Al Jazeera
McCain lauds rebels in Libya visit
Top US senator's trip comes as President Obama authorises the use of armed drones against forces loyal to Gaddafi.
Senator John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in the US Congress of American military intervention in Libya, has arrived in Benghazi for talks with pro-democracy forces fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.
McCain's arrival on Friday came close on the heels of the US president approving the use of armed drones in Libya against ground forces for the first time since America handed over the military operation to NATO.
Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from the eastern city of Benghazi, said McCain told reporters he was there to meet the opposition Transitional National Council and members of the military to assess the situation on the ground.
He also denied concerns about the possibility of extremist or al-Qaeda elements fighting alongside the pro-democracy forces, saying "they [opposition fighters] are my heroes".
The top US military officer offered a similar assessment.
"We're watchful of it, mindful of it and I just haven't seen much of it at all. In fact, I've seen no al-Qaeda representation there at all," said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US military's joint chiefs of staff, during a visit to Baghdad.
Mullen acknowledged that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which waged a failed armed insurgency against Gaddafi's rule in the 1990s, had "stirred a little bit".
He said air strikes had hobbled Libyan forces, but admitted the conflict was moving into "stalemate" as Gaddafi's troops pressed on with their punishing siege of Misurata.
The trip to Benghazi by McCain, the top Republican on the US senate's Armed Services Committee, is the highest yet by an American official to the opposition-held east.
The first armed drone mission since US president Barack Obama's go-ahead was flown on Thursday, but the aircraft, armed with Hellfire missiles, turned back due to poor weather conditions without firing any of its munitions.
Click on image for comprehensive coverage on Libya
Marine General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the drones can help counteract the pro-Gaddafi forces' tactic of travelling in civilian vehicles that make it difficult to distinguish them from rebel forces.
"What they will bring that is unique to the conflict is their ability to get down lower, therefore to be able to get better visibility on targets that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions," Cartwright said.
'No mission creep'
Pradator drones have routinely been flying surveillance missions in Libya, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday.
He said the US will provide up to two 24-hour combat air patrols each day by the unmanned Predators.
Gates rejected the notion that the approval of drone strikes means that the US will get pulled slowly back into a more active combat role, despite Obama's vow merely to provide support for NATO.
US forces played a lead role in the early days of the conflict, launching an onslaught of cruise missiles and bombs against Gaddafi's surface-to-air missile sites and advancing government troops.
With American forces stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the humanitarian operations in Japan, the Pentagon turned the mission over to NATO, saying it would do only limited airstrikes to take out air defences.
The US, said Obama, no longer would do airstrikes to protect the civilian population.
Gates said that bringing in the Predators will give NATO a critical capability that the US uniquely can contribute.
"I think this is a very limited additional role on our part, but it does provide some additional capabilities to NATO," said Gates.
"And if we can make a modest contribution with these armed Predators, we'll do it. ... I don't think any of us see that as mission creep."
He said Obama has been clear that there will be no US boots on the ground, and the main strike role would belong to the allies.
Gates, who publicly expressed scepticism about getting involved militarily in Libya before Obama endorsed the limited intervention, said "the real work" of overthrowing Gaddafi will have to be done by the Libyans themselves.
Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports on the heavy street fighting in the eastern city of Misurata
While he acknowledged the conflict "is likely to take a while," Gates also said the continuing sanctions, arms embargo and NATO-led offensive have weakened Gaddafi's military and eaten away at his supplies and cash.
Over the long term, Gates said, that will hurt Gaddafi's ability to strike back at opposition forces, if they should rise up again in other cities.
At the same time, however, Gates said the administration's decision to provide $25m in nonlethal military assistance to the rebels did not signal a deeper US commitment to anti-Gaddafi forces whose makeup, objectives and motives still are not fully understood in Washington.
The aid, he said, is not high-end military equipment but rather a hodge-podge of things like uniforms and canteens.
Asked how long he believes it will take the NATO-led air campaign to succeed, Gates replied, "The honest answer to that is, nobody knows."
Deaths in NATO attacks
Meanwhile, Libyan state television said on Friday that nine people were killed overnight in a NATO bombardment of Sirte, Gaddafi's home town.
The news bulletin of al-Jamahiriya said some of those killed were employees of the state water utility who were working during the attack.
Earlier, state television said NATO forces struck the Khallat al-Farjan area of the capital Tripoli, killing seven people and wounding 18 others.
But NATO denied that the raid had killed civilians, saying the target was a command and control bunker in a military compound.
Casualties are on the rise as Gaddafi and rebel forces battle it out on the streets of the besieged western city of Misurata, amid calls by the UN chief to "stop fighting".
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, urged Libyan authorities on Thursday to "stop fighting and stop killing people" and said the world body's priority was to secure a ceasefire.
"At this time our priority is to bring about a verifiable and effective ceasefire, and then we can expand our humanitarian assistance, and we are going to engage in political dialogue," he said during an official visit to Moscow.
The Libyan pro-democracy forces have been trying since mid-February to end Gaddafi's 41-year-old rule but have struggled against his more experienced and better equipped forces.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/20114227457163162.html
No comments:
Post a Comment