■"Time Is Short for Bulgarian Nurses Facing Death in Libya," by Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times, 17 October 2005, p. A3.

Five Bulgarian aid nurses are on trial in Libya, accused of infecting hospitalized Libyan kids with AIDS on orders from Mossad, the Israeli intell service. Their final appeal, after seven years in captivity and numerous incidents of torture, falls next month. Some diplomats say that if the nurses were Old Core citizens, like Brits or Italians, there would be an international protest. But instead, mostly-Gap Bulgaria doesn't get the same consideration, and so this travesty of justice reminds us, yet again, what a complete nutcase Qaddafi is.

The man will never play by the rules. He remains on the list "to go," notwithstanding his recent grandstanding "capitulations."