Muammar Gaddafi uttered some disturbing words to a crowd of supporters in Tripoli on Friday.

He warned that his Libyan supporters could take this battle to Europe, to target your homes, offices, families, which would become legitimate military targets, like you have targeted our homes. He said Libyans can move to Europe like locusts, like bees.

He warned Europe to retreat before you face a catastrophe.

Gaddafi is trying to bluff the Europeans out of participating in the NATO airstrikes against his forces.

He didn't specifically use the term terrorist attacks in his speech. However, if he were serious about carrying out any attacks at all, he surely isn't talking about an amphibious D-Day-like military invasion of Europe.

Currently, Gaddafi doesn't have ties to Islamic terrorist groups. In fact, he cracked down on them in the late 1990s and part of the Libyan rebel movement is Islamic Jihad against him.

However, Gaddafi won't hesitate to resort to terrorist tactics or covert operations apart from Islam.

In fact, his agents are believed to have been responsible for the 1986 disco bombing in Berlin and the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Scotland. Even before his rant on Friday, the European and US intelligence officials were already worried about a pro-Gaddafi terrorist attack.

The terrorist attacks would likely come from either sleeper agents or pro-Gaddafi expats living in the West. In light of this threat, Europe will likely be vigilant over the kind of Libyan asylum seeker they receive.

An unintended consequence of Gaddafi's threats, therefore, is that Libyans looking to escape abroad from his brutal regime will likely face more scrutiny.

The West, however, should be thankful of one thing.

They're fortunate that Gaddafi has no credibility in the broader Islamic world. Any terrorist attack, therefore, will only be carried out by Libyans or paid agents.

In 2010, Gaddafi called a Jihad against Switzerland likely because the country had once arrested one of his sons for beating servants. No one in the Islamic world answered his call.

In 2011, the West bombed Libya and no one in the Muslim world supported him. In fact, Gaddafi has resorted to paying for the services of African mercenaries.

Gaddafi is extremely isolated in the world right now; he's one of the few figures that hold the distinction of being hated by both Western officials and Islamic extremists.

Libya