TRIPOLI: Muammar Gaddafi is considering leaving the capital Tripoli following blistering NATO air raids, a report said, as Libya's rebels hinted they may allow him to remain in the country if he stands down. The Wall Street Journal Friday quoted a senior US national security official as saying American intelligence shows Gaddafi “doesn't feel safe anymore” in the capital where he has ruled for over four decades. However, officials told the paper they did not see the move as imminent and did not believe Gaddafi would leave the country, a key demand of Libyan rebels who have been battling his forces in a month-old stalemate. Gaddafi is believed to have numerous safe houses and other facilities both within the capital and outside of it to which he might relocate. Rebel spokesman Mahmud Shamam told French daily Le Figaro the insurgents were in indirect contact with the regime and may be prepared to allow Gaddafi to stay in Libya, but that he and his family must agree to leave power.US House spurns Obama The House refused to vote US President Barack Obama the authority for US military operations against Libya on Friday but stopped short of cutting off funds for the mission, a mixed message reminiscent of congressional unease on Vietnam and more recent wars. In a repudiation of the commander-in-chief, the House voted overwhelmingly against a resolution that would have favored letting the mission continue for one year while barring US ground forces, a resolution the president said he would welcome. The vote was 295-123, with 70 Democrats abandoning Obama one day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had made a last-minute plea in a Capitol Hill meeting. But shortly after that vote, the House turned back a Republican-led effort to cut off money for military hostilities in the Libyan war. The vote was 238
