A senior delegation of Libyan rebels met with national security officials at the White House after a week with some military and diplomatic gains. But the US is withholding official recognition. 
 
 White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon appears on NBC's Meet the Press in Washington, May 7. Donilon met with Mahmoud Gibril, president of the Libyan Transitional National Council’s Executive Bureau at the White House, Friday. 
 
 Libyan rebels met with top national security officials at the White House Friday, but the delegation failed to achieve the main plum it sought from the visit: official recognition by the United States of Libya’s self-declared interim government. 
 
 In a statement issued Friday afternoon, the White House said national security adviser Tom Donilon met with Mahmoud Gibril, president of the Libyan Transitional National Council’s Executive Bureau, and his delegation as part of “close consultations” between the Obama administration and the council. 
 
 The US recognizes the council as a “legitimate and credible interlocutor of the Libyan people,” the statement said. In contrast, it added, Mr. Donilon stressed to the Libyan opposition delegation that Muammar Qaddafi has “lost his legitimacy to rule” and reiterated President Obama’s call for Colonel Qaddafi to “leave immediately.” 
 
 But the statement skirted the issue of official US recognition of the interim government, just as it made no specific mention of efforts to make available to the rebels some of the $34 billion in Libyan funds the US holds. 
 
 Setback after positive week 
 
 The setback in Washington came at the end of what was largely a positive week for the rebels battling Qaddafi. Rebel fighters claimed some advances on the ground, taking control of the airport in the key western city of Misurata. Diplomatically the rebels also appeared to score a considerable gain when British Prime Minister David Cameron invited the Transitional National Council based in the rebel-controlled city of Benghazi to open a representative office in London. 
 
 But Washington continued to hold the rebels at arm’s length, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates stating Thursday that the US reluctance to provide lethal aid to the Libyan opposition derives from the fact that “we don’t know who they are.” 
 
 Mr. Obama also appeared to studiously hold back from a full embrace of the rebels by failing to stop by the White House meeting – as he sometimes does in cases where he wishes to convey presidential support. 
 
 At the same time, however, the White House did indicate that NATO would pursue its air campaign against Qaddafi as long as the Libyan leader continues his assault on the Libyan people. Obama met in the White House Friday with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and officials said the two leaders agreed that the alliance would continue its military role under the UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians. 
 
 NATO stepped up its bombardment of Libyan targets this week, with some strikes hitting the compound in which Qaddafi is believed to be holed up. That led to speculation that the alliance is trying to kill him as a way of ending what looks increasingly like a stalemate in a civil war between the rebels and forces loyal to Qaddafi. The US, however, insists that the NATO bombing campaign is not an assassination mission. 
 
 Some urge negotiated settlement 
 
 Some regional experts are insisting, meanwhile, that it is time for a negotiated political settlement to what is becoming an increasingly untenable conflict for Libyan civilians. 
 
 In a sharp critique of how the NATO military campaign has achieved only “indecisive” results, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said Friday it is time for the alliance to switch course and press for a cease-fire and a political agreement. 
 
 “Instead of stubbornly maintaining the present policy and running the risk that the aftermath will be one of dangerous chaos [the international community] should act now to secure a negotiated end to the civil war and facilitate a new beginning for Libya’s political life,” the ICG said. 
 
 Americans express considerable ambivalence about the NATO campaign and American involvement in it when asked. But from all the mixed feelings, what comes out on top is support for what is interpreted as Obama’s back-seat participation in the international campaign. 
 
 According to a Monitor/TIPP poll conducted May 1-6, a plurality of Americans say the US is “doing enough” in the NATO operation to protect Libyan civilians. In the poll, 41 percent said the US is doing “enough,” while 25 percent said the US is doing “too much” and 23 percent said its role is “not enough.” 
 
