U.S. Backs Away from No Fly Zone
The AP reports:
The Obama administration is tempering its tough talk on Libya with a dose of reality, explaining that even a no-fly zone over the country would require a military attack on Moammar Gadhafi's regime. The Pentagon made it clear that it didn't want war.
Statements Wednesday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton illustrated the administration's effort to rein in "loose talk" about military options to force Gadhafi from power. It was an acknowledgement that, short of an unlikely military offensive by a U.S.-led coalition, the options for international action to stem the violence appeared highly limited, even as armed rebels pressed their fight against troops still loyal to the Gadhafi regime.
"Let's just call a spade a spade: A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses," Gates told a congressional panel. The Pentagon could get the job done if ordered by the president, he said, but noted that an attack would require more air power than a single U.S. aircraft carrier, which typically carries about 75 planes.
"It is a big operation in a big country," Gates said.
The unspoken subtext was that with U.S. forces already deeply committed in Afghanistan, still winding down military operations in Iraq, and on the watch for surprises in Iran and elsewhere in the volatile Persian Gulf region, the risks associated with military action in Libya might be unacceptable.
In support of Gates' point, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that despite media reports of Libyan aircraft attacking rebel areas, the Pentagon had not confirmed any air attacks. He also said it must be assumed that Libya's air defenses are substantial.
Alluding to Gates' announcement a day earlier that he had ordered two U.S. warships into the Mediterranean in case they are needed for civilian evacuations or humanitarian relief, Clinton said in separate testimony that the crisis calls for a mix of diplomacy and defense.
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