26/03/2011 10:14
William Gortney: Gaddafi recruits and arms 'volunteers'
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is arming volunteers as he battles an opposition uprising, the Pentagon says.
'We've received reports today that he has taken to arming what he calls volunteers to fight the opposition,' Vice Admiral William Gortney said on Friday, BBC reports.
'I'm not sure... if they are truly volunteers or not and I don't know how many of these recruits he's going to get, but I find it interesting that he may now feel it necessary to seek civilian reinforcements.'
The official said Gaddafi 'has virtually no air defense left to him and a diminishing ability to command and sustain his forces on the ground' following seven days of coalition air raids.