Reply #3: Those are all good questions. There was a lot we did not know

[sabrina 1]

about this situation in the beginning. It is not the same situation as Ebypt and Tunisia.

This 'top general' eg, Abdul Fatah Younis who is 'demanding' more NATO airstrikes was a top military guy in Qaddafi's forces until just recently. I have read that some of the rebels have said he should not be leading this revolution, he 'should have been arrested'.

And yes, we thought a majority of the people, as in Egypt and Tunisia were supportive of the uprising, but more and more it seems that may not be the case at all.

Good quesion about why it's so few people being sent out every day risking their lives, many have died already, when there may never have been a chance of them winning.

I'm getting the feeling that was orchestrated back in the Fall by people outside of the country, maybe backed by France to some extent and while some of the rebels are sincere, I've had the feeling for a while they are just being used.

Here's some info on what the rebels think of the 'top general' who seems to have taken over:

On the Ground in Libya

At the 7th of April Army base here, a major rebel army headquarters, Ibrahim, 57, says any appearance of organization is illusory. He said he's too embarrassed to invite reporters inside because, he said, he doesn't want the world to see "all the rubbish we have."

A tank leaving the base isn't on its way to war, he said, but to pull a civilian car from a ravine. A rusted tank returning will be pillaged for parts.

"All the tanks here are for show only. We don't have ammunition. We don't have weapons. We don't have anything," he said, the exasperation evidence in his voice.

He openly distrusts the man who had, until Thursday, been charged with running the rebel army, Abdel Fatah Younes, Gadhafi's former interior minister, who defected last month. Until then, he'd spent nearly five decades at Gadhafi's side, including playing a key role in the 1969 revolution against King Idris, which brought the then 27-year-old Gadhafi to power.

Ibrahim said the rebels should have prosecuted Younes for his crimes during the regime, not chosen him as their leader. He's not the only person Ibrahim doesn't trust.

According to this and other articles I've read, no one trusts anyone anymore and many have gone home now worried only about guarding their homes. And now they are afraid that there will be even more divisions and distrust after this is over. Iow, they may have been better off before.

Poor people, for a long time now I have been worried about who was really behind all this. As for Younes, hard to know what he is doing there. He certainly hasn't helped them.

Very sad, it could all end up with NATO deciding to agree to Saif taking over from his father because there is no one else to stabalize the country and if the regime falls completely, there could be an all out civil war.

"The continuous unrest that is happening in Benghazi has never happened before. We are not used to it. I am afraid people will lose hope living under that pressure and turn on another," Ojadee said. "We need a leader."

Someone seems to have misled these people. I heard one rebel on Democracy Now last week saying he doesn't trust these military guys at all, and that they have been infiltrated. He was coming back from the front and said they were sent to fight and told they had enough arms when in fact they were completely vulnerable and ended up running for their lives.

I'm beginning to wonder if all these military defectors are not devectors at all.