A top GOP critic pushed back Sunday on charges that Republican efforts to investigate last year's Benghazi attack are designed to inflict political damage on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"Hillary Clinton's not a target," said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa on NBC's Meet the Press. "President Obama is not a target."

Issa,  who heads a panel probing the assault on the diplomatic outpost that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, said he will seek depositions from Benghazi review board heads Ambassador Thomas Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  

The interagency process of modifying talking points in the wake of the attack scrubbed the fact that the incident was "a terrorist attack from the get-go," Issa said Sunday. 

"The American people were effectively lied to for a period of about a month," he charged. "That's important to get right."

Issa's committee held a high-profile hearing last week on the Benghazi attack. The California Republican claimed Sunday that Pickering - the man who led an independent review of the attacks on behalf of the State Department - refused to testify at that hearing.

Pickering flatly denied that he was unwilling to appear.

"I said the day before the hearings I was willing to appear, to come from the very hearings [Issa] excluded me from," Pickering told NBC's David Gregory. "We were told the majority said I was not welcome at that hearing; I could come at some other time."

Issa said he was unaware of Pickering's late notice, which the ambassador said he communicated through the White House, but added that a private deposition - which he intends to formally request Monday from the ambassador - is the more appropriate way to begin the inquiry.

"The fact is we don't want to have some sort of a stage show," Issa said.

Issa spokesman Frederick Hill said in a statement that Oversight committee Republicans never received a request for Pickering to testify. 

"We challenge him to name the White House official who he was in contact with and the White House official whom he falsely says relayed his interest in testifying to Chairman Issa," Hill said. 

Republicans have been dogged in their questioning of the administration's response to the attack, with leaked documents revealing last week that officials at the State Department suggested edits to talking points that erased references to terrorist groups.

While Hillary Clinton has stated publicly that she was not involved in that editing process, criticism of the former State Department chief and much-discussed possible presidential candidate has been a strong subtext of the Benghazi debate.

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, said on Meet the Press that Issa's panel has deliberately put Clinton's ambitions in its crosshairs.

"My concern is when Hillary Clinton's name is mentioned 32 times in a hearing, then the point of the hearing is to discredit the Secretary of State, who has very high popularity and may well be a candidate for president," Feinstein said.

Likely 2016 Republican candidate Sen. Rand Paul excoriated Clinton in a speech Friday in key campaign state Iowa, saying her role in the Benghazi episode "should preclude her from holding higher office."

"I think that's nonsense," Feinstein said of Paul's claim. "And I think the American people will think that's nonsense." 

This story was originally published on Sun May 12, 2013 11:28 AM EDT

On his first day as Secretary of State, John Kerry joked about being a man in what’s been a woman’s agency for nearly a decade.

"Here's the big question before the country and the world and the State Department after the last eight years: can a man actually run the State Department?” Kerry told a large and enthusiastic crowd of Foreign Service Officers and staff at Foggy Bottom. “As the saying goes, ‘I have big heels to fill’.”

Of course, Kerry was talking about replacing Hillary Clinton (D) and Condoleezza Rice (R) before that in the Bush administration, but going slightly further back, there hasn’t been a white male to head State in 16 years, since Warren Christopher under Clinton.

Establishing his "bona fides" with the diplomats, he waved his first diplomatic passport: given him when he was a 12-year-old boy traveling to Berlin with his father and family for their assignment at the post-war U.S. embassy. 

He even told a story about using it to ride his bike into East Berlin on the wrong side of the wall, saying he got a tongue-lashing later from his father, who told him he could have become an international incident. His passport was lifted, and he was grounded.

The State Department has been besieged by bad news in recent months – from the killing of U.S. Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans at a consulate in Benghazi, Libya, to the suicide bombing in front of the U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey.

“So I pledge to you: I will not let their patriotism and their bravery be obscured by politics, No. 1,” he said of those who died in Benghazi. “No. 2, I guarantee you that beginning this morning, when I report for duty upstairs, everything I do will be focused on the security and safety of our people."

