tonight on "nightline," cut-rate luxury. palm tree vacations, ridiculous shoes. too rich for your blood? maybe not. we go inside the thriving online club where regular folks are snapping up unbelievable deals. of arms and al qaeda. is america aiding islamic militants in libya? terry moran your knees behind rebel lines and finds a jihadi stronghold on a day where america is asking, should we really be aligning ourselves with these people? and shark men. one of the sea's most feared and mysterious creatures. we go out with the bold researchers who go in for a really close look. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with

cynthia mcfadened and bill weir in new york city and terry moran in libya, this is "nightline," april 7th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. they are known as flash sales. online bargains that disappear after only a day or two. they're good for sellers because they create a lot of hype and good for buyers because wassenly that designer suit or pair of coveted heels can go from unaffordable to merely pricey. tonight, vicki mabrey behind the scenes at the largest members only online retailer of luxury goods. >> reporter: blame it on the hollywood red carpet. the stars always look so luxe. and "sex and the city." who can really afford a lavish trip like this? >> oh, toto. i don't think we're in kansas anymore. >> reporter: $4,000 outfits,

$1,000 for a pair of shoes? well, almost nobody could, of course, until there was gilt groupe. it's an online club, sort of gro groupom meets your designer outlet mall. where just plain folks can shop for deems on a few guilty pleasures, right alongside rich fashionistas. it's the ultimate in cut-rate luxury. and joining is free. and once inside, the lifestyle of the rich and famous, not just clothes, but guilt-free escapes to the caribbean, dishes, linens and furniture for the home. just a click away. check out these photos from a trip to costa rica. marked down from $600 a night to $150, bought on gilt. just days after these photo shoots, no lag time while pictures are printed in

magazines. it's straight to the internet with nearly every piece snapped up within hours. all this stuff will be in the close sets of people like megan o'brien. >> my sheets, my pillow cases. >> reporter: look around mega's tiny new york apartment. >> most of the books on that shelf and down there. my throw pillows. jewelry behind there. >> reporter: her gilt obsession is evident. >> cashmere wrap from $350 to $149. that's not bad. >> reporter: at age 26, single and fashion conscious, she's got a serious gilt groupe addiction. >> my favorite is when they give you the price that it was and they slash and give you the price that sell it for. that's what gets you every time. >> reporter: insiders know new offers are on at noon. >> we call them the shopping athletes. they are stretching their fingers, warming up their mouse and they are rushing in through the virtual doors right at noon.

>> reporter: four years ago, entrepreneurs and glamour girls figured out how to take the new york designer sale global. bankrolled by a sigh leapt partner, they set out to democratratize luxury. so in the old days, you would have opened the doors to the warehouse and women would have come storming through here throwing -- >> that's exactly right, yes. they would have been pulling things off of racks. we make ate lot more rationalby doing it online. >> reporter: susan lyne, who, in full disclosure, ran the abc network, gave us a tour of the warehouse. 200 square feet of clothes, jewelry and shoes all waiting their turn. things will be out of here by when? >> probably within two weeks. >> reporter: gone? >> gone. >> reporter: that's the end of that run. >> that's the end of that run.

>> reporter: and while many other retailers business has been stagnant, gilt is golden. sales grew from $25 million in 2007 to $450 million in 12010. >> half of our membership is between 20 and 30 and they are in their first or second professional jobs, so, they spend on their rent and they spend on themselves. >> reporter: each sale features just a few of the designer's pieces. the ones gitl's executives will appeal most to their young clientele. gilt is the largest of these member-only luxury sites with 3.5 million members. but there's competition. rue lala just reached 3.2 million. >> any time a good business model emerges you're going to have competitors. that's a sign that something's working. we keep an eye on them. but mostly we stay focused on making sure the experience we're

creating for our members is the best. >> reporter: the criticism of gilt is that what's offered on the site isn't necessarily the designer's top shelf merchandise. do they know that some of the tells are produced just for gilt? >> we make it clear that most of what they produce is exactly the same goods they are doing for the department stores. >> many is my favorite dress from them. >> reporter: members like megan o'brien don't care. >> don't usually have sales at the store. when i saw them on gilt on sale, i couldn't. >> reporter: they must love you. >> they do. i love them. it's just easy. it's great. >> reporter: a way to look rich at half the price. this is vicki mabrey for "nightline" in new york. >> i couldn't not is the biggest endorsement they could get. our thanks to vicki mabrey. and up next, are militants who fought with osama bin laden now fighting on the side of the united states?

