Posted on 07/20/2011 8:57:56 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Libyan rebel leaders met with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy here on Wednesday and asked him to support their plans to mount a military offensive on Tripoli aimed at toppling Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
The delegation of rebel chiefs, which included senior officers from the port city of Misrata and a member of Libya's National Transitional Council, the main opposition group to Col. Gadhafi, said they needed more weapons and logistical assistance to oust the North African autocrat.
"With a little help from some friends, we will be in Tripoli very soon, within days," NTC member Souleiman Fortia told reporters after the meeting with Mr. Sarkozy.
The office of Mr. Sarkozy confirmed the meeting—organized by Bernard-Henri Lévy, the French philosopher and champion of the Libyan rebels' cause—but declined to comment on the president's response.
The rebels' request came as France and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization conducting airstrikes against Col. Gadhafi's forces are seeking ways to hasten the downfall of the Libyan leader.
Ramadan, the Muslim festival when believers fast from dawn to dusk, begins in August, and NATO bombings during the period could inflame sensitivities.
Last month, France said it helped Libyan rebel groups gain control of the Nafousa Mountains, an area stretching from the border with Tunisia to south of Tripoli, in part by air-dropping weapons.
At the time, France said it supplied weapons only to endangered civilians, in compliance with United Nations resolutions
France has said the weapons air drops in Nafousa complied with a resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council in March authorizing members of the anti-Gadhafi coalition to use all means to protect civilian populations.
French officials said Paris wouldn't supply weapons directly to Libyan rebels but wouldn't object if Arab states opted to supply the NTC with military equipment procured in France.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The spineless wonders do not want weapons that want boots on the ground, ragtag business is dangerous to your health.
bump
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