Wednesday, 09 Mar 2011 09:19 PM

By Hiram Reisner

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman says the United States and its allies should arm the Libyan rebels, even though we are not exactly sure who they are, because we do know despot Moammar Gadhafi, and we can’t “stand by and watch a government massacre its people.”

“We know Gadhafi and we know what he is doing to these people who started a peaceful uprising against him, just the way people did in Tunisia, and Egypt – except he turned the guns on them,” Lieberman Wednesday told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto. “And we know the man they’ve chosen as their acting prime minister, who is a former justice minister, who gets high marks from everybody who has dealt with him.

“To me, we can’t stand by and watch a government massacre its people,” Lieberman said. “And we don’t want this place to develop into another Somalia, where al-Qaida will take root – and the people of Egypt and Tunisia are watching what we do.

“This is one of those rare cases, where the Arab world is really calling on us to help the opponents to Gadhafi,” the Connecticut senator continued. “And I hope we’ll find a way to do so – not alone, but with our allies in the Arab world, and maybe in Europe – and I’m not sending troops on the ground, but give them the weapons to fight their own fight against this brutal dictator.”

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