Kerry ended on an idealistic note.

“What other job can you have where you get up every day and advance the cause of nation and also keep faith with the ideals of your country on which it is founded, and most critically meet our obligations to our fellow travelers on this planet?” he said. “That's as good as it gets, and I'm proud to be part of it with you. So now let's get to work.”

After Kerry’s speech, he placed calls to his counterparts in Britain, France, and Germany, three of America’s closest allies.

After meeting with senior staff, Kerry met the Afghan National Institute of Music Group which was in the building today. Later, he will briefed on the implementation of the Accountability Review Board’s recommendations on how to prevent another attack like the one in Benghazi.

John Moore / Getty Images

Sens. John Kerry and John McCain during the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 21, 2013 in Washington.

One day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted a sometimes fractious hearing with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over last September's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, the panel holds its confirmation hearing Thursday morning on the man President Barack Obama has chosen to succeed her: Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Wednesday’s hearing with Clinton in the witness chair was marked by some anger and recriminations over the attack in Libya that resulted in the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Clinton at times clashed with Republicans over the administration’s version of events in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attacks, at one point forcefully arguing with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., over the precise origins or motives of the attackers.

She intensely asked, "Was it because of a protest or is it because of guys out for a walk one night and they decide they go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?"

Clinton also sketched the strategic landscape that Kerry will face in his new job if he’s confirmed by the Senate, as is nearly certain.

Clinton told the committee that the United States cannot allow the North African nation of Mali, just south of Algeria, to become a base of operations for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), warning of the risk of AQIM attacks on the United States itself.

“We are in for a struggle,” she predicted. “But it is a necessary struggle. We cannot permit northern Mali to become a safe haven. People say to me all the time, well, AQIM hasn't attacked the United States. Well, before 9-11, 2001, we hadn't been attacked on our homeland since, I guess, the War of 1812 and Pearl Harbor. So you can't say, well, because they haven't done something they're not going to do it.”

She also sounded the alarm about the proliferation of weapons from caches in Libya that were “liberated” after Moammar Gadhafi was toppled, with U.S. and NATO help, in 2011.

“Libya was awash in weapons” before Gadhafi was overthrown, she said. “Obviously, there were additional weapons introduced. But the vast, vast majority came out of Gadhafi warehouses ... and then went on the black market, were seized by militias, seized by other groups, and have made their way out of Libya into other countries in the region, and have made their way to Syria, we believe.”

She said the Algerian terrorists who held foreigners hostage at a natural gas plant last week, killing 37 of them, were armed with weapons from Libya.

Syria a looming challenge
Clinton also highlighted another looming challenge for Obama and Kerry: the civil war in Syria in which 60,000 people have been killed. Obama has decided to not impose a no-fly zone against the regime of President Bashar Assad, but he now faces growing bipartisan pressure to give more aid to the Syrian opposition.

On Tuesday, a group of three Democratic and two Republican senators just back from a trip to the Middle East urged Obama to send more aid to the Syrian refugees; some urged him to impose a no-fly zone and to provide weapons to anti-Assad fighters.

“We are all in agreement that more needs to be done to assist militarily the opposition within Syria,” said one of those senators, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. He added that the debate over what the Obama administration ought to be doing in Syria “is going to be reinvigorated” because the fall of Assad, thought to be imminent a year ago, now is in doubt.

“Clearly now, he is using his air force for nothing more than the slaughter and massacre of his own people,” Blumenthal said. “And the United States ought to be finding a way to either disarm or deflect or somehow diminish that power.”

Clinton said Wednesday in her Senate testimony that, “It is a red line for this administration with respect to Syria concerning the use of chemical weapons. Syria, as you probably know, in addition to having the fourth largest army before this revolution has a very significant supply of chemical and biological weapons.”

The Obama administration, she said, is trying “to prevent those from falling into the wrong hands, Jihadist hands, Hezbollah hands .. .”

