Free Republic

PARIS (AFP) — The revolt against Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi could stall unless the rebels battling his regime receive weapons and increased air support, influential US Senator John McCain warned Wednesday. "There is a possibility if not a probability of a stalemate, and that should be of deep concern to us," the former presidential candidate and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee told AFP. "The United States needs to recognise the TNC as France and Italy have done. They need to get supplies and equipment into the liberation forces, and we need to get American air power back...

McCain calls the Libyan rebels his “heroes.” A year and a half earlier, in Tripoli, he described Gaddafi as America’s friend. Senator John McCain’s description of the Libyan rebels as his “heroes” has raised numerous eyebrows. PJM editor David Steinberg has had the excellent idea of seeking comment from the senator’s office on the extensive video evidence of atrocities committed by some of the senator’s newfound “heroes.”While one is at it, the senator should probably also be reminded about this: namely, his cordial handshake with Muammar al-Gaddafi in Tripoli in August 2009. There is more here, including McCain’s allusion to...

Never mind that there are known jihadists among them, allegations of “death squads on both sides,” and evidence of rebels committing atrocities against the enemy. And never mind that NATO’s sufficiently concerned about their intentions to have warned them that they’ll be bombed too if they attack civilian Qaddafi loyalists. “Heroes.” I get why McCain would want to boost morale for America’s newest ally; what I don’t get, given the likelihood of brutality and recriminations in post-Qaddafi Libya, is why he’d do that with rhetoric so rosy that’s it guaranteed to be thrown back in his face later when some...