The classic drunk has often been a favorite subject in comedy - the staggering, loudmouthed, speechslurring, disoriented, bragging drunk who wakes after a night of revelry asking himself, "Oh my God, what did I say last night! What did I do!!" An excessively high blood alcohol count produces delusional thinking, overestimated abilities, poor reaction time, arrogance, swagger, a sense of invincibility and impaired judgment. I suppose most of us have laughed at one time or another at foolish drunks and maybe we've been among them from time to time, but we’ve also seen their tragic car accidents, loss of careers and jobs, violence, crimes committed and broken lives and families.

Strangely enough, as with the mismanagement of alcohol, some scientists think that men who mismanage their levels of the hormone testosterone can also produce maladaptive behaviors such as aggression, etc. Particularly, young men may ride high T-levels to their own destruction or that of others. Others may react to low T-levels with sometimes bizarre behaviors such as aggression and impaired judgment. Among older men this is known as Aging Male Syndrome (AMS). As the US/French/British/Israeli/NATO war wears on in Libya we may be seeing both, the young bucks riding jets of high T-Levels and the onset of AMS among the aging leaders who suffer from feelings of emasculation. The point of this essay is not to argue the science of T-levels. But should either be true, perhaps NATO, now 62 years old, suffers from AMS, resulting in impaired judgment, massive tragedy and crimes of global proportions.

Dick

The "US/French/British/Israeli/NATO" reference is a bit cumbersome for the writer and reader of this essay. So to facilitate the discussion, we will use a rather common English name for this coalition of the semi-willing. We'll collectively call them "Dick." Now unlike ordinary folks who have only two eyes, Dick is blessed with many eyes. At the onset of the assault on Libya, some of this drunk's eyes glistened with reflections of oil derricks; some of the eyes in Dick's head shone with more land and a coveted, giant aquifier for an expanded Israel; other pupils in his crossed-eyes widened with thoughts of the advent of the apocalypse ushering in the arrival of their Savior to take them all under his protection in the sky while unbelivers descend into a millenium of hell and suffering on planet earth. Still other Dickeyes blicked with uncertainty but agreed to go along with Dick's war when they smarted bitterly with the dust of their failing economies and threats of being excluded from the Big Prize when the war would finally be won.

But the biggest eye of all, located in the middle of Dick's forehead, shone brightly with visions of a Corporate Global Empire (GCE), breaking up OPEC and making one more stride toward 'full spectrum dominance' and control of all global resources. When notified of the plan, the eyes of the GCE's corporate CEOs smiled and spoke confidently with their trustees in board rooms as they thought of end-of-year bonuses and the trustees smiled back, thinking about returns on their investments. Dick was very pleased with himself.

The Little Dicks

It was with all these eyes on the prize that Dick entered the war on Libya bristling with missiles, jet fighters, helicopter gunships and a ragtag, uneducated tribe of angry, disgruntled men that Dick called "the rebels." Reluctantly, but to remain consistent with the casting of this comedy noir, we will call them the "Little Dicks."

Dick convinced his little dicks that they have been disenfranchised, oppressed and that they should be the ones in power in Tripoli. He told them he would give them all the arms they needed to rise up and overthrow their perceived oppressor, the Libyan government. With their own swollen organs and misguided judgement in their ability to run a country, the little dicks fussed with each other who should lead the coup, who would get the best small arms, RPGs, explosives and whatever other weapons Dick would give to them. The rather disorganized little dicks gathered in small groups whispering, "We can do this and maybe we can even do that!" But they worried that the Libyan military might be too strong for them. Dick reassured the little dicks not to worry - that he would provide furious air support and bomb the hell out of any Libyan forces that tried to kill them.

So the war began with Dick and his little dicks against the soverign nation of Libya, their legitimate government, military and the vast majority of the Libyan people. Dick dropped bombs, destroyed infrastructure, killed Libyan soldiers, civilian men, women and children and even accidentally killed a few little dicks who were in the wrong place in the wrong time. The little dicks used their gifts from Dick to attack and destroy government buildings, Libyan police stations, capture a few Libyan tanks and arms, kill Libyan soldiers and torture those whom they captured. Months before OPEC's June 8 meeting in Vienna, Dick helped the little dicks organize a provisional government in Benghazi which they named, "The National Transitional Council of the Libyan Republic." The NTCLR was to become the only legitimate Libyan government and the political face of the little dicks. They proudly announced that they would represent Libya at the OPEC meeting but they were sadly disappointed when OPEC refused to recognize them and hosted the Libyan government's legal representative whom they know so well.

