WASHINGTON (AP) - Senator John McCain, among the strongest supporters in the military intervention in Libya U.S. Congress, moves towards the stronghold of rebels in Benghazi for a meeting with combat forces to overthrow Muammar Gaddafian aide told Associated Press.
McCain was to reach Benghazi Friday, said Brooke Buchanan, a spokesman for the Senator.
McCain visit was shrouded in secrecy because of enhanced security for the top Republican on the Senate armed forces Committee in a country fiercely divided by the rebellion of 2-month anti-Gaddafi.
McCain trip comes as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced Thursday that President Barack Obama authorized drones Predator armed against forces loyal to Qadhafi. This is the first time that UAVs will be used for the air since strikes the United States handed over control of the NATO operation, April 4.
Rebels have complained that since NATO air strikes have been largely ineffective to stop the Gaddafi forces.
Citing humanitarian disasters in Rwanda and in Bosnia in the 1990s, McCain insisted military intervention U.S. in Libya, in February, weeks before the United Nations Security Council authorized military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone.
When Obama acted with limited consultation with Congress, McCain defended the President, by saying: he could not wait for Congress to take a few days to discuss the use of force. If it was, "there would be nothing to save Benghazi," de facto rebel capital.
But as the United States handed over operational control of NATO - and withdrew us combat aircraft - McCain has criticized the administration.
"For the United States to withdraw our offensive capabilities unique to this time send the wrong signal,"McCain said." He said that the United States must not fail in Libya and said that he was speaking as someone experienced in a lost conflict, a reference to his time as a prisoner of war in the Viet Nam.
McCain also insisted on arming the rebels, saying that the United States and its partners cannot allow Gaddafi consolidate its grip on a section of the country and create a military stalemate.
Copyright ? 2011 the Associated Press. All rights reserved.
没有评论:
发表评论