How Long Will Libya's Qaddafi last??

Libya's strongman and despot who is now holed up in Tripoli, has the
whole world against him. Since February 2011, the people he has
oppressed for 41 years seemed to have woken up as one man and now are
ask for his departure as leader of Libya.

But, geographically, to his west, there is recently liberated
Tunisia, and to his East, his country men asking for his ouster after
41 years of autocratic rule. The South of Tripoli has mostly
uninhabitable and inhospitable desert. So, Tripoli is essentially
under siege, with Col. Muammar al Qaddafi and his family trying to
whip up support even as defections start reaching his inner circle.

Supplies will soon run low, and Tripoli cannot be an island unto
itself for too long in a modern world. The Libyans, have strongly said
they want their country to remain united, hence, they will seek to
break the current siege and smoke out the Qaddafi family from their
hiding hole.

The international community is documenting atrocities committed by
mercenaries hired by the Qaddafis, and irrespective of the outcome,
Muammar Qaddafi will have to face charges in front of the
International Criminal Court in the Haque, Netherlands.

Calls have also been made to bring further charges for the 1988
Lockerbie bombings in Scotland, widely believed to have been planned
by Qaddafi.

Whatever the outcome, Qaddafi's time to leave power has come. Any
atrocities he commits hence will be akin to giving fodder to
prosecutors, and will only make his defense in the ICC more
difficult.

He should follow in the footsteps of Ben Ali of Tunisia and Egypt's
Hosni Mubarak, step down now, only, his scenario will be closer to
that of his erstwhile protege, Charles Taylor of "Blood Diamond" fame.