Obama says US favours ousting Gaddafi

BARACK Obama said yesterday the US favours the ouster of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi but the international military effort has a more limited goal of establishing a no-fly zone over Libya and protecting civilians against massacre by forces loyal to the longtime ruler.

The US president said America would transfer leadership of the military operation to other, unnamed participants within a “matter of days, not weeks,” but he declined to provide a more precise timetable.

“Obviously, the situation is evolving on the ground, and how quickly this transfer takes place will be determined by the recommendation of our commanding officers that the first phase of the mission has been completed,” Mr Obama said.

The president made his comments at a news conference in Chile, the second of three stops on a South American trip that coincides with the beginning of an international effort to create a no-fly zone to keep Gaddafi forces from taking to the air over parts of Libya. The US has fired close to 150 cruise missiles against Libyan targets in the past three days, including one that hit inside the compound in Tripoli where Gaddafi and his family live.

The destruction within the compound has generated questions about the objective of the military campaign, and Mr Obama described how the US was leading an air assault with one set of goals while pursuing another objective on its own.

“Our military action is in support of an international mandate from the Security Council that specifically focuses on the humanitarian threat posed by Col Gaddafi to his people. Not only was he carrying out murders of civilians but he threatened more,” the president said.

“I have also stated that it is US policy that Gaddafi has to go,” he added, noting that the US has imposed economic sanctions on Libya and frozen assets that the Libyan leader might have been able to use to purchase weapons or hire mercenaries.

“Keep in mind we were working on very short time frame, and we had done all the work and it was just a matter of seeing how Gaddafi would react to the warning I issued on Friday. After consulting with our allies we decided to move forward, and it was a matter of me directing” Defence Secretary Robert Gates and others to implement plans already drawn up, Mr Obama said.

More than two weeks ago he insisted Gaddafi leave office and declared the Libyan leader had “lost the legitimacy to lead”.

In the meantime Mr Obama had appeared less and less inclined to join the fight in Libya until the UN approved military action late last week.

As he announced on Saturday that America had begun applying its overwhelming military force, Mr Obama said the US was engaged in “a limited military action in Libya in support of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians”.

He significantly moderated his anti-Gaddafi rhetoric even as US forces began pouring Tomahawk cruise missiles on Libya’s air fields and anti-aircraft batteries.

By yesterday Mr Obama’s joint chiefs of staff chairman was saying the allied mission against the Libyan leader could end with him still in power.

Adm Mike Mullen said the aim of the allied air campaign was limited and not “about seeing him go”. Asked if the UN-approved air assault on Libya could be successful without dislodging Gaddafi, he said: “That’s certainly potentially one outcome.”