Defections, Secret Talks...signify end of Gadhafi reign of terror?

By CNN Wire Staff, April 1, 2011 from CNN website
On Thursday word emerged that Gadhafi's pick for U.N. ambassador had defected to Egypt -- a day after Libya's foreign minister fled to London and told the government there that he had resigned.

Citing unnamed British government sources, the Guardian newspaper reported Friday that a senior adviser to one of Gadhafi's sons was in London for secret talks with British officials. The adviser to Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, Mohammed Ismael, told CNN earlier this week that he would be traveling to London for family reasons. Calls placed to his mobile phone by CNN on Friday were not answered.
AND THIS...
By David D. Kirkpatrick and C.J. Chivers, New York Times, April 1, 2011
TRIPOLI, Libya — A senior aide to one of Col Muammar el-Qaddafi’s sons has held secret talks in London with British authorities, a friend of the aide said on Friday, adding to the confusion and anxiety swirling around the Tripoli regime after the defection of a high-ranking minister and the departure of another senior figure to Cairo.
Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Saif al-Islam, one of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons, traveled to London for talks with British officials in recent days, the friend said, speaking in return for anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
The nature and timing of the contact was not clear, but the friend said Mr. Ismail had planned to return to Tripoli after his discussions. Word of the apparent overture coincided with a welter of rumor that more officials planned to defect. A Foreign Office spokesman, who spoke in return for anonymity under departmental procedures, said: “We are not going to provide a running commentary on our contact with Libyan officials.”
This story is moving so quickly that it is very difficult to predict outcomes, timings, or even decisions by other outside players. There are rumours that the U.S. is considering providing arms, weapons and more military leadership, including command and control resources to the rebels...but that decision is still in the "rumour" stage.
Everyone can only hope that the loss of life and number of injuries to rebels is kept to a minimum, if not zero, in the wake of whatever decisions are required to remove the Libyan dictator.