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McCain, Lieberman call for aid, arms for Libyan provisional government
You can count on these two old dogs to do the right thing when the chips are down.
Cairo -- The United States and its allies should recognize and arm a provisional government in Libya, and also impose a no-fly zone that would prevent Libyan aircraft from attacking anti-government protesters there, two leading U.S. senators said Sunday.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, [said] that the Obama administration needs to do more to help protesters oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

"I think the world has to do more," Lieberman said. "I'd begin with the imposition of a no-fly zone so that Gadhafi can't be attacking his own people from the air."

In addition, Lieberman said, "We've got to recognize the opposition provisional government as the legitimate government of Libya and that we ought to give that government certainly humanitarian assistance and military arms, not to go in on the ground ourselves, but give them the wherewithal to fight on behalf of the people of Libya against a really cruel dictator."
It's up to the Libyan people to free themselves. But we can help them. Nothing prevents us from doing that. Lieberman is exactly right.
Where will we get the manpower? Our guys are kind of busy right now, between Iraq, Afghanistan, and all sorts of places around the world that aren't much mentioned...
Both Lieberman and McCain stopped short of calling for U.S. forces to get involved. McCain added that the United States and allies should make clear that any foreign mercenaries backing Gadhafi in attacking the Libyan people would face a war crimes tribunal.

"Get tough," McCain said. "I understand that the security and safety of American citizens is our highest priority. It's not our only priority."

People throughout the Middle East and around the world were " looking to America for leadership, for assistance, for moral support and ratification of the sacrifices they've made in the defense of democracy," McCain said. "America should lead."
Word.

Posted by: Steve White 2011-02-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=317048