It is now a matter of common knowledge that the Gadhafi regime has lost control of virtually the entire military of Libya (as well as virtually the entire territory of Libya), but when troops first started defying orders to turn their guns on protesters, the reactions were quite shocking.
According to some new reports coming out of the now Free City of Benghazi, military commanders executed some 150 members of the army in their city alone to punish them for defying orders to attack the protesters.
Of course since then, much of the military has defected to the side of the protesters, and Libyan pilots ordered to bomb the protesters have either flown their planes out of the country or, in the case of one of them, ejected and let the plane crash into the countryside.
The executions reveal the regime’s first reaction to the defiance of the rank and file soldiers, but clearly, as the violence picked up speed much of the military’s leadership got the same idea and ditched the regime in favor of the protesters, which have clearly been the winning side.
it would appear that some circles have a vested interest in representing the situation in the gravest possible terms (see Balkans), it therefore would seem essential to verify the veracity of such a horrendous charge, and "according to some reports" sounds suspicious, undoubtedly one could find sources claiming that 1500 have been executed.
how does a relatively small army execute 150 soldiers at just one location in such a short time? Would it not require at least ten times that number of soldiers to manage the executions, and would there not be at least another 150 who refuse to participate in executions of fellow soldiers? An attack by the army on a group refusing orders leading to such a large number of deaths, might be believable but actual executions would seem to present considerable administrative problems.