(Libya Twitter)-Obama administration gave an official blessing to the chief Libyan opposition group Wednesday, opening the way for closer ties but not necessarily recognition as the country's legitimate government.
US ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz says it is hard for the US to determine right now how many civilian casualties there have been in Libya since Gadhafi launched a military campaign against rebel forces.
It has become clear that Qaddafi and his henchmen have no intention of stopping the violence," Gene Cretz said in an interview with Fox News.
Cretz added that plenty of members of Qaddafi's government want to defect, just as former foreign minister Moussa Koussa did soon after the uprising began in March. But he says terror and fear in the Libyan capital of Tripoli have kept that from happening.
They continue to say the right things," he said. They are working through the usual bugs in a transitional country where you haven't had politics for 40 years."
Cretz adds that Qaddafi has to step down for Libya to move forward.
Cretz said efforts continue to try to get Gadhafi to leave power by using as many tools as possible “to get him to realize that the game is up and he’s got to go.” He said those efforts are moving in the right direction. That includes efforts to break up Gadhafi’s inner circle which he described as not “the tightest inner group.
Cretz also painted a bright picture of life in Benghazi, the rebel capital in the eastern part of the country, since Kadafi's harsh regime had been driven out.
He said visitors have been surprised to see public poetry readings, public debates of constitutional issues and the emergence of new civic groups.
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