Armed 'Western Troops' Filmed in Libya as Generals Defect
[There was a video here]
Six armed Western men, possibly British special forces, were caught on tape by Al Jazeera, seemingly corroborating rumors that SAS soldiers are on the ground in Libya acting as spotters for NATO air strikes. The presence of Western troops is... well, the Guardian calls it a "sensitive" subject, because the UN resolution authorizing air strikes explicitly forbids a "foreign occupation force of any form." As far as the British government is concerned, they don't exist: "We don't have any forces out there," the Ministry of Defense says.
Meanwhile, eight Libyan army officers — including five generals — defected to Italy on Monday, appearing at a news conference where they claimed to be members of a group of recently-defected 120 military officials and soldiers. The defections seem to have been prompted by "tensions" in Qaddafi's military.
