Congressman McCain said the Gaddafi regime should have collapsed long ago

Congressman McCain said the Gaddafi regime should have collapsed long ago Senator John McCain of the state island said that he very much hopes to see the United States play a greater role in the Libyan conflict...

Senator John McCain said the Gaddafi regime should have collapsed long ago. Senator John McCain of the state said that he very much wants to see the United States play a greater military role in the Libyan conflict. He is also concerned that American support for the US military effort in Afghanistan is waning. In an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Sundays with Chris Wallace," Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain said he was dissatisfied with the NATO coalition's efforts to oust Muammar Gaddafi and end a stalemate between the Libyan leader's troops and rebels. He said: "People are losing their lives on Libyan soil. If we had used the full force of American air power and capabilities and the special skills of the American military, these people should be alive." The United States, Britain and France began air strikes in Libya in March to establish a United Nations-authorized no-fly zone. When U.S. President Obama spoke at the G8 summit in France last week, he said that as long as Gaddafi is still in power and directs the military to carry out attacks on the Libyan people, the humanitarian protection mission authorized by the United Nations cannot be completed. Britain and France have been urging the United States to become more involved in the NATO-led operation against Libya. McCain said, "Gaddafi will fall. He will fall. But if we had used the full force of American air power to attack him, this result would have been achieved long ago. It is really unfortunate." McCain also said that he hopes the United States will formally recognize the National Transitional Council of the Libyan opposition. Last week, a U.S. diplomat said Libya's National Transitional Council had accepted an invitation from U.S. President Obama to open a representative office in Washington. But the United States has not given the organization formal recognition. Separately, with bin Laden's death a month ago, some U.S. lawmakers are pushing for a faster withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the epicenter of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. McCain said he was concerned that American support for the U.S. role in Afghanistan was waning. McCain said: "I am very worried, and this has little to do with whether bin Laden has been eliminated. What I am worried about is the war weariness of the American people." Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 204 in favor to 215 against, preventing the passage of a bill to withdraw U.S. troops faster. This is the first vote in Congress on the Afghan issue after the US special commandos killed bin Laden in Pakistan. U.S. President Obama will begin withdrawing some of the 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan in July this year, and all U.S. combat troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 2014.