Since then, the little dicks have been licking their wounds, burying their dead and accusing Dick of breaking his promises to them. Dick's multiple eyes on the other hand are glaring at each other and some have closed altogether. One of his members accuses the other and some are heading home, wimpering with tails between legs, glancing back over their shoulder and snarling at Dick. Dick has become smaller and a little more limp while accusing his traitors' personalities of cowardice and impotence.

Like the drunk, Dick and his little dicks are now turning over in their shared bed, rousing from their slumber, hung over, disoriented, wondering where the hell they parked their cars and experiencing a massive, collective headache. Big Dick also appears to be waking to a multiple personality disorder, with their various identities accusing one another of not doing enough, not sticking together, not dropping enough bombs and not paying their fair share in their ambitious enterprise.

 

Dick's Schizoid Personality

So poor Dick also seems to be suffering from a form of multiple personalities in conflict with one another. The fault lines run in economic and pragmatic patterns but not along lines of conscience. Conscience is a lost trait among psychotics.

Of Dick's 28 NATO countries, only 8 initially agreed to participate in the war: the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Spain and Turkey. Ok, there were a few other minor league players like Norway that got wrangled from the farm teams but these were the primary belligerants. When Dick first entered Libya's bedroom, the U.S. suppport for all of the NATO expenditure was 75 percent. In June, Dick's head spokesman and US War Secretary, Robert Gates complained specifically about the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Germany and Poland as "big NATO countries that are not doing their share." He whined about NATO not sharing its burden of the costs and military. Hillary Clinton, who arguably has no testosterone, echoed Gate's complaint from the U.S. State Department.

When some of Dick's disparate personalities wimpered that things weren't going well, they treatened to withdraw from the war on Libya. NATO's Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen dutifully followed Gates, lock-step, warning that Dick would not be able to complete the gang rape of Libya unless NATO invested more in military spending and patching together their fractured alliance, chinning up with greater political will. Dick's fissures began to open.

Germany

Surprising some and angering others, one of Dick's personalities strongly opposed the war on Libya from the very beginning. They abstained from voting in favor of UNSC's Resolution 1973 on Libya. On June 23, Germany abstained in the UN security council vote authorising the air strikes and ignored criticism from other Dick members, the U.S., the U.K. and France. Thomas de Maiziere, the German defence minister, then said Berlin had decided not to get involved and "That's the way it will stay."

On March 23, a German military spokesman said it was even recalling two frigates and AWACS surveillance plane crews from the Mediterranean, fearing they would be drawn into the assault if NATO takes over control from the U.S.

German government consultant and political analyst, Christoph Horste explained:

“At first hand our ministries told the foreign affairs minister ‘Don’t go to Libya. It is a very bad conflict. It was started by the CIA, and it is a dirty business. Don’t go there!’ So this is why he voted with Russia and China. Now the backlash from Washington is so tough that obviously we are under pressure to do something to make up for this decision. In fact, what we see here is that deliberately the country is being destroyed, which is by far transgressing the decision by the Security Council and that is a very bad story right now.”

It was then, after over 100 days of aerial attacks and with more than 2,000 of Dick's bombs dropped, the gang rape ran into an unexpected problem: a lack of munitions to drop on Libyans. So on July 5, under enormous pressure from Dick and with the reflection of the sweet euro symbol in their eyes, Germany agreed to stroke Dick with an agreement to supply munitions for his airstrikes in Libya. As the saying goes, where there is demand, there is supply and where there is desire, there is pleasure.

 

The United Kingdom

At the onset, the perpetrators of Dick's war against the Libyan people were France, England and the U.S. In March, Chancellor George Osborne told the people of the UK that it would cost tens of millions of pounds. Now the cost of the war has grown to hundreds of millions of pounds. The UK economy is already in bad shape and these costs are increasing rapidly on a daily basis. When asked if the UK can afford to continue in the war, Jim Bran (Stop the War Coalition in London) recently told Press TV:

"I think in a sense you could say they can afford it because it comes out of something called a contingency reserve. But clearly there's a problem that they really don't know where it's going to end - they have no idea. Every calculation back in March has gone out the window. It was supposed to be a quick war. It was supposed to be tens of millions as you've mentioned and a number of days. I think they thought they could dive in and do kind of an armed coup within about a week and that's all gone wrong; its' all up in the air."

