For the next 7 minutes, video images of Ralph Lauren clad models strutted along the balconies, a giant green beltwrapped itself around the building and polo horses galloped across the facade.
He laid her on the stretcher, straightened and covered her body, caught the fall of her hair, wrapped it like a belt around his fist, and then tucked the bundle beneath her neck.
With both Mr. Gadhafi and the Soviet Union off the stage, Chad's army has been wrapped up in the instability that at present troubles the belt of desert countries across the top of Africa.