McCain calls for stronger NATO campaign

Apr 22, 2011, 17:25 GMT

US Senator John McCain (L) looks during a press conference in Benghazi, eastern Libya, 22 April 2011. According to media sources, US Senator John McCain arrived in the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi, after the US Defense Department began deploying Predator drones in Libya to step up attacks on leader Muammar Gaddafi\'s forces. McCain will be meeting with members of the Interim Transitional National Council (ITNC), set up in Benghazi to give a political face to the rebels. EPA/VASSIL DONEV

Cairo/Benghazi - The international community should provide 'every apparent means of assistance, minus ground troops,' in overthrowing Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, US Senator John McCain said during a visit to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Friday.

McCain, the most senior US official yet to travel to Benghazi to meet with the rebels' Interim Transitional National Council (ITNC), said he was concerned about the lack of progress in the rebels' 'struggle for liberation'.

A stalemate, he said, could 'open the door to radical Islamic fundamentalism because of frustrations.'

He said he would like to see the ITNC recognised as the sole governing body in Libya by every country in the world, and called for regime assets that have been frozen to be released to the rebel council.

Although he opposed 'boots on the ground,' he called for increased battlefield intelligence, training and weapons.

Also, 'the NATO campaign needs to be stepped up and they need more precision strike assets.'

Dismissing the possibility of a political resolution to the conflict, he said 'the only acceptable political situation would involve Gaddafi being with his friend Hugo Chavez in the International Criminal Court or with Hitler and Stalin.'

After a tour of Benghazi, he said the city was 'a powerful and hopeful example of what free Libya could be. Without international intervention, history would have remembered Benghazi in the same breath as (the former Yugoslavian city of) Srebrenica.'

McCain's visit followed reports that US forces had began deploying Predator drones to step up attacks on Gaddafi's forces.

Rebel fighters and supporters of the opposition council welcomed the development.

'We need something to change,' Ahmed Fathi, a rebel fighter from Benghazi, told the German Press Agency dpa. 'The new frontline is Misurata and we badly need help there,' he said.

Residents of the besieged city of Misurata have been appealing for stronger intervention by NATO and Western forces.

Misurata, a key city seen as a gateway to Tripoli, has been under attack for around two months, with rebels saying at least 1,000 have been killed there. Opposition fighters are clinging to key parts of the city despite the presence of pro-Gaddafi snipers.

'The snipers are on top of the tallest building in the city,' Fathi said. 'International intervention would help.'

Food, electricity, and medicine were in short supply, and activists said Gaddafi's forces had even blocked the city's sewer system.

On Thursday rebels said they had taken control of the al-Wazin border post in Tunisia, the gateway to the Libyan desert town of Nalut, opening up a new route into Libya which may allow humanitarian aid to get in and displaced people to get out.

Although the development was met with joy in Benghazi, rebels there said they have still not been able to fully secure the eastern cities of Ajdabiya or Brega.

Several western countries have said they will give more support to the rebels, including France and Britain, who said they would send a small group of military experts to assist and advise Libyan rebels.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was reported to be planning a visit to Benghazi in the coming weeks.

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