Dude on the right look local?

A sharp-eyed reader named Pete S. sent me a picture off an Al Jazeera blog on Libya with what Pete thinks might be an SAS operator taking in the parade. This is the guy on the right in this photo, the one holding the rifle with the scope. The one with the badass fingerless leather gloves.

He does look a little pale for a Libyan, but then a whole lot of people have wandered along the North African coast at one time or another and passed some time with the local ladies, so I’d imagine there’s quite a lively gene pool in those parts.

But this guy does look better equipped, older and more professional than most of the insurgents. And he’s holding that scoped rifle in proper rest position, like he’s been trained. Of course he could just be ex-Libyan army. What really makes me think he’s a European is that turban. Something about these Euros, once they hit the desert they just can’t wait to get into local costume.

So maybe Pete’s right, and we’ve got live pix of Lawrence of Libya. Although if he is a foreign ringer, his name’s more likely to be Pierre of Libya, because it’s the French who are really taking the lead in this one.

So what do Libyan readers make of this shot?

Is this guy a fellow Libyan, entitled to wear an “I Survived Big Q” t-shirt? Or is he what us Americans like to call an “advisor,” as in advising people to lie down and die when he puts one in their heads with that fancy gun of his?

You tell me.

UPDATE: Pete just informed me that the picture has been taken down from Al Jazeera’s blog.