Of course Bran's reference to money coming from the UK's "contingency reserve" war chest ignores the massive debt in EU countries like Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy which in our view could easily trigger a domino collapse of the EU and the euro having devastating effects on the UK and the U.S.

France

On March 19, according to Press TV Dick's French president Nicolas Sarkozy proudly reported that "Paris will lead an attack on Libyan territories in a bid to protect the civilian population and preserve human consciousness." On the same day, the peaceful war advocate, NPR reported,

 

"France was one of the most strident countries against the invasion of Iraq so it's unusual to see that country taking the lead in the strike against Libya, according to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley. Still, the French seem to be proud of how diplomatically Nicholas Sarkozy has handled the effort. The French president has said that, there are some risks, but they are calculated and there is great moral authority to go in and protect people.

The plan congealed on March 19, when Dick met in Paris and ordered the bombing of Libya "to end the assaults on civilians launched by Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's forces." Representatives of the United States, Britain, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar attended the meeting.

On March 25, Sarkozy declared, "France will lead the attack on Gaddafi!”

Stone Pinkerton writing for the 21st Century Wire accused Sarkozy of suffering from a Napoleon Complex, standing only 5 feet 5 inches tall while shaking hands with England's 6 foot David Cameron to their Libyan invasion agreement. 

So " Odyssey Dawn: The military operation" (c'mon, doncha love it?) began. Eight French Rafale and four Mirage jets were first launched against Libya in the aerial attack, 20 in all before the day was over. The French Rafale jets were credited with the honor of being the first to bomb Libya, evoking images of Sarkozy fondling those missiles before they took off from their base at Saint-Dizier in eastern France.

On June 19 a French bombing killed nine civilians including 2 toddlers and seriously injuring dozens of others in the Arada neighbourhood of Tripoli. A day before, the Libyan government accused NATO of specifically targeting civilians. According to French and English news reports, Dick said he was investigating the killings and was "very sorry" about them.

Norway

But in spite of the continuing demand for unity within NATO for its war on Libya, the cracks in the dike began to widen with Norway's recent decision to withdraw and sparked fears that others may follow.

On July 5, 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported,

"Norway, whose small air force has carried out a disproportionate 10% of the strikes with six fighter planes, last month became the first country to set an end date to its role. The government has been facing calls for withdrawal from its leftist coalition partners. Norway's Defense Ministry said it planned to reduce its contribution to four fighters and to withdraw entirely by Aug. 1."

Denmark

 

As early as March 30, 2011, the Red-Green Alliance of Denmark stated that the war on Libya was no longer just about achieving a ceasefire between the Libyan government and the little dicks for protection of civilians. They determined that instead, it is about participating in a civil war, something they would not support. Frank Aaen, the alliance's defence policy spokesperson covered Denmark's behind stating,

"The direction that the action has taken is in clear opposition to the UN resolution, and there has been no serious attempts to establish a ceasefire ... Since last Friday they had succeeded in stopping the attacks from Gadaffi on the civilian population. It was a correct decision to stop his attack, and we are pleased to have been part of it ... But lately the operation has changed its character, so now we are involved in a civil war. The last couple of days the rebels had received air support to help them push forward, and even though we feel a great sympathy with the rebels, it is not the task of the military action to support one of the parties in a civil war."

U.S. officials accused Denmark and Norway for “punching above their weight,” (read 'for not being real men.')

The Netherlands

NATO's fractures continued as the Netherlands broke rank early this month with Defense Minister Hans Hillen complaining of "mission creep", suggesting that the leading countries in the war were deluded in believing they could crush Qadaffi and his forces. Hillen told reporters in Brussels,

"People who thought that merely by throwing some bombs it would not only help the people, but also convince Kadafi that he could step down or alter his policy were a little bit naive."

