Ignatius on Libya

David Ignatius of the Washington Post, who has very good connections in the CIA and the rest of the intelligence apparatus, had an interesting column over the weekend. He wrote,

Col. Moammar Gaddafi has always depended on one strategic resource to hold his loopy government together, and that’s cash. But as the U.N.-backed coalition tightens its squeeze, Gaddafi is slowly running out of money — and his inner circle is showing early signs of collapse.

White House officials described a pressure campaign that is seizing Gaddafi’s assets, pounding his military and establishing covert links with both the rebels and members of his government. As this chokehold tightens, U.S. officials believe that Gaddafi’s regime is likely to implode around him or he’ll be forced to flee. . . .

The clearest sign that the squeeze is working was the defection Wednesday of Musa Kusa, Libya’s foreign minister and longtime intelligence chief for Gaddafi. He fled to Britain after what an intelligence source said was a ruse in which Kusa claimed to be heading to Tunisia to make a secret sale of refined oil products. The cover story illustrates Gaddafi’s desperate need for funds.

Ignatius also heard reports that we are bribing Libyan tribal leaders to abandon Qaddafi.

I would like to think that Obama has some secret plan in place and that bombing tanks along the Benghazi Road is a cover for something deeper and more intelligent, but I don't have that much faith in my government. I suppose time will tell.