CIA chief casts doubt on Libya's NTC

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

 

CIA chief casts doubt on Libya's NTC

CIA director Leon Panetta

The head of the American spy agency has voiced concerns that elements within Libyan opposition leadership in the Transitional National Council (NTC) may be 'extremists.

Speaking at his Senate confirmation hearing as US President Barack Obama's nominee for a new Secretary of Defense, current CIA Director Leon Panetta told American lawmakers that worries about “some members” of the NTC “are legitimate” and that US authorities are “watching very closely,” reported the prominent US daily The Los Angeles Times on Friday.

Panetta's remarks reflect major doubts within the Obama administration on whether to back the Libyan opposition group in its bid to take control of the oil-rich North African country.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referred to the NTC as “the legitimate interlocutor” of the Libyan people, but stated that “there is not a clear way forward yet” about transition of power in Libya.

More than 20 foreign ministers and representatives of Libya's revolutionary forces gathered in Abu Dhabi on June 9 to discuss providing financial support to Libyan opposition forces.

Clinton offered no direct US financial aid to the revolutionaries but said the US would give $26 million in humanitarian relief for Libya, bringing total US aid pledge to the country to $81 million.

Moreover, other countries, including France, Turkey, Italy and the UAE have pledged financial support to the NTC totalling over a billion dollars.

NTC authorities, however, say they need at least $3 billion over the next four months to pay for the body's expenses.

Meanwhile, the council's finance chief Ali Tarhouni complained outside the Thursday meeting that countries pledging support for the Libyan revolution have failed to deliver the much needed aid funds. “It's been almost four months now and nothing has materialized,” he said.

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