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McCain lauds anti-Gadhafi force during Libya visit (VIDEO)
MCCAIN MEETING WITH REPORTER TODAY IN BENGHAZI
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press – Fri Apr 22, 7:23 am ET
BENGHAZI, Libya – U.S. Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the American military intervention in Libya, said Friday that Libyan rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi’s troops are his heroes.
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee made the remark after arriving in Benghazi, a city that has been the opposition capital in the rebel-held eastern Libya.
McCain said he was in Benghazi “to get an on the ground assessment of the situation” and planned to meet with the rebel National Transition Council, the de-facto government in the eastern half of the country, and members of the rebel military.
“They are my heroes,” McCain said of the rebels as he walked out of a local hotel in Benghazi. He was traveling in an armored Mercedes jeep and had a security detail. A few Libyans waved American flags as his vehicle drove past.
McCain’s visit is the highest yet by an American official to the rebel-held east and a boost to the anti-Gadhafi forces. Details of the trip were shrouded in secrecy due to heightened security in a country fiercely divided by the two-month-old anti-Gadhafi rebellion.
McCain’s trip comes as Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday that President Barack Obama has authorized armed Predator drones against forces loyal to Gadhafi. It is the first time that drones will be used for airstrikes since the United States turned over control of the operation to NATO on April 4.
The rebels have complained that NATO airstrikes since then have largely been ineffective in stopping Gadhafi forces.
Invoking the humanitarian disasters in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s, McCain pressed for U.S. military intervention in Libya in February, weeks before the U.N. Security Council authorized military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone.
When Obama acted with limited congressional consultation, McCain — who was the 2008 Republican presidential contender running against Obama — defended the president, saying he couldn’t wait for Congress to take even a few days to debate the use of force. If he had, “there would have been nothing left to save in Benghazi,” the rebels’ de-facto capital.
But as the U.S. handed operational control over to NATO — and withdrew U.S. combat aircraft — McCain criticized the administration.
“For the United States to withdraw our unique offensive capabilities at this time would send the wrong signal,” McCain said. He said the U.S. must not fail in Libya and said he spoke as someone experienced in a lost conflict, a reference to his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, where he served as a Navy pilot.
McCain also has pushed for arming the rebels, saying the U.S. and its partners cannot allow Gadhafi to consolidate his hold on one section of the country and create a military deadlock.
___
Donna Cassata in Washington contributed to this report.
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=97860
Posted by Veterans Today on Apr 22 2011, With 0 Reads, Filed under WarZone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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McCain is a NWO Traitor.
And his father Adm McCain helped cover-up the deliberate Israeli attack on our ship in ’67..If McCain spoke glowingly about “motherhood” he would almost have me convinced it must actually be awful…The man doesn’t walk, he oozes..
I bet you this blood thirsty war monger flew into Lybia unanounced and under the cover of darkness to promote his ugly desire for more killings. he has’nt seen a war he did’nt like. maybe in his rotting senile mind he pushes for all these wars to compensate for his failure and loss in Vietnam.
It should be absolutely terrifying to every thinking American that the Republican Party (of which I’ve been a lifelong member but too lazy to de-register), would have nominated this enemy collaborator in Vietnam and evil, freakish little psychopath for President. If he’s supporting the rebels in Libya, I smell gefilte fish. He and Lieberman, in a joint statement on behalf of Tel Aviv, are renewing their attacks on al-Assad of Syria, and as suggested in an article on Zero Hedge, probably because Assad’s fall would pave the way for another Israeli genocidal war against Lebanon and an air attack on Iran.
There are a spate of recent articles “revealing” that the invasion of Iraq was, after all, about nothing but oil, with the unstated conclusion that we shouldn’t go looking to blame Israel and its cohort of agents in the Bush/Obama administrations and Congress. In Merrye Olde England they used to have what were called rotten boroughs, where the burgesses, or representatives in the Commons, were handpicked stooges. We’ve obviously got what amounts to the same thing, where too many electoral districts in America are populated by voters with the intellectual capacity of orangutans, who routinely elect and return agents of a foreign nation to Congress.
Do the lies coming out of Washington and its media outlets get any crazier? The invasion of Iraq had been planned years in advance by PNAC to serve Israel, and the United States of America be damned. During a cabinet meeting following 9/11, Paul O’Neill was shocked at the brazenness of Wolfowitz’s call to use 9/11 as a pretext for invading Iraq. Now they’re moving in on destroying Iran in the way they destroyed Iraq and for equally bogus reasons, which along with our actions in Libya and the rest of the Middle East, should make it crystal clear that McCain, at least, is a traitor willing to destroy his own country to serve Israel. The idea that it’s about oil should be put to rest once and for all, since nearly all our government’s actions in the Middle East are diametrically opposed to our legitimate strategic energy interests.
evidence enough that right is on qadaffi’s side.
In Merrye Olde England
I am a proponent of non violent “Lawful Rebellion” as per the British Constitution, yeah we had one all along. Traitors in Parliament tried to hide and ignore the fact it exists. I believe a records office mysteriously burnt down at one point.
Quite a lot of people have taken another route to assert their rights recently.
180 armoured robocops turned out to evict four squatters in Bristol last week, the people of the area united. Tesco ( Wallmart facscimile ) had recently opened up a store there, throughout Britain this has led to closure of all of the mom & pop local stores leaving only Tesco to clean up. The locals have protested about this and of course have been ignored leading to much suppressed anger.
According to witnesses only the Tesco store. trash cans and the police vehicles were damaged. The MSM reported “petrol bombs” that seems to be untrue.
Tesco will now need a new store and the robocops …….well they lost their riot shields ….. see vids as not seen on Fox BBC CNN etc
Bristol Stokes Croft Riot HD (21/04/11)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkCvka1uwuo&NR=1
Stokes Croft, Bristol Riots: 21st – 22nd April 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LizWf6Gc_s&NR=1
Old men create wars for profit and power,while young men die for no good reason.They know no shame.
I was aware that Obama had sanctioned the use of drones in Libya, but did not realize he meant McCain.
This shit head McCain should have been locked up for TREASON during the Vietnam war. this old bag should never have been a Senator. well most SHIT YOU WILL FIND IN THE NEO-CON NAZI Republican party. the days of republican and democtat party’s are numbered. they have out lived their use. the only thing that is left in Washington D.C. is complete scum. 535 ass-holes have lost all respect. NEXT WAR, HAVE THESE SCUM BAG’S ALL 535 FIGHT THE WAR.
[...] McCain lauds anti-Gadhafi force during Libya visit (VIDEO … [...]
You’re right Vinnie…one of the good aspects of a military coup ( by the right people ) is that we could get some nice payback…Parachuting Bush, McCain and Lieberman into Fallujah ( each having a combat knife, dead chicken and a box of matches ) would be fitting…Having it televised or available on DVD in time for “the holiday season”? Priceless.