China: Obama does not a repeat of Iraq war in Libya

People's Daily

Obama defends Libya war, but wants it 'not costly'

U.S. President Barack Obama forcibly defended his decision to rush American-led military strikes on Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, who he called a "tyrant", in a nationally televised speech that also tells his unspoken intent not to draw U.S. to a "costly" war and anger American public.

Making a case for the Libya military operation at U.S' National Defense University in Washington on Monday, Obama said the main rationale for the war is to prevent Gadhafi's government forces from killing rebels and civilians in Libya, and pledged that, as the "most powerful nation in the world", U.S. will continue to give a helping hand to those who desire for freedom and democracy.

However, Obama obviously did not want another protracted war, like the Iraq war, to haunt him. "To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq," Obama said in the speech, adding Iraq's "regime change took eight years, thousands of American and Iraq lives, and nearly a trillion dollars."

"That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya," Obama told his nation early Monday evening local time.

Obama was also trying to speak to war critics within his own Democratic Party who questioned the White House's decision to bring the U.S. to a third war with another Muslim country. "To brush aside America's responsibility as a lead, and more profoundly, our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances (in Libya), would have been a betrayal of who we are," he said.

Obama did not disclose how the military intervention would come to an end, but said Washington and its allies in NATO and in the Middle East would continue to oust Qaddafi from power by whatever means if necessary.

"If we try to overthrow Qaddafi by force, our coalition would splinter. We would likely have to put U.S. troops on the ground, or risk killing many civilians from the air. The dangers to our men and women in uniform would be far greater. So would the costs, and our share of the responsibility for what comes next, "Obama said in his address.

It remains to be known how Obama's speech will be received by the politicians on both sides of the aisle in the Congress, and by the American public who are generally weary of Obama's bringing the U.S. to another costly war that will doom their economic prospect.

By People's Daily Online

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7333911.html