From Courtney Kube and Jim Miklaszewski, MSNBC:  The United States stepped up its military assistance to the NATO mission in Libya slightly this week, sending in two additional Predator drones to fly combat air patrols, a senior defense official told NBC News.

The unarmed Predators arrived in the region Monday and flew their first surveillance mission over Libya on Tuesday. . . .

Just six weeks before the Sept. 27 mandated end date for the NATO mission in Libya, defense officials warn that that country’s leader, Moammar Gadhafi, is no closer to stepping down and leaving the country.

“We have no indication” that he will step down any time soon, a senior defense official said, adding that if the political objectives set for the NATO mission are not fulfilled before that date, “it will have to be extended.”  (photo: General Atomics)

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