General Abdul Fatah Younis, Libya's minister of interior and Qaddafi's No. 2, resigned today and gave a fascinating interview to Al Arabiya. Sultan Al Qassemi translates via Twitter (tweets are strung together):
I am not a two-faced man. I worked with Gaddafi for 42 years, I was shocked at his speech today. I wish Gaddafi had instead said a prayer for the fallen youth in his last days in office. Our plan now it to support the youth in Tripoli so that it is liberated like Benghazi was. I offer my condolences to the fallen martyrs (reads a statement of support for the youth revolution). I begged Gaddafi not to send planes, I called him. Now of course we don't speak, I have joined the revolution.
More insight into Younis' defection:
There was a crowd of people outside my office, I was with my cousin. A bullet then went next to my right cheek, it hit my cousin who is in a very bad case now. Gaddafi, that dirty man, wanted to say that I was killed by protesters so that my tribe, the Obeidat, will stand by him.
Al Jazeera asks in regards to the interview excerpt below, "Is Younis positioning himself to take over?"
From my knowledge of Gaddafi, he won't leave, he will stay to the end, but he will stay alone. Who will aid him? Everyone has abandoned him. The Eastern & Central Provinces have abandoned him. To Gaddafi I tell him: Please end your life by praying for the martyrs, ask for God's forgiveness and the people's. To Libyan people, you are a brave people, stand courageously, Libya will become a strong country. What I know is that the Free Officers of Libya have stopped their support of Gaddafi, his Security Battalion remain. Stand courageously, people of Libya, and those in Tripoli and Zawya and all over the country.
(Photo: A picture of a screen taken from the television on February 22, 2011 shows the Libyan leader gesturing while delivering a nationwide address in Tripoli. Qaddafi says he will stay in Libya as world powers mobilised to try to halt the bloody showdown between protesters and his security forces suspected of 'crimes against humanity'. By Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)