She added, “This Pandora's box, if you will, of weapons coming out of these countries in the Middle East and North Africa is the source of one of our biggest threats.”

Kerry, a member of the Senate since 1985, is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but will be ceding that post to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

A Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, Kerry was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 and won 59 million votes, but lost to President George W. Bush.

In announcing the nomination, Obama said on Dec. 21, “John’s entire life has prepared him for this role.  As the son of a Foreign Service officer, he has a deep respect for the men and women of the State Department -- the role they play in advancing our interests and values, the risks that they undertake and the sacrifices that they make along with their families.”  

Related: Clinton takes responsibility in Benghazi attack, clashes with Republicans

As Hillary Clinton concludes her four-year tenure as secretary of state, a whopping 69 percent approve of her job, according to a new NBC/WSJ poll.

That includes 92 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of independents and even 41 percent of Republicans who approve of her job.

Just 25 percent disapprove of her job.

That 69 percent approval rating is higher than any other outgoing secretary of state measured in a survey since 1948 -- with one exception: Colin Powell, whose approval rating was at 77 percent per a late 2004 Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll. 

This NBC/WSJ poll comes after Clinton -- a potential 2016 presidential candidate -- was hospitalized for a blood clot. It also comes after her State Department was criticized for the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

The full NBC/WSJ poll -- which was conducted Jan. 12-15 -- is released at 6:30 pm ET.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was released last night from the hospital after being treated for a blood clot, is looking forward to coming back to work next week, spokesperson Victoria Nuland said today.

"Some of the senior staff who spoke to her about half an hour ago say that she's sounding terrific, upbeat, raring to go. She's looking forward to getting back to the office. She is very much planning to do so next week, and we'll have further precise details about that as she continues to make progress," Nuland said.

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Nuland said Clinton's family has been with her at home, but didn't have any other details about visitors to share. Nuland said she didn't have any new details on the medical side of things, but instead referenced a previous statement by Clinton's doctors advising against international travel.

"It sounds as if the doctors' preference is that she not make any international trips for a little while," she said.

Nuland called the number of messages from international leaders wishing Clinton well a "tsunami." Nuland didn't have any calls to international leaders to read out, but said she is sure Clinton will be back on the phone with her counterparts soon.

Clinton has said she is committed to testify on the Hill regarding Benghazi, but Nuland didn't have a date to announce. "We are working with the committees on an appropriate set of dates," she said.

Nuland was also asked about Clinton's likely successor. She didn't have an update on when Sen. John Kerry's confirmation hearing would be held, but said the State Department is also working on that date.

"We are also working with the Hill on an appropriate date for the hearing. It goes to the calendar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hasn't yet been set," Nuland said.

NBC News confirms the news that Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey (D) will seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by John Kerry, who's been nominated to be President Obama's next secretary of state.

Markey was first elected to Congress in 1976 at the age of 30, and he represents a district in the Boston suburbs. He's the third-ranking Democratic member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On the Republican side, all eyes are fixed on whether outgoing Sen. Scott Brown (R) -- who was defeated in November -- will also seek Kerry's Senate seat in a special election.

The assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security has resigned and three other officials have been relieved of duty after a report criticized the State Department over the attacks on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, the department said late Wednesday.

State Department spokesperson Victoria J. Nuland confirmed that Eric Boswell had resigned and said three other officials had been relieved of duties pending . Two of the others worked in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of Near East Affairs.

Nuland did not name the other three, but a U.S. official told NBC News that one was Charlene Lamb, Boswell’s deputy assistant secretary of state for international programs. Earlier reports had said that Boswell, Lamb and another unidentified official had resigned.

The resignations come after the release of the Accountability Review Board Report on the attacks on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya, which faulted the State Department and specifically the Bureau of Diplomatic Security for "grossly inadequate" security.

Here’s Nuland’s full statement:

"The ARB identified the performance of four officials, three in the Bureau of the Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of Near East Asia Affairs.  The Secretary has accepted Eric Boswell's decision to resign as Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, effective immediately.   The other three individuals have been relieved of their current duties.  All four individuals have been placed on administrative leave pending further action."

