Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Dean Rusk...
left here Wednesday for Abu Dhabi to consult with countries backing military action in Libya and looking at more ways to help the Libyan opposition.
The talks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital on Thursday come after President Barack
B.O.Obama said NATO's
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
mission in Libya was forging "inexorable" advances that meant it was only a matter of time before defiant Muammar Qadaffy's
... Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years ...
departure.
The so-called International Contact Group meeting will build on a May 5 gathering in Rome where Clinton and her partners agreed on a new fund to aid Libya's rebels and promised to tap frozen assets of Qadaffy's regime.
US officials said the participants will discuss a "range of issues," including implementation of UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973.
Resolution 1970 imposed bans on assets and travel on members of Qadaffy's regime as well as an arms embargo.
Resolution 1973 authorized "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians, including air strikes on Qadaffy's ground forces and a no-fly zone.
The International Contact Group on Libya, which includes all the countries participating in the NATO-led campaign targeting Qadaffy's regime, held its inaugural meeting in Qatar, which participates in the NATO mission.
NATO has intensified its campaign, launching daily raids on Tripoli, but only nine of NATO's 28 member states are taking part in the strikes. La Belle France and Britannia are bearing the brunt of the load with helicopters now in their arsenal.
The other countries are the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Italia and non-NATO state the United Arab Emirates, which sent 12 warplanes to enforce the no-fly zone.
Countries such as Spain and the Netherlands, and non-NATO partner Sweden, have contributed combat jets but their roles are limited to enforcing the no-fly zone aimed at preventing Qadaffy attack planes from taking off.
Turkey, which reluctantly backed the mission, is only participating in the naval embargo.
Around a dozen NATO members are not contributing any assets to the mission, including Germany, which has refused to back the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
resolution that authorized the mission.
Weeks of air strikes on regime targets have thus far failed to force Qadaffy out, but Obama nevertheless insisted that he was on borrowed time after a brutal four-decades-long rule.
The president, criticized by some domestic opponents for allowing Britannia and La Belle France to take the lead in the NATO mission after an initial US blitz, argued that the effort had already achieved substantial goals.
Meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as
Mom...
, Obama said that the port city of Benghazi was now free from the threat of the Libyan regime and that Qadaffy forces had been pushed back from the city of Misrata.
"What you're seeing across the country is a inexorable trend of the regime forces being pushed back, being incapacitated," he said on Tuesday.
"You're seeing defections, often times of some very high-profile members of the Qadaffy government, as well as the military.
"I think it is just a matter of time before Qadaffy goes."
In addition to NATO countries, representatives from the United Nations, Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
, European Union, Organization of Islamic Conference, and the Gulf Cooperation Council will be at the talks.
After Abu Dhabi, Clinton will travel to Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia to discuss trade, development, health and other issues. She is due to return to Washington on June 15.