U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today said that Qadhafi’s death would add a lot of legitimacy and validation and relief to the formation of the new Libyan government during an interview with Jill Dougherty of CNN.
During the interview, Ms. Clinton said that the concerted effort that the Libyans made to liberate Sirte, which was Qadhafi’s hometown, seems to have gone very well.
She stressed that the TNC made it very clear when she was in Tripoli that they wanted to wait until Sirte fell before they declared Libya liberated and then started forming a new government.
“But they knew that if Qadhafi were – or still is – at large, they would have continuing security problems that were deeply concerning to them, which they shared with me, because they had every reason to believe that he would try to marshal support, that he would pay for mercenaries, that he would engage and affect guerrilla warfare.” -Ms. Clinton
Ms. Clinton stated that if Qadhafi is removed from the scene, there may still be those who would do so. She added that without the organizing figure of Qadhafi, it makes a big difference.
