Stalemate in Libya fight?

BENGHAZI, LIBYA - The top U.S. military officer warned on Friday that the conflict on the ground in Libya threatened to become a stalemate, but Obama administration and military officials said that neither the United States nor its allies planned to fundamentally alter the NATO-led air operations despite criticism that they were not doing enough.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that a month of airstrikes had destroyed 30 to 40 percent of the capabilities of the military forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi but had not yet drastically tilted the conflict one way or another.

He cited shifts in tactics by Gadhafi forces that made it difficult for NATO planes to distinguish them from the rebels.

"So it's become a much more difficult fight," Mullen said in Baghdad, where he visited U.S. troops involved in another American war.

In the Libyan capital, a senior official said that government troops would step back and allow local tribesmen to deal with rebels in the besieged western city of Misrata.

The action came a day after the United States began flying armed drones to bolster NATO airstrikes. Having the tribesmen take up the fight could make it harder for the Predators to distinguish them from Misrata's civilians or the rebels.

Mullen's remarks were echoed by those of the most prominent American to visit the rebel stronghold in Libya: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

McCain called for the United States to recognize the rebels' governing council as the country's legitimate government, as France, Italy and Qatar have done, and provide it with money and arms on a scale similar to what the United States did in support of those who fought the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

"I have met these brave fighters, and they are not Al- Qaida," McCain said. "They are Libyan patriots who want to liberate their nation."

McCain's visit, though coordinated with the White House, nonetheless underscored a mounting sense of frustration among critics and even some supporters of the Obama administration that it was not acting aggressively enough to help the rebels overthrow Gadhafi.

Although this week President Obama authorized the use of armed drones in Libya and a $25 million contribution of nonlethal military surplus for the rebel forces, the administration resists deepening the U.S. military involvement. Asked on Thursday whether U.S. soldiers or advisers should be sent to help improve the effectiveness of the rebel forces, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Obama had explicitly ruled that out. "And there is no wiggle room in that," he said.