as China and Russia would oppose any Security Council resolution.

As Stan Laurel of Laurel & Hardy used to say, this is a fine mess.

March 9, 2011