 Asked to judge Obama’s performance on Libya: Half of those polled said he was doing a “good” or “average” job on the issue, but 16 percent said he was doing an “unacceptable” job while 11 percent said his performance was “excellent.” ||||| Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- As rebel and pro-government forces in Libya maneuvered on the battlefield Wednesday, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged U.S. President Barack Obama to end the NATO bombing of his war-torn country. 
 
 Gadhafi made the appeal in a letter to the American president, a senior administration official said. 
 
 But the official said there was "nothing new" in the letter, the thrust of which was an appeal for an end to the alliance's air operations. It contained no offers to negotiate or step down, and the official said the administration isn't taking the note seriously. 
 
 Gadhafi asked Obama to stop the "unjust war against a small people of a developing country" and said those in the opposition are terrorists and members of al Qaeda, the official said. 
 
 "We have been hurt more morally than physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you," Gadhafi wrote, according to the official. "Despite all this you will always remain our son." 
 
 The strongman expressed hope that Obama wins re-election next year, the official added. And he wrote that a democratic society cannot be built through missiles and aircraft. 
 
 "You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action," the leader wrote to the president. 
 
 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the NATO strikes will stop when Gadhafi steps down and leaves the country. 
 
 "I don't think there is any mystery about what is expected from Mr. Gadhafi at this time," Clinton said. 
 
 The letter came amid diplomatic, economic and military developments in Libya, which remains in a deadly stalemate as pro-Gadhafi forces battle opposition fighters demanding democracy and an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year-rule. 
 
 A British airstrike hit an oil field in the eastern Libyan town of Sarir on Wednesday, causing damage to a main pipeline, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told reporters. 
 
 A tanker carrying crude oil left the eastern Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday in what was the first known export of oil by the fledgling opposition during the conflict, a sign of optimism for them. 
 
 Rebel fighters and pro-Gadhafi forces have been pushing back and forth between al-Brega and Ajdabiya, while residents in the western city of Misrata are spending their days in fear. 
 
 Also Wednesday, ex-U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, who met with Gadhafi within the past decade, paid a visit to the Libyan capital with a cease-fire plan and a clear message to the embattled ruler that he must step down. 
 
 Former U.S. Congressman Weldon says he will meet with Gadhafi 
 
 
 
 Weldon, speaking in an interview with CNN affiliate WPIX-TV in New York, said he planned to meet with Gadhafi and Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim. 
 
 "It's a very solemn time because there's so much at risk here," said Weldon, who led a congressional delegation to Libya in 2004 and is visiting Tripoli at Gadhafi's invitation. Weldon is a Republican who represented a suburban Philadelphia district. 
 
 "I'm here to tell him face to face it's time for him to leave. It's time for him to step down, allow the people to take over the government of this country." 
 
 In an opinion piece published Wednesday in The New York Times, Weldon said he is proposing a cease-fire, "with the Libyan Army withdrawing from contested cities and rebel forces ending attempts to advance." 
 
 There's been seesaw fighting between pro- and anti-Gadhafi troops between al-Brega and Ajdabiya, CNN's Ben Wedeman reported. 
 
 On Tuesday night, Gadhafi forces moved 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from al-Brega to Ajdabiya, and then Wednesday, the rebels pushed them back 10 kilometers (six miles). 
 
 At one point, rebels let loose with barrage of rockets, and they were answered by artillery and mortars. 
 
 Gadhafi paid U.S. firms to polish his image 
 
 "It moves back and forth," Wedeman reported. 
 
 A CNN team saw equipment the rebels didn't have before such as night-vision goggles and two Milan anti-tank missiles. Fighters said they obtained the missiles from the transitional government in Benghazi but didn't know their origin. 
 
 Rebel leaders have criticized NATO's mission to help protect civilians in recent days, saying residents in Misrata and elsewhere have suffered under horrific attacks from pro-Gadhafi forces with little evidence of NATO air power overhead. 
 