Jason Reed / Reuters

Sen. John Kerry waves at the end of his speech during the final session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on September 6.

Updated at 7:01 a.m. ET: When he ran for president, many in the GOP slammed Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., pilloried for his late opposition to the Vietnam War and his famed flip on the conflict in Iraq. But, as criticism mounted against U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as the apparent frontrunner to become the next secretary of State, Kerry was publicly embraced by Republican colleagues in the Senate as a comparatively slam-dunk candidate to replace Hillary Clinton.

Now that Rice has withdrawn her nomination to the post, as NBC News reported exclusively on Thursday, all eyes turn to the onetime Democratic nominee. An official close to the process told NBC's Andrea Mitchell late Thursday that Kerry is now almost certain to get the job. "There were two people on the list," the person said. "Two minus one is one." 

In her withdrawal letter to the president, Rice said she was convinced her nomination would prove "lengthy, disruptive and costly" as Republicans have raised questions about her role in the public response to the 9/11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  The exclusive NBC News interview with Rice aired Thursday on Rock Center with Brian Williams.

In a statement, Kerry praised Rice as an "extraordinarily capable and dedicated public servant" and alluded to his own past political battles.

"As someone who has weathered my share of political attacks and understands on a personal level just how difficult politics can be, I've felt for her throughout these last difficult weeks, but I also know that she will continue to serve with great passion and distinction," he said. 

EXCLUSIVE: Rice drops out of running for secretary of state

Elected to the Senate in 1984, Kerry rose to national prominence as a foreign policy expert when he returned to the Senate after his failed 2004 presidential bid. The chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee since 2009, he has made high-profile visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and helped negotiate the new arms treaty with Russia that was signed in 2010.

Respected in the upper chamber and nationally as a shaper of the nation's foreign policy, Republicans have indicated that Kerry would face little opposition to be confirmed to the secretary of State post. "I think John Kerry would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues," said Republican Susan Collins, R-Maine, late last month. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a close ally of former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, declared that Kerry would have "an easy time" being confirmed in the Senate. 

Kerry's confirmation would likely not come without some minor re-litigation of past controversies.  One of Congress's richest members, he was painted as an out-of-touch patrician by his presidential foes. The onetime Navy lieutenant was criticized by opponents during his campaign for his high-profile protests of the Vietnam War, including his nationally-covered challenge to a congressional panel in 1971 to defend the deaths of men "for a mistake."

Kerry worked closely with the president in the just-finished election, playing Romney in debate preparations and had been seen as a potential choice to head either the State Department or the Department of Defense. Earlier today a top Pentagon official told NBC News that former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel appeared to be the likely choice for secretary of Defense.

But the main headache for Democrats if Kerry is appointed will be the triggering of a special election in Massachusetts next year to replace him. Democrats recently celebrated the ousting of Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who won a January 2010 special election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Elizabeth Warren bested Brown in the heavily blue state by a margin of 54 percent to Brown's 46 percent.

If Kerry is picked, Brown will be viewed as a formidable Republican candidate to replace him. A wider bench of Democrats, including former Senate candidate Martha Coakley, may vie for the nomination.

But whoever wins the potential replacement race would have a grueling path, as would voters weary of statewide contests. Another special election would be the state's second in three years, and Kerry's successor would be up for re-election again in 2014.

It’s not just Benghazi anymore.

One of the most controversial energy projects in the nation also has become a flash point in the drama surrounding who may become the next secretary of state – and it’s coming from the left instead of the right.

Back on Nov. 28, “OnEarth,” published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, dug into U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s financial disclosures and found that she and her husband have a stake in TransCanada, the company pushing for the Keystone XL Pipeline to be built.

NRDC officials say it's an important issue that must be discussed during the nomination process. But the timing of the report raises questions, as it is being surfaced by an environmental activist community that has previously given support to another potential secretary of state candidate – Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

The decision on whether to approve the pipeline goes through the State Department.

