The administration of US President Barack Obama has come under mounting pressure to arm rebels facing an emboldened and regrouping military, amid charges Washington missed recent chances to oust Libya’s strongman.
Obama has insisted that all options, including military action, remain on the table with respect to Libya, where Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces have unleashed deadly air strikes on rebels and civilians in efforts to crush an uprising in which thousands are feared dead.
However, with the administration cautioning that a decision on a no-fly zone was still far off, US lawmakers and former officials appear to coalesce around the likelihood that supplying weapons to the outgunned rebels was a way forward.
“I assume that a lot of weapons are going to find their way there [to rebels in Libya] from one means or another over the course of the next weeks,” US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the UN, also said it was time to “covertly arm the rebels” and enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
Stephen Hadley, national security adviser to former US president George W. Bush said Washington should look at the potential for funneling arms to Qaddafi’s opponents.
“Obviously, if there is a way to get weapons into the hands of the rebels, if we can get anti-aircraft systems so that they can enforce a no-fly zone over their own territory, that would be helpful,” Hadley told CNN.
Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan declined to confirm any potential plans to send weapons to opposition forces, simply telling reporters that “all options are being considered.”
Kerry said a no-fly zone should be set up in conjunction with allies, but warned that direct military action would be “trickier.”
“The last thing we want to think about is any kind of military intervention and I don’t consider the fly zone stepping over that line,” Kerry said.
“We don’t want troops on the ground. They don’t want troops on the ground,” he said.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has warned that imposing a no-fly zone begins with direct military action, as it would require bombing raids to eradicate Libya’s air defenses, thus potentially dragging the US into a third major war front after Iraq and Afghanistan.
There were other ways of displaying US might to Tripoli, including the use of military transport planes to fly Egyptian refugees out of Tunisia and the recent arrival in the Mediterranean of two US warships with marines on board.
“We have made the presence of American military felt for that purpose,” Kerry said.
A former Tripoli regime member complained that Washington has missed a key opportunity to end Qaddafi’s four-decade grip on power.
“We asked for help when he was on the ropes,” said Libyan former minister of immigration Ali Errishi, who resigned shortly after the uprising began almost three weeks ago, along with several key Qaddafi loyalists and military figures. “They were dragging their feet, I don’t know why.”
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