Just take it to the skies

Diehard loyalists of Gaddafi unleashed barrages of rockets and mortars to beat back an assault by interim government forces on one of their last bastions in Libya's desert and also held off an advance into his home town. Forced to retreat from Bani Walid by a heavily armed and well dug-in force estimated at several hundred, columns of fighters in pick-up trucks raced back out of the interior desert town on Friday after a day that began with talk of ending the siege and capturing senior figures from the old ruling elite. Maybe it wasn't the best idea for the rebels-turned-government to evacuate the civilians because that gesture may have given the loyalist fighters an extra two days to prepare their counterattack. The rebels should've done something else like using fighter jets - that way, a bomb dropped on the town would take out the loyalist soldiers no problem, even though Bani Walid would be reduced to rubble.