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> general carter ham, the leader of the campaign in libya, told congress that before america moves to arm rebels there, quote, my recommendation would be that we should know more about who they are. well, tonight, my co-anchor terry moran sets out to fill in some of the blanks. he made his way west across the libyan border and traveled along the med traiterranean coast to rebel stronghold of derna. >> reporter: as always in this

war, confusion reigned today. nato forces allegedly made a mistake, the second in a week, killing at least five and raising more questions about this murky mission. in the dense fog of this war, it's hard to tell friend from foe, as we found out. we set out from cairo at dawn from a city still basking in triumph from the peaceful revolution here and headed for war-torn libya. across the desert landscape, mile after mile after mile, a stop here and there along the roadside for a coffee, and then, the border. the first sign of war, refugees, whole families from other african nations who came to libya to work and are now stranded, living under tarps. so we just crossed the border from egypt into libya now. free libya, is what the rebels call it. they've manned the border,

they've got a customs operation going. and they've raised a flag. it's the old libyan flag, the pre-gadhafi flag. all this, in an effort to say, this is their country now. this part of libya, the east, was the first to rise up and free itself from the teeny of moammar gadhafi to the outside world, he's almost a comic figure, but his savagery and brutality, especially in this region, have been almost unimaginable. and they hate him here. our destination, the city of derna a city of 80,000. just a few weeks ago there was a fierce battle here. but derna has a deeper and, to americans, a more disturbing history. this city is a center of radical islam in libya. more young men from here went to fight and kill americans in iraq than from any other place in the country. but it is also a hot bed of opposition to gadhafi. and when they won their freedom, one of the first things they did was set up a museum, a living

testament to gadhafi's crimes. many people lost loved ones into the dungeons and execution chambers of gadhafi's regime. and in those long years, many young men in this city turned to radical islam. you can't tell by wandering through the markets, but state department cables obtained by wikileaks tale the story. it was well known that a large number of suicide bombers, described as martyrs, and foreign fighters in iraq, hailed from derna, one cable says. they were, in my ways, men like this here. he is a rebel military leader in this area and a jihadist. moammar gadhafi himself has singled him out as the leader of al qaeda forces here. and he's boasted in the past of how he went to afghanistan and met osama bin laden himself. but now, he sings a different tune. did you meet osama bin laden? >> translator: no, no. i didn't.

because osama bin laden was in kandahar and i was in jalalabad. these cities are 30-hour drive apart. if i did, though i didn't, but even if i did, it doesn't mean i'm from al qaeda. >> reporter: he says he was in afghanistan from the mid '90s until 2003, teaching. and that he never went to any al qaeda training camps, though there are reports that place him in a camp. did you ever train in al qaeda camp in afghanistan? >> translator: no, i didn't. afghans know weapons and how to use them before osama bin laden was there. >> reporter: when he left afghanistan in 2003, he was arrested by pakistan, questioned, he says, by american interrogators for two months. and handed over to gadhafi, who threw him in prison. it's a murky story. but his message, and the message of many others who have fought americans in the past, is clear.