“If confirmed by the Senate, one of Rice’s first duties likely would be consideration, and potentially approval, of the controversial mega-project,” Scott Dodd at “OnEarth” wrote. “Rice's financial holdings could raise questions about her status as a neutral decision maker.”

Dodd noted that “Rice owns stock valued between $300,000 and $600,000 in TransCanada, the company seeking a federal permit to transport tar sands crude 1,700 miles to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, crossing fragile Midwest ecosystems and the largest freshwater aquifer in North America.”

Bill McKibben, an anti-pipeline activist, told the publication: “It’s really amazing that they’re considering someone for Secretary of State who has millions invested in these companies. The State Department has been rife with collusion with the Canadian pipeline builders, and it’s really distressing to have any sense that that might continue to go on.”

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, the NRDC's director of international programs, sounded a less strident tone a day later: "What's most important is that she rid herself of her holdings in TransCanada and other tar sands-related companies, and we're confident she will do that ... What's most important is that we have a good, thorough review done.”

Danielle Droitsch, a senior attorney for the NRDC and director of the Canada Project, told First Read: “We think Ambassador Rice has the credentials to be secretary of state, but if she were nominated, and then appointed, these holdings would have to be addressed.”

She added that “high-level officials dealing with Keystone should not have any conflicts of interest.”

The likelihood is that, if nominated, Rice will have to divest herself of her TransCanada investment to avoid a conflict of interest.

The environmental group’s effort to shed light on Rice’s financial interest in TransCanada could be just an attempt, if Rice is nominated, to get a “thorough review” and make sure it has a staunch ally in trying to thwart the project, as Casey-Lefkowitz said.

But could it also be a signal that the NRDC prefers another candidate for the job – Kerry, the other of the final two candidates reportedly being considered for the post?

After all, environmental groups have strongly supported Kerry in the past and have a long working relationship with him. Like they would for most Democrats in a presidential election, for example, the NRDC and the League of Conservation Voters, among others, ran ads in the 2004 election boosting Kerry.

LCV even endorsed Kerry before the New Hampshire Democratic primary that year, although it has notably not spoken out about Rice.

Droitsch, however, would not address whom the NRDC prefers for the job.

“We’re trying to signal that the pipeline decision has to be conflict-free,” Droitsch said. “That would pertain to any potential nominee. The president has the prerogative to nominate the person he believes is best for the position.”

The Senate will then raise questions, however, she said. And “now is important to raise the issue ... We want to make sure that anyone who’s being considered would be free of those conflicts. That’s our primary interest right now.”

The NRDC, which has been very involved in efforts to block Keystone, is the environmental interest group most pressing the issue of Rice’s financials.

But others might not be as keen to see Kerry leave Capitol Hill. After all, consider that green groups already spent a lot of money trying to oust Republican Scott Brown from the Senate – and were successful.

But if Kerry becomes secretary of state (or even defense secretary), his seat would become vacant, raising the potential for a costly and competitive special election.

“Who cares if the U.N. ambassador has a TransCanada stock. Who cares if the head of the FDA has TransCanada stock,” said a Democratic strategist and ally of the administration who is a veteran of confirmation battles.

“If she [Rice] were to be nominated, she would go through a process by which we look for financials conflicts. Maybe this stock would be identified as something that posed a conflict, and she would sell," the strategist said. "But she hasn't gone through that process, because she's not a nominee to anything. If they want to say that if she is the nominee, she should sell the stock, that's fine. But you can't legitimately hit her for having it now. And that is likely why NRDC backed off and no other environmental groups have piled-on.”

What really is going on here likely has less to do with Rice and whether she should ascend to secretary of state, and more with the NRDC leveraging pressure on the president and the administration to make sure the pipeline is rejected again once it comes up for approval. And that could be soon.

The next step in that approval phase, in fact, could come as early as next week, Droitsch said. TransCanada has applied for a shortened pipeline in hopes of having that approved – something the NRDC strongly opposes. A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement could be released by the State Department as early as next week, Droitsch said.

