The Obama administration is considering sending more Predator drones and other surveillance planes to bolster the NATO air war in Libya, and has reopened a debate over whether to give weapons to the rebels seeking to overthrow Moammar Khadafy, a senior Pentagon official said.
NATO commanders asked for the sophisticated surveillance aircraft after concluding that they were running out of military targets in Libya after four months of bombing and missile strikes against Khadafy’s military forces and command facilities, U.S. and NATO officials said.
Meanwhile, Khadafy’s troops have boobytrapped petroleum installations in the strategic oil port of Brega so they can be blown up if his regime loses the town, a top rebel official said Thursday.
Mahmoud Jibril, the rebels’ diplomatic chief, also said Khadafy’s forces have booby trapped oil fields.
