Monthly Archives: April 2011

The Senator from Arizona will be visiting Benghazi to talk with the rebel forces.  This is noteable because it points to McCain’s interest in taking the lead on this topic.  The New York Times reports about the mission:

As he left his hotel, he referred to the rebels as his heroes, according to The Associated Press. Then he made a brief visit to the courthouse, which has been the center of the uprising against Col.Muammar el-Qaddafi.

NYT Continues: 

His visit came a day after officials in Washington announced that the United States would deploy Predator drones armed with missiles to join NATO airstrikes on forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi’s government.Mr. McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, planned to meet with the administration in Benghazi which has been formally recognized only by France, Italy and Qatar. His arrival in eastern Libya was likely to be seen as an important acknowledgment by a significant member of the American political establishment.
Mr. McCain has criticized a United States decision to hand over command and control of the Libya campaign to European NATO powers, whom the rebels have criticized as less muscular in their airstrikes than the United States.

As he left a hotel in Benghazi, Mr. McCain said that he had come “to get an on-the-ground assessment of the situation” and that he would meet members of the insurgent administration and the rebel army.