 "I am extremely sorry to say this, but NATO truly disappointed us," Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis, the opposition's top military official, said Tuesday. "Civilians are being killed every day, including children, women and elderly. If NATO will wait another week, Misrata will be finished. No one will be left alive. Do they want to wait, and watch them die, and let this crime be a shameful disgrace for the international community forever?" 
 
 NATO Brig. Gen. Mark van Uhm said weather conditions and tactics by Gadhafi regime have hindered their efforts. 
 
 In addition to using human shields and hiding equipment in populated areas, pro-Gadhafi forces have started abandoning heavy military equipment in favor of the same kinds of cars and light trucks the rebels travel in, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish rebel convoys from those carrying forces loyal to the regime, van Uhm said. 
 
 Libyan opposition: Compromise with Gadhafi not an option 
 
 NATO is operating under a Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to protect Libyan civilians. 
 
 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "deeply concerned about the deterioriating situation facing civilians in Libyan cities under military attack," according to a statement. Conditions in Misrata are "especially grave," the statement said, "with reports of the use of heavy weapons to attack the city, where the population is trapped and unable, as a result of heavy shelling that has continued over several weeks, to receive basic supplies, including clean water, food and medicines." 
 
 But residents in Misrata said this week that Gadhafi forces have trapped the city, with snipers shooting indiscriminately. Access to food has been hampered. 
 
 "Normal life is a luxury that we don't have," one resident said. "I haven't taken my family out for four weeks now. All schools are closed, my children didn't go to school since the 19th of February. All government offices are closed. Even dead people are buried without death certificates." 
 
 After weeks of relentless fighting, a military victory for either side seems remote. A political or diplomatic solution might be the only way to end the crisis. 
 
 Weldon said that in addition to his proposals for Gadhafi's stepping down, a cease-fire on both sides and the withdrawal of government forces from key cities, he is calling for a halt in further advances by rebel forces; the creation of a joint interim government run by Libya's current prime minister and the opposition leader; unfettered humanitarian access; and the establishment of a parliamentary commission that would include U.S., Middle Eastern, European and African politicians helping to establish a new parliament in Libya. 
 
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 As for the Gadhafi family, Weldon's proposals also suggest a possible title for Gadhafi as honorary chairman of the African Union and allowing his second-oldest son, Saif, to stand in elections. 
 
 On the economic front, the tanker with crude oil that left Tobruk was sailing to Qatar, where the oil will be refined, CNN confirmed. Final destination of the export is not known at this time. 
 
 The civil war in Libya has severely curtailed oil exports from the North African nation, which produced some 1.6 million barrels per day last year. This move symbolizes the opposition's intent to manage the country's affairs. 
 
 The U.S. Treasury has frozen more than $32 billion in assets held by Gadhafi and members of his regime. Asked whether the opposition should be able to have access to those funds, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States "is well aware there is an urgency, that the Transitional National Council does need funding if it's to survive, and we're looking at ways to assist that." But Toner said he did not know the status of the $32 billion. 
 
 CNN's Nic Robertson, Reza Sayah, Ben Wedeman, Elise Labott, Jill Dougherty and Yousuf Basil contributed to this report
– Libyan rebels just can't quite get what they want from the White House. A meeting between a delegation of rebels and US national security advisers yesterday ended with a statement from the US calling the Libyan Transitional National Council a “legitimate and credible interlocutor of the Libyan people”—but the rebels left without the words they were really hoping to hear: official recognition that they are the interim government of Libya. The US also stayed mum on any efforts to share with the rebels any of the $34 billion it holds in Libyan funds, the Christian Science Monitor reports. In another sign the White House isn't offering an open-arms embrace, Obama opted not to stop by the meeting. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday explained some of the Obama administration's reluctance stems from the fact that “we don’t know who they are.” The White House did indicate that it will continue to work with NATO to carry out air raids against Gadhafi, a campaign that ramped up this week as NATO forces bombed a compound where Gadhafi was believed to be hiding. It's rumored that Gadhafi was injured and has fled Tripoli.