McCain Raises Specter of Libyan Stalemate

From: www.nytimes.com

By DAN BILEFSKY
Published: April 24, 2011

Senator John McCain warned on Sunday that he feared the conflict in Libya was heading toward a “stalemate” and threatened to create a vacuum that could result in Al Qaeda gaining control of the North African country.

Speaking from Cairo, Mr. McCain, a strong advocate of intervention in Libya, also said that Al Qaeda could take advantage of an encroaching stalemate as a tenacious Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi continued to cling to power.
"I really fear a stalemate," said Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, speaking on CNN television’s “State of the Union” program after visiting the rebel strongholds in Libya. He said the rebel fighters were “badly outgunned in armor, in equipment, in training” against forces loyal to Col. Qaddafi.
Mr. Qaddafi’s forces bombarded Misurata on Sunday, a day after rebels celebrated a retreat of government forces from the western Libyan city, Reuters reported, citing a telephone interview with the rebel spokesman Abdelsalam from Misurata. “Qaddafi’s brigades started random bombardment in the early hours of this morning. The bombardment is still going on,” he said.
Mr. McCain said he feared it was “very possible” that Al Qaeda could come in and take advantage a potential stalemate, but he insisted he did not agree with calls for the United States to bomb Tripoli or put troops on the ground. “We have tried those things in the past with other dictators, and it’s a little harder than you think it is,” he said.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, also called for robust air support for the rebels and told CNN that NATO forces should bomb Col. Qaddafi’s inner circle. “I think the focus should now be to cut the head of the snake off,” he said.
Mr. McCain told CNN that he supported the first missile attack from a drone aircraft in Libya as fighting in the rebel-held city of Misurata became increasingly bloody. “I’m glad the Predator is now in the fight,” McCain said. “We need the American air assets back in a heavier way.”
The unmanned plane was used for the first time in the conflict in Libya on Saturday to attack a site near Misurata. But the Obama administration is deeply resistant to expanding American military involvement. The administration last week authorized the use of armed drones in Libya and a $25 million contribution of nonlethal military surplus for the rebel forces.
Mr. McCain’s warning of a stalemate in Libya echoed comments on Friday by the top American military officer. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that a month of airstrikes had destroyed 30 percent to 40 percent of the capabilities of the military forces loyal to Col. Qaddafi, but had not yet drastically tilted the conflict with opposition militias one way or another. He cited shifts in tactics by Libyan forces that made it difficult for NATO warplanes to distinguish them from the rebel fighters and civilians.
Britain and France have been leading air strikes against Col. Qaddafi’s forces in a NATO-supported operation mandated by the United Nations Security Council in the name of protecting civilians from atrocities.
Mr. McCain said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that the United States should increase its role in North Atlantic Treaty Organization air attacks against Libya, saying that only six NATO nations were engaged in the conflict. He also reiterated his call for the United States to recognize the rebels’ governing council as the country’s legitimate government, as France, Italy and Qatar have done. He has previously called for the United States to provide the rebels with money and arms on a scale similar to what the United States did in support of those who fought the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
He also insisted that destroying Col. Qaddafi’s television broadcast capabilities could prove instrumental in depriving him of the propaganda machine he was using to try and frighten the Libyan people in submission.