McCain e Sarkozy em romagem à Cirenaica

MISRATA, Libya, April 22 (Reuters) - The Libyan conflict is heading for stalemate, the top U.S. military officer said on Friday, and U.S. Senator John McCain urged the United States to recognise the rebels and transfer frozen Libyan funds to them.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's joint chiefs of staff, told U.S. troops in Baghdad that Western-led air strikes had degraded between 30 and 40 percent of Muammar Gaddafi's ground forces.
Referring to the conflict, he said: "It's certainly moving towards a stalemate."[ID:nLDE73L07L]
McCain, the most senior Western politician to visit the rebels' eastern stronghold of Benghazi, said the United States should transfer frozen Libyan assets to the rebels and urged NATO to step up it air strikes against Gaddafi's forces.
"I would encourage every nation, especially the United States, to recognise the Transitional National Council as the legitimate voice of the Libyan people," he said.
"They have earned this right and Gaddafi has forfeited it by waging war on his own people," he said.
McCain, the most senior Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said he had visited a Benghazi hospital where he saw the dead and dying, adding: "It argues for us to help them and to get this thing over with and Gaddafi out."
Sources close to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he planned to visit Benghazi, probably in the first two weeks of May, and that he wanted British Prime Minister David Cameron to accompany him.
France and Britain have taken the leading role in the Western-led air campaign against Gaddafi's forces.
A source close to Sarkozy's office said France was also in favour of releasing frozen Libyan assets to help finance the rebel movement.