people now mouthing off against Qaddafi in Tripoli itself

A sign that the end is near if people feel able to speak like this inside the capital:

“One person waiting for gas volunteered that he blamed Colonel Qaddafi’s rule for the shortages. ‘Please, I want to say something to the world,’ another man said in a store nearby, pointing to a group of six men. ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, we all don’t like Colonel Qaddafi. We like Libyan freedom.'”