NOVANEWS
If the allied forces want to prevent a stalemate in Libya, the U.S. needs to “get back in the fight,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
Asked by host Bob Schieffer if he was satisfied with allied leadership in the conflict, McCain said he wasn’t, because the U.S. has taken a “backseat role” while the NATO member countries picking up the slack “don’t have the assets that the United States of America does.”
He added later, “I respect the president, and sometimes it’s very inappropriate for me to second-guess; obviously, I lost to him in the presidential election. But American leadership is vital in the world. There’s no country like America. We should be leading. We should not be following…. Only the United States is capable of helping these people in the most seismic and the most incredible period in the world’s history. This ‘Arab Spring’ is not confined even to the Arab countries, but how we handle it will determine the entire 21st century.”
McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is still opposed to committing ground troops, but the U.S. should “get its assets back into the air fight” and recognize the Libyan Transitional National Council and start providing support.
Meanwhile, in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad “is willing to slaughter his own people,” McCain said he didn’t see a military option because there’s no organized opposition. While the U.S. should seek sanctions and other measures, “it’s going to be a very bloody time, I’m afraid, in Syria.”
