In Libya, Visiting G.O.P. Senators Praise Revolutionaries

Abdel Magid Al-Fergany/Associated Press

Senator John McCain with, from left, Senators Lindsey Graham, Mark Kirk and Marco Rubio in Tripoli on Thursday.

TRIPOLI, Libya ? Four Republican senators visited Tripoli on Thursday, the most prominent official American delegation to travel to the Libyan capital since the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi?s regime a month ago, and said the former insurgents who toppled him were inspiring activists in Syria, Iran and even China and Russia.

But they cautioned, as well, that the proliferation of post-Qaddafi militias here represented a potential threat. The delegation, led by Senator John McCain of Arizona, also said American investors were watching Libya with keen interest and wanted to do business here as soon as the Transitional National Council, as the new government is known, has pacified the country and routed the vestiges of resistance by Colonel Qaddafi and his fugitive loyalists.

The senators said they raised the sensitive subject of prosecuting the unpunished Libyan perpetrators of the Lockerbie bombing with the post-Qaddafi government, and were told it was ready to cooperate. The 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270 people, most of them Americans, during a period of Colonel Qaddafi?s rule when Libya was considered a pariah state.

?We believe very strongly that the people of Libya today are inspiring the people in Tehran, in Damascus, and even in Beijing and Moscow,? Senator McCain, an early supporter of Western military intervention to aid the anti-Qaddafi forces in the Libyan conflict, told reporters at a Tripoli news conference.

Their visit coincided with unconfirmed reports that anti-Qaddafi fighters near Surt, Colonel Qaddafi?s tribal hometown, a loyalist holdout, had captured Moussa Ibrahim, his spokesman and fellow fugitive. Asked about the reports at a later news conference in Tripoli, the Transitional National Council?s prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said he could not corroborate them but that he hoped the news was true.

Senator McCain coupled his complimentary words with an open appeal for outside aid to the nascent Libyan state, including medical relief for treating the war wounded and expert help in securing stockpiles of weapons. He also indicated that the United States was assisting with the hunt for Colonel Qaddafi and his fugitive sons. He admonished Libya?s new leaders to be fair in their treatment of minorities and responsible about controlling the proliferation of armed militias. �

Since the fall of Tripoli in August, militias from Misurata, Zintan and elsewhere, have divided the capital among themselves, answering to their own commanders, or to no one, which has created some political paralysis here as well as worries by foreign supporters of the anti-Qaddafi insurgency.

?It?s important for the Transitional National Council to continue bringing the many armed groups in this city and beyond it under the responsible control of its�legitimate�governing�authority,? Mr. McCain said. ?It?s also important to bring this war to a dignified and irreversible conclusion, to bring Qaddafi and his family and his fighters to justice, while ensuring that past wrongs do not become a license for future crimes, especially against minorities.?

Earlier Thursday the delegation, which also included Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois and Marco Rubio of Florida, toured Tripoli?s Martyrs? Square, known as Green Square during Colonel Qaddafi?s four decades in power, where he often inveighed against Western powers and glorified himself as the king of kings of Africa.

Senator McCain, who said he met with former rebel officials, military commanders and fighters,�mostly offered praise for the revolutionaries, saying they had ?inspired the world,? and�seemed to downplay the role played by NATO in the toppling of Colonel Qaddafi.

?This is Libya?s revolution, not ours,? Mr. McCain said. �"You deserve all the credit for its success and you are responsible for its future." �

Capturing the elusive members of the Qaddafi clan has vexed the new government for weeks. On Wednesday, Hisham Buhagiar, an official of the Transitional National Council, was quoted by Reuters as saying Colonel Qaddafi was likely hiding near the Algerian border under the protection of sympathetic nomadic tribesmen who have fought for him.

Kareem Fahim reported from Tripoli, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=614c807a4538fb5e0449cc3c6687d527

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