The United States

Meanwhile, the Republicans in Washington continued their objections to the war. Now the Republicans are well-known for their collective warmongering personality. Their objections are motivated strictly by their aspirations to replace Obama and the Democrats with their own in the next national elections. We only have to see their support for the wars under George W. Bush in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and by their Israeli proxy in Palestine. They've continued their attack on the Obama regime declaring that Obama did not seek approval from the U.S. Congress for the attacks on Libya, something Bush did before attacking the aforenamed countries when the Republicans gleefully approved the bloodletting.

Italy

On July 6, Italy further softened Dick with its withdrawal of the Garibaldi. The Garibalidi is their aircraft carrier in service to Dick. For a real man like Berlusconi, well known for his virility, this must come with great humiliation and loss of self confidence in Dick's bed. But never to admit weakness in this area, Italy quickly explained that their weakening support for the war was due to their dismay at the humanitarian disaster and civilians killed by Dick's bombs. Nearly a month ago, Italy called for a suspension of hostilities in Libya among NATO's 'coalition of the unwilling' as more and more civilians were being killed by NATO airstrikes and as the Libyan government and military defended their country with a force that surprised Dick with his pants around his ankles. On June 22, 2011, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a parliamentary committee meeting:

"We have seen the effects of the crisis and therefore also of NATO action not only in eastern and southwestern regions but also in Tripoli. I believe an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities is required in order to create effective humanitarian corridors."

Frattini recommended that negotiations should continue on a more formal ceasefire and peace talks stating,

"I think this is the most urgent and dramatic point ... I think it is legitimate to request ever more detailed information on the results", and he condemned "the dramatic errors that hit civilians, which is clearly not an objective of the NATO mission."

Reporting on the same June 22 parliamentary meeting, AFP reported Italy breaks ranks over NATO's Libya mission:

"Italy called for a suspension of hostilities in Libya on Wednesday in the latest sign of dissent within NATO as the civilian death toll mounts and Moamer Kadhafi shows no signs of quitting power."

Frattini told the committee:

"I believe an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities is required in order to create effective humanitarian corridors," while negotiations should also continue on a more formal ceasefire and peace talks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the first belligerent to follow US/Israeli urging the attack on Libya, quickly reacted to Italy's discord ruling out any pause in the Libya campaign. French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told the corporate media:

"The coalition and the countries that met as the Abu Dhabi contact group two weeks ago were unanimous on the strategy: we must intensify the pressure on Kadhafi. Any pause in operations would risk allowing him to play for time and to reorganise. In the end, it would be the civilian population that would suffer from the smallest sign of weakness on our behalf."

On July 6, Italy followed through with it's threat by announcing the withdrawal of its aircraft carrier, the Garibaldi from Libya which in reality was due to two factors:

1. the burden it's aircraft carrier in Libya places on its failing economy. Withdrawal of the Garibaldi will relieve Italy of 80 million euros ($114 million) in financial emissions.
   
   
2. the fact that the legitimate Libyan government and military has been successfully repelling Dick's attacks and the Italians are running scared.

However, Italy did admit that they didn't have the juice for Dick's demands, but said they would offer him a partial dose of Viagra. Italian Minister Ignazio La Russa explains:

"We have cut back costs in Libya, from 142 million euros forecast in the first half of the year to less than 60 million for the second half." He indicated that the Italian plan is to pull the Garibaldi, it's three fighter jets and 1,000 personnel out of the mission because they were "no longer necessary."

But he offered Dick a little something saying that the Garibaldi would be replaced by a smaller boat and other planes from military bases would be used.

As the late Rollo May, philosopher/psychologist extraordinaire, once wrote, people and nations locate their own sins outside of themselves and then set about to expiate their sins by attacking and killing the ones upon whom they've projected their own evil. We saw a lot of this action during the Cold War with the Soviets and now with Arabs and Muslims. Dick's psychosis is now well advanced and his delusions are becoming super-real. He is not unlike the serial killers who self righteously murder prostitutes to destroy their own darkness (Ironically, serial killers have been studied a lot in Dickland.) In time, killers suffering from paranoid schizophrenia become increasingly frenzied by their own impotence and bloodlust. They break their patterns that worked so well for them with earlier victims and they begin to make mistakes. Likewise, Dick's rage is gaining intensity with his fear of impotence as his Libyan rampage seeks to destroy all that he cannot have. His mask of protecting civilians has been removed, revealing his real identity, rapidly bringing nearer the day of his reckoning.

READ MORE ESSAYS AND POETRY BY LES BLOUGH