HEY MUAMMAR, DON'T YOU GET THE MESSAGE? – AT 8:29 A.M. ET:  We wrote yesterday about the need to make clear to the Libyan leader that he will be bin Ladened if he doesn't vacate the premises immediately.  Apparently, NATO has the same idea.  It's also trying to head off a Libyan plot to flood Europe with refugees:  From Britain's Telegraph:

Col Muammar Gaddafi and his armed forces have been directly targeted in a series of precision strikes in Tripoli and the key town of Misurata as concerns grow that the regime is attempting to swamp Europe with refugees.

The new phase of highly accurate attacks, shown in photographs released by the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday, was launched as an increasingly desperate refugee crisis has seen thousands from Libya flee for Europe in just a few days.

In a sign that the regime is trying to force a refugee crisis as a weapon against its Nato enemies, almost 1,900 people from Libya arrived in five boats on the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa this weekend alone.

Another vessel sank – bringing the total lost to four boats.

Hundreds of bodies are now washing ashore along the Libyan coast. Some of the refugees said they were forced on to the boats by Libyan troops and police, the International Organisation for Migration reported. Others were given free passage, in contrast to the normal practice where migrants are charged fortunes for the crossing...

...Early on Tuesday, Nato forces carried out some of their heaviest strikes on the capital, Tripoli, for weeks, attacking targets said to include part of Col Gaddafi's leadership compound.

And this is intriguing:

There was speculation last night that Col Gaddafi had been killed in Nato bombings of his compound, although the Foreign Office said it had received no reports that he was dead.

The Libyan leader has not been seen in public since the air strike 10 days ago in which his son, Saif al-Arab, was killed. He did not attend the funeral. Libya’s prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, has denied that Col Gaddafi was hit in the raid and said that he is in mourning for his son.

I could understand Gaddafi not attending the funeral.  He could easily have been targeted at a known location.  But I wonder how long it will take him to realize that his days are numbered unless he gets out of power.  If he goes, you can be sure Barack Obama will take the credit for it.

May 11, 2011