China: Obama's case for Libya intervention

People's Daily

Obama to make case for Libyan military campaigns

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to make a case to American people Monday why he had ordered a military strike against Libya's Moammar Gadhafi's forces, primarily alleging the Libyan totalitarian government had endangered the lives of the country's rebels.

Obama is expected to say that his administration has a duty to prevent a "humanitarian disaster" in Libya by enforcing the "no-fly zone" over it which was authorized by the United Nations Security Council.

And after a week's missile assaults on Colonel Gadhafi's air defense facilities and his armor and troops, Obama is to wind down U.S. firepower, after relinquishing Pentagon's command role of the military operation to its NATO allies.

Some U.S. newspapers have speculated that Obama, in his televised speech to the public Monday, will put the length of the Libya Military Campaign which will definitely involve U.S. military forces, at a time span to the end of this year.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, when asked on a TV show about whether the operation might be over the year's end, said: "I don't think anybody knows the answer to that."

But analysts say that Obama does not want the military operations against Libya to run into next year which might affect the odds of his reelection as U.S. president in November. Incomplete survey shows that a majority of American voters just do not want their country to get entangled into a third war with a Muslim country.

An official from the Pentagon said that at least one of the five U.S. Navy ships that have participated attacks at Libyan targets from positions in the Mediterranean Seas has left, before Obama delivered his speech.

Now, aided by NATO allies' air power, Libyan rebels were reported to have made important gains by capturing oil drilling and manufacturing complexes along the Mediterranean coast.

Although Obama administration officials claimed progress in Libya, U.S. lawmakers in both parties voiced skepticism over the length, scope and costs of the military operation. And, Obama is expected to address those concerns in the speech.

The Pentagon said Sunday that over the previous 24 hours, U.S. aircraft had flown 88 combat strikes against Libya targets, down from 96 strikes a day earlier.

Citing military gains against Libya over the past week, Gates said Pentagon officials are now planning the start of a force reduction. And, it seems that Pentagon is to moving some of the dozens of American ships and aircraft out of the Mediterranean Sea region.

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