http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html

Gaddafi's Fleeing Mercenaries Describe the Collapse of the Regime
By Jovo Martinovic / Montenegro Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011


Right from the start Mario, an ethnic Croatian artillery specialist
from Bosnia, suspected it was a lost cause.

"My men were mainly from the south [of Libya] and Chad, and there were
a few others from countries south of Libya," said Mario, who spoke on
condition that his last name not be published. A veteran of the wars
of the former Yugoslavia, he had been hired by the Gaddafi regime to
help it fight the rebels and, later, NATO. "Discipline was bad and
they were too stupid to learn anything. But things were okay until the
air strikes commenced. The other side was equally bad, if not worse.
Gaddafi would have smashed the rebels had the West not intervened."
(See pictures of the lengthy battle for Libya.)

By early July, Mario said, more than 30% of the men under his command
had deserted or defected to the rebel side. NATO missiles scored
several direct hits on his forces, causing "significant casualties."
At this point in the war, he said, "military hardware stopped having
the role it had had to that point. We had to use camouflage and avoid
open spaces."

Away from the front, in the heart of the regime, mistrust and excess
further undermined Gaddafi's hold on power, Mario said. "Life in
[Gaddafi's] compound and shelters was so surreal, with partying,
women, alcohol and drugs," said Mario, 41. "One of the relatives of
Gaddafi took me to one of his villas where they offered me anything I
wanted. I heard stories about people being shot for fun and forced to
play Russian roulette while spectators were making bets, like in the
movies."

Tension between two of Gaddafi's sons contributed to the sense that
Gaddafi's cause was doomed. "I noticed profound rivalry between
Gaddafi's sons," Mario said, speaking en route from the southern city
of Sabha to the Libyan border with Niger. "Once, there was almost an
armed clash between Mohammed's and Saif's men. I saw one group
interrogating the other at gunpoint and then more of the other group
arrived fully armed and it was a stand-off for several minutes, with
both sides cursing each other." (See portraits of refugees fleeing
Libya.)

Mario respected and liked Gaddafi's most prominent son, Saif, who in
2009 threw himself a lavish 37th birthday party on the coast of the
former Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, one of Europe's newest glamour
spots for the super rich. The ties between the Gaddafi family and the
former Yugoslavia stretch back to the days of Josep Broz Tito,
Yugoslavia's storied communist leader, who was a friend and ally of
Gaddafi. Mario said that Gaddafi had hired several former Yugoslav
fighters, most of them Serbs, to help him in his fight against NATO
and the rebels. One by one, Mario said, these foreign advisors and
commanders left Tripoli. Some senior Libyans joined them.

"I noticed that many Libyans pretended loyalty just out of fear and
were just seeking a way to turn against [Gaddafi], Mario said. "Many
officers admitted to me they stood no chance against NATO and one of
them told me he was in touch with the people in Benghazi." Benghazi is
the rebel stronghold in the east of the country.

Mario left Tripoli 12 days ago after receiving a warning from a
comrade. "Two weeks ago a friend who brought me here told me I should
leave Tripoli as things were going to rapidly change and that deals
have been made," he said. He noticed Gaddafi's South African
mercenaries beginning to leave. Mario decided with a fellow mercenary
to flee Tripoli. "I tried to get hold of Saif before that but he was
beyond reach," he said. "Later he called my companion to ask if we
needed something and to say that they would win back all of Libya."
(See a brief history of Muammar Gaddafi's 40-year rule.)

Another former Yugoslav soldier, a retired general in the old Yugoslav
army and a longtime military advisor to Gaddafi, cut things tighter,
leaving Tripoli on August 21. The man, who spoke on condition that his
name not be published, spoke to TIME as he travelled through Libya
toward Tunisia. "Back there is chaos," he said, referring to Tripoli,
which was then being overrun by the rebel forces. "The whole system
has collapsed. I knew it was coming. I haven't spoken to [Gaddafi] in
four weeks. He wouldn't listen."

Like Mario, the former general had sensed that the regime would soon
fall. "Everything seemed normal until recently but we could feel the
deal breaking behind the stage," he said. The former general, who had
lived in Tripoli and ran a business there for many years, described
Gaddafi as a "fool" and compared him to Slobodan Milosevic, the
Serbian leader who took on NATO during the 1999 war in Kosovo and
ultimately died in a prison cell at the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. "You can't fight NATO
and play a stubborn lunatic like that guy," the former general said.

--
-Laye
==============================
"With fair speech thou might have thy will,
With it thou might thy self spoil."
--The R.M

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