NATO bombs Libya; rebels seek EU funding

NAPLES, Italy, May 23 (UPI) -- NATO reported bombing several Libyan military targets during the weekend and rebel leaders appealed to the European Union for financial aid.

The NATO command in Naples, Italy, said Monday Moammar Gadhafi regime targets attacked Sunday included "command and control nodes" near Tripoli and Brega, a missile site near al-Khums and an ammunition depot near Sirte.

Speaking to the EUobserver Monday after returning to Brussels from Benghazi with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, her spokesman Michael Mann said: "Their main priority is how to get financing. ... It's important for them to pay their people, to stay solvent."

Mann hailed the Transitional National Council's support for a free press. "A lot of new media are springing up. We heard there are 55 newspapers in Benghazi alone," he said.

On Sunday, Ashton met with TNC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil and opened an EU liaison office. But Mann said, "There is no recognition per se."

Benghazi is awash with European and American firms eager to deal with the rebels.

"American contractors are flooding into Benghazi, offering expertise, weapons, anything they need," said Robert Baer, a former CIA officer. "It's the usual suspects, the same companies who went into Iraq. It's just another war bonanza."