WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Barack Obama gave his stamp of approval to Libya’s anti-Gaddafi forces yesterday, bringing leaders of the rebel group to the White House where they were deemed credible and legitimate.
At the White House for meetings with national security adviser Tom Donilon was a delegation from Libya’s rebel Transitional Council, led by Mahmoud Jebril.
Jebril made a plea on Thursday for the United States to free up some of the billions of dollars in Libyan assets frozen by the United States and its allies in response to the Libyan government’s violent crackdown against opposition forces.
After three months of heavy fighting, rebels aligned against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are in control of the east of the country while Gaddafi’s forces control the capital, Tripoli, and nearly all of the west. White House spokesman Jay Carney called the Transitional Council “a credible and legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people.”