>> translator: our opinion about the west and the americans has changed a lot. and the libyan people say, the u.s. is now fighting for people's human rights. >> reporter: but how long will the warm feelings forward america last here? what everyone here really wants from america are weapons. heavy weapons. right now here in derna, all the revolutionaries, the religious and the secular, the young and the old, the professional military men and the amateur patriots who just picked up a gun, they are all united right now in a common purpose. they are brothers in this revolution to overthrow mow more gadhafi. but as this war heads to a stale mate as the fighting gets tougher and then even more so, if they win it, that's when the divisions which have been submerged in this society will surface and men like the one we met, they will make a big difference. >> terry, general hall testim sy

there's no way if they can trust the rubblerebels what is your sf their true motives? >> reporter: well, there's no question that this is a muslim country, some very devout muslims and that, as wikileaks cables and others show, that they did feed a lot of jihadists overseas. but this is a revolution happening here and rev luxs do change people. how much, we don't know. but you get the sense here of patriotic fervor of a coming together of people waking up and saying, you know what, we are libyans, we aren't slaves of moammar gadhafi and that path, there is hope there for real change. >> and are they grateful for america's intervention? do they wish we'd do more? >> reporter: both. they're hugely grateful. it is quite striking to hear somebo somebody, who has been at war in some ways with the united states in the past, sing the praises of

the united states. and there's no question that when american bombs started raining on gadhafi forces, there were cheers throughout this part of libya. now, however, that they're stuck on the battlefield, they want more. they want arms, and as someone said, they want their friends tomahawk and cruise back. >> all right, terry, stay safe over there. especially with news today that more journalists are believed to be in the custody of gadhafi's troops. and we'll be following their blight closely. just ahead, it's as close as you can get to a living great white without actually being eaten. we cast off with a team of gung eaten. we cast off with a team of gung ho shark chasers. you tend tbout it. e, mallory, you were driving a what? honda accord. now you're in a...? ford fusion. my gas mileage is awesome. cuz i'm always in the car and driving everywhere. mallory, mallory... bit of a hugger.

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as much as they haunt our action films, nature channels and nightmares, very little is known about the great white shark, like how, when and where they breed and migrate. but tonight, we meet some men trying to change that, using a pioneering and risky method. they lift the animals from the ocean, take blood and other samples and plant tracking devices in their fins. here's stephanie sy. >> reporter: the great white shark. powerful, fierce and misunderstood. the shark men are trying to unlock its secrets. chris fisher and brent mcbride have the job of catching them. >> right there on the surface. he's right there. >> reporter: it's chris' 126-foot boat, especially equipped to lift the shark out of the water. brent is the captain. >> i don't see blood. i might be able to get it through here. >> reporter: and also the brave soul who ends up with his hand down a great white's throat, trying to wrangle a hook out.

you felt like you kuld do it with the great white? >> it wasn't my first choice. my arms were completely shredded on both hands. i was so concerned for the shark. i saw everything slipping away. it was my worst nightmare. >> on the cross! on the cross! >> okay, he's beached. >> reporter: what is your response to people who say, is it really worth the risk? >> first, i would say, we have to understand the life of the white shark if we don't handle a few of the sharks if we don't know anything about their life, we could accidentally wipe them off the face of the planet. >> reporter: one of the biggest criticisms of this land, tag and release method is the danger. not only to the handlers -- >> whoa. that was super sketchy, almost lost your arm. >> got them all. >> reporter: but to the shark. the team inserpts a water hose to keep it alive. but in this case, they are

forced to release the shark, named junior with the hook still lodged in it. >> i was crushed by the whole scenario. but when i watched the shark swim off i felt that shark was going to survive. >> reporter: the only way to know is, if junior pings a signal back. so, they wait. the shark men have now tagged more than 20 great whites. junior, that shark with the hook stuck in him, did eventually ping in his location. >> he pinged. >> no way. >> reporter: now, he's a piece of the puzzle. this controversial way of studying sharks has led to some groundbreaking research already, allowing scientists to understand where the sharks breed and birth. science that may ultimately lead to their survival. i'm stephanie sy for "nightline" in new york. >> and the new season of "shark men" premieres this sunday, april 10th, on the national g geographic channel. thank you for watching abc news. we do hope you check in on