“It is critically important for there to be independent decision-makers, free of conflict of interest, who can take an independent view,” she said.

She then tied the administration’s decision on the pipeline to climate change, an issue that has regained prominence as a result of Hurricane Sandy. In the days following Sandy’s landfall, in fact, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed President Barack Obama for his leadership on climate change.

How Obama decides on the pipeline “signals where the U.S. is headed in terms of importing dirty fuels, inconsistent with an administration that is committed to fighting climate change,” Droitsch said.

“We’re confident President Obama understands the seriousness around the issues surrounding this pipeline. Approving it sends the wrong signal about our country’s commitment to climate change. Yes, he’s under a lot of pressure, but the public is very concerned about this. It’s not a decision I know he’ll view lightly.”

The State Department “absolutely and fundamentally” disagrees with Gov. Rick Perry’s statement in last night’s debate that Turkey is ruled “by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.” Responding to a question from host Bret Baier asking if Turkey should continue to be a member of NATO, Perry also questioned the country’s membership in the alliance.

“When you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists," Perry said, "when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes, not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it's time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it."

While the State Department generally does not get into the substance of campaign politics, even when candidates weigh in on foreign policy, spokesman Mark Toner answered reporters’ questions on Perry’s comment. Toner reaffirmed the U.S.’s close relationship with Turkey and called the country a “stalwart ally” in NATO.

“We absolutely and fundamentally disagree with that assertion," Toner said. "It [Turkey] continues to play a very positive and constructive role in the region. And it is often cited as an example of a so-called Islamic democracy in action."

The Turks themselves had harsh words for Perry. In a scathing statement, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States expressed his disappointment and concern over Perry’s comments, calling them “misplaced” and “ill-advised.” The ambassador also said Turkey receives no significant foreign aid from the U.S.

“The Turkey described in the debate simply does not exist," Ambassador Namik Tan said. "Turkey is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the U.S. Our bilateral relations are based on the common values of democracy and respect for human rights, rule of law, and free-market economy."

Today, Perry did not back down, per NBC's Carrie Dann.

“I stand by my statement," he said. "You need to be putting protections in place for your citizens if you’re seeing those types of attacks against, particularly, well, particularly females."

AP

Libyan rebels are seen with a rocket launcher as they leave Ras Lanouf, Libya, Wednesday. Moammar Gadhafi's ground forces recaptured a strategic oil town Wednesday and were close to taking a second, making new inroads in beating back a rebel advance toward the capital Tripoli.

From NBC's Courtney Kube
A senior European diplomat says that the coalition of nations involved in the operations in Libya are now considering arming the opposition forces.

The diplomat said that providing arms to opposition forces in Libya "has to be a serious option" and that the coalition is considering that option "now."

The diplomat warned that the coalition cannot provide arms "with closed eyes," that there has to be both coordination and training of the opposition.

"Yes, we have to be ready to continue," with enforcement of the no fly zone, protecting civilians, and the arms embargo for weeks or months, the diplomat said, but added that the coalition is "going to tip the balance" in the near future.

How? By continuing or stepping up military air strikes and possibly arming the opposition, the diplomat said.

Asked who would supply the arms, the diplomat would only say that there would be a "collective agreement" among various nations and then individual countries would supply what they could. The diplomat would not say who would provide the training, or if that would involve military forces on the ground.

Despite the fact that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said only yesterday that the U.S. is still getting to know the opposition, the diplomat today defended them, saying that the Transitional National Council is "composed of serious people who really are committed" to a democratic transition and a united Libya.

The diplomat denied that al Qaeda has much of an influence over the opposition forces in Libya, saying that his belief is the extremist element is not a major player.

The official could not point to specific arms or equipment that the coalition may provide, or how much more the coalition could do in the future, saying only that it is not for the international community to do the job for the opposition, but rather to "encourage them to be better organized."