In a move that appears aimed at harming the morale of the rebel forces, Libyan state TV today announced that the Gadhafi regime is offering full amnesty to all defectors who return to his side.
The statement insisted that the “deceived soldiers” would have to return “showing regret and hand over his weapon” for the amnesty. Large numbers of soldiers from eastern Libya defected when the regime cracked down on protesters.
Bolstered by the defectors, the rebels quickly took much of the nation, but a counter-offensive by the regime has reversed much of their gains. The two sides are still fighting over the town of Abdabiyah, the last major town in the east before the capital city of the rebel forces, Benghazi.
At present it is unclear how much of Libya’s army actually defected, but virtually the entire military leadership of the rebel faction is made up of such defectors, bolstered mostly by inexperienced fighters who were part of the protest movement.
There is only one reason for Gadhafi to offer amnesty now, he is using up all of his mercenary resources. The rebels will grow stronger, whilst Gadhafi mercenary forces are being depleted and that does not even take into account attempting to hold any additional regions they capture.
Of course no one would be foolish enough to believe they will not be executed once they surrender.
Naw, not really. Our good friend Israel is feeding him the mercs and the weapons. He ain't running out.
Yeah, he's been talking to his pal Fidel again. Back in 1959, Fidel offered "amnesty" to all of personnel in Batista's military. He waited until he had rounded them all off, marched them to the nearest wall and gave them the firing squad treatment. Qaddafi is going to do exactly the same thing.
but doesn't Qaddafi hate Israel? Didn't he allow PLO fighters and any others to train in the Libyan desert for attacks on Isreal?
Guess that was a long time ago. Maybe its just his "official" position, but behind the scenes?