John McCain: 'The Libyan Rebels Are My Heroes!'

(Al Jazeera) McCain lauds (al-Qaeda linked) rebels in Libya visit... Top US senator's trip comes as President Obama authorises the use of armed drones against forces loyal to Gaddafi.

Senator John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in the US Congress of American military intervention in Libya, has arrived in Benghazi for talks with pro-democracy forces fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.

McCain's arrival on Friday came close on the heels of the US president approving the use of armed drones in Libya against ground forces for the first time since America handed over the military operation to NATO.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from the eastern city of Benghazi, said McCain told reporters he was there to meet the opposition Transitional National Council and members of the military to assess the situation on the ground.

He also denied concerns about the possibility of extremist or al-Qaeda elements fighting alongside the pro-democracy forces, saying "they [opposition fighters] are my heroes".

The top US military officer offered a similar assessment.

"We're watchful of it, mindful of it and I just haven't seen much of it at all. In fact, I've seen no al-Qaeda representation there at all," said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US military's joint chiefs of staff, during a visit to Baghdad.

Mullen acknowledged that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which waged a failed armed insurgency against Gaddafi's rule in the 1990s, had "stirred a little bit".

He said air strikes had hobbled Libyan forces, but admitted the conflict was moving into "stalemate" as Gaddafi's troops pressed on with their punishing siege of Misurata.

The trip to Benghazi by McCain, the top Republican on the US senate's Armed Services Committee, is the highest yet by an American official to the opposition-held east.

The first armed drone mission since US president Barack Obama's go-ahead was flown on Thursday, but the aircraft, armed with Hellfire missiles, turned back due to poor weather conditions without firing any of its munitions.