"A U.N. resolution justifies the targeting of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, a senior NATO military official with operational knowledge of the Libya mission told CNN Thursday.
Asked by CNN whether Gadhafi was being targeted, the NATO official declined to give a direct answer. The resolution applies to Gadhafi because, as head of the military, he is part of the control and command structure and therefore a legitimate target, the official said.
NATO has been ramping up pressure on the regime, employing helicopters last weekend for the first time against Gadhafi's forces. Explosions are heard often in Tripoli, evidence of allied air strikes..."
"The NATO-led military operation in Libya does not aim to eliminate Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the commander of coalition forces said on Tuesday.
The Libyan authorities accused NATO on Monday of trying to "assassinate" Muammar Gaddafi after the coalition dropped at least two guided bombs on Gaddafi's compound in the heart of Tripoli.
"This operation is not about personalities or the change of the regime...This is about bringing an end to the violence,' Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard told reporters in a video link from his headquarters in Naples..."
"...But Obama did say that the coalition would not target Gaddafi, and that regime change by armed force – especially by American ground troops – was not an aim. "To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq. Thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our troops and the determination of our diplomats, we are hopeful about Iraq's future.
'But regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya,' he said.
Instead Obama sought to justify the military attacks on Gaddafi's army by saying there was no doubt that a massacre of opposition forces and civilians had been prevented..."
"President Obama sent a letter to Congressional leaders spelling out his decision to direct strikes against Libyan air defenses over the weekend and citing his Constitutional authority for the military action.
President Obama held out the threat of targeting Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi personally Monday but said the U.S. would stop short of doing so -- at least for now.
Instead, Obama stressed the importance of sticking to the mandate of the U.N. resolution passed Thursday, which focuses on preventing Qaddafi from crushing opposition forces in a large-scale massacre..."
It's like they know they can get away with it, or something...
4 comments:
I'm reminded of that AM radio hit by Three Dog Night some time around 1971.
LIAR!
But he's so charismatic, he's biracial, he's a merit success story! He must be a great man and a terrific leader!
Look man, people can change their minds. And I'm sure Mr. Obama has just had more information brought to His attention that made Him Decide that He needed to end the rule of Qaddafi. And the obfuscation of their true aim is still necessary because Mr. Obama knows that the American public is not ready to hear that it's necessary to exact a bloodletting on another Muslim figure so soon after bin Laden. It's taken awhile for most Americans to come to grips with what happened in Abbotabad and to acknowledge publicly that Qaddafi's being targeted directly for assassination could more than most of us can bear.
If the US was serious about supporting the Libyan Revolution, it would have armed the revolutionaries.
Not much choice; Gadhafi or his ex-minister of justice.
To the US all that mattered, was derailing revolution.
You all are reading way too much into it. The pretzeldent simply doesn't want Libya able to host the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
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