Libya: Qaddafi running out of cash?

While Tom Ricks is away from
his blog, he has selected a few of his favorite posts to re-run. We will be
posting a few every day until he returns. This originally ran on June 16, 2011.

Remember in early April I highlighted a David Ignatius column saying that Qaddafi was weaker than people thought and predicting that the old coot would run out of money in three months? Well, the bills may be coming due. John McCreary, another smart guy, notes that pro-Qaddafi fighters deserted a town in western Libya on the road to Tripoli. He observes, "This development is significant because it is the second instance in a month in which pro-Qadhafi fighters just stopped fighting. That is a strong suggestion that their pay or their contracts ran out."