Sen. John McCain flew into the rebel stronghold of Benghazi "to get an on the ground assessment of the situation.” “They are my heroes,” McCain said of the rebels as he left his hotel in Benghazi. McCain is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the rebels so far, and he is expected to meet with the National Transition Council. The senator was one of the most vocal proponents of U.S. military intervention in Libya; he defended President Obama's decision to conduct airstrikes and criticized his decision to hand leadership over to NATO. He has also pushed for arming the rebels, saying the U.S. cannot allow the conflict to turn into a military deadlock.
