Late Sunday night two Republican Senators that are influential on foreign policy issues released a joint statement on the collapse of former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham’s (R-SC) statement praised the Libyan rebels’ efforts in bringing about Gaddafi’s demise, but argued that the Obama administration’s handling of the situation unnecessarily prolonged this outcome.
“The end of the Qadaffi regime in Libya is a victory for the Libyan people and for the broader cause of freedom in the Middle East and throughout the world. This achievement was made possible first and foremost by the struggle and sacrifice of countless Libyans, whose courage and perseverance we applaud,” the statement began.
It went on to fault the Obama administration’s decision to allow the European NATO powers to take the lead in the Libya mission. The U.S. military did initially take the lead in the Libya airstrikes using its more advanced aircraft and naval capabilities to take out Libya’s air defense systems. Once these had been destroyed, and NATO had complete control over Libyan airspace, the U.S. handed command off to its European NATO allies. Since then the U.S. military has played a minimal role in a mission largely led by France and England with other European and a few Middle Eastern nations contributing forces to different degrees. The European militaries showed signs of strain at times during the first air campaign in NATO history in which the United States did not take the lead.
The Republican Senators’ statement on Sunday expressed “regret” that Qaddafi’s demise had been, “so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower,” referring to the supporting role the U.S. military had been given by the Obama administration. Senator McCain has been critical of this policy in the past. During a March hearing of the Senate Armed Forces Committee-where McCain is the top-ranking Republican- he made his case directly to then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, who were testifying to the Congressional Committee. “It seems to me we are not doing everything necessary to achieve our policy goals,” McCain said at the March hearing, going on to claim that the United States is “abdicating its leadership role.”
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