Unrest reported in Libya

[High_Gravity]

I was under the impression that tanks were being destroyed from the air by US / UK / French jets.

But I'm not really following this story....

Some of them are but once Ghaddafi gets tanks inside the rebel cities there nothing we can do, we can't bomb the whole city otherwise we kill the rebels as well. The rebels need RPGS, Rocket launchers and missiles to counter the tanks and other heavy weapons from Ghaddafis army.

I'm sure they do, but I don't know enough about exactly who the rebels are to know whether or not these should be given to them. History indicates that putting military supplies in the hands of "rebels" tends to lead to them being fired back at us further down the road.

That's the reason I have absolutely no problem with waging an aggressive air campaign. With satellite surveillance and control of the air it should be extraordinarily difficult for Gaddafi's armor to get into rebel held areas without being spotted and taken out from the air.

You would think so however several reports say Ghaddafis forces are beating back the rebels even with the air support. Either NATO is being soft with the air strikes since they took over or we are not getting to all of Ghaddafis guns on the ground, in either case it looks like rebels will need alot more help if we want to tilt this war in their favor, I agree with you completely about just handing the weapons over to them though.

 

[High_Gravity]

Libya Rebels: 'No Place For An Islamic State In Libya'

BENGHAZI, Libya — An envoy of Moammar Gadhafi told Greece's prime minister Sunday that the Libyan leader was seeking a way out of his country's crisis two weeks after his government's attacks to put down a rebellion drew international airstrikes, Greek officials said.

Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, a former Libyan prime minister who has served as a Gadhafi envoy during the crisis, will travel next to Turkey and Malta in a sign that Gadhafi's regime may be softening its hard line in the face of the sustained attacks.

"From the Libyan envoy's comments it appears that the regime is seeking a solution," Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas said in a statement after the meeting in Athens.

The foreign minister said the Greek side stressed the international community's call for Libya to comply with the U.N. resolution that authorized the airstrikes and demanded Gadhafi and the rebels end hostilities.

The message, Droutsas said, was: "Full respect and implementation of the United Nations decisions, an immediate cease-fire, an end to violence and hostilities, particularly against the civilian population of Libya."

Gadhafi's government has declared several cease-fires but has not abided by them.

Few other details of the Athens talks were released publically.

On Friday, the Libyan envoy had said Gadhafi's government was attempting to hold talks with the U.S., Britain and France in an effort to halt the international airstrikes that began March 19 and which have pounded Libya's troops and armor and grounded its air force.

Gadhafi's superior forces had been close to taking the rebel capital of Benghazi in eastern Libya before the international military campaign.

Libya Rebels: 'No Place For An Islamic State In Libya'

 

[High_Gravity]

Curt Weldon, Former US Representative, In Libya For Talks With Gaddafi

TRIPOLI, Libya — A former U.S. congressman invited by Moammar Gadhafi arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday on a self-described private mission to urge the Libyan leader to step down as rebels and pro-government forces waged near stalemate battles.

Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who has visited Libya twice before, said he leading a private delegation and had informed the White House and some members of Congress about his trip. He was in Libya's capital as a White House envoy, Chris Stevens, was meeting rebels in their de facto capital, Benghazi, to gauge their intentions and capabilities.

Gadhafi has been widely excluded from international efforts to broker a peace plan, with rebels insisting that his four-decade rule must end. Weldon would be one of the few high-profile Westerners to meet with Gadhafi since the rebellion began in February.

Weldon, who served two decades in Congress before losing his seat in 2006, was part of a bipartisan delegation that visited Libya in 2004 after Gadhafi agreed to abandon his nuclear program. The seven-member U.S. team included then-Sen. Joe Biden and included an address by Weldon to the Libyan Peoples' General Conference – a pro-Gadhafi forum – to urge greater understanding between Libya and the United States.

Weldon also visited Libya last year to study U.S. business opportunities.

"There is no question that America should play a critical role in helping the Libyans build a new government," Weldon wrote in an editorial published Tuesday in The New York Times. "Sadly, in the years since my first trip, Washington has squandered many opportunities to achieve that goal without bloodshed. And unless we begin to engage with the country's leaders – even those close to Col. Gadhafi – we may again lose our chance to help build a new Libya."

The rebels, aided by U.N.-authorized airstrikes intended to protect civilians from Gadhafi's forces, have maintained control of much of the eastern half of Libya since early in the uprising, while Gadhafi has clung to much of the west. Gadhafi has been putting out feelers for a cease-fire, but he refuses to step down.

Neither government forces nor the rebels have made any serious gains in recent days, and the conflict has shifted to smaller objectives on both sides, such as control of the key oil port of Brega.

Rebels have complained that NATO airstrikes come too slowly to seriously disrupt the pro-Gadhafi troops. But the French foreign minister, Alain Juppe, defended the air campaign, saying the missions are becoming more complicated as Gadhafi's forces position themselves in heavily populated civilian areas to make targeting difficult.

Curt Weldon, Former US Representative, In Libya For Talks With Gaddafi

 

[tigerbob]

Curt Weldon, Former US Representative, In Libya For Talks With Gaddafi

TRIPOLI, Libya — A former U.S. congressman invited by Moammar Gadhafi arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday on a self-described private mission to urge the Libyan leader to step down as rebels and pro-government forces waged near stalemate battles.

Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who has visited Libya twice before, said he leading a private delegation and had informed the White House and some members of Congress about his trip. He was in Libya's capital as a White House envoy, Chris Stevens, was meeting rebels in their de facto capital, Benghazi, to gauge their intentions and capabilities.

Gadhafi has been widely excluded from international efforts to broker a peace plan, with rebels insisting that his four-decade rule must end. Weldon would be one of the few high-profile Westerners to meet with Gadhafi since the rebellion began in February.

Weldon, who served two decades in Congress before losing his seat in 2006, was part of a bipartisan delegation that visited Libya in 2004 after Gadhafi agreed to abandon his nuclear program. The seven-member U.S. team included then-Sen. Joe Biden and included an address by Weldon to the Libyan Peoples' General Conference – a pro-Gadhafi forum – to urge greater understanding between Libya and the United States.

Weldon also visited Libya last year to study U.S. business opportunities.

"There is no question that America should play a critical role in helping the Libyans build a new government," Weldon wrote in an editorial published Tuesday in The New York Times. "Sadly, in the years since my first trip, Washington has squandered many opportunities to achieve that goal without bloodshed. And unless we begin to engage with the country's leaders – even those close to Col. Gadhafi – we may again lose our chance to help build a new Libya."

The rebels, aided by U.N.-authorized airstrikes intended to protect civilians from Gadhafi's forces, have maintained control of much of the eastern half of Libya since early in the uprising, while Gadhafi has clung to much of the west. Gadhafi has been putting out feelers for a cease-fire, but he refuses to step down.

Neither government forces nor the rebels have made any serious gains in recent days, and the conflict has shifted to smaller objectives on both sides, such as control of the key oil port of Brega.

Rebels have complained that NATO airstrikes come too slowly to seriously disrupt the pro-Gadhafi troops. But the French foreign minister, Alain Juppe, defended the air campaign, saying the missions are becoming more complicated as Gadhafi's forces position themselves in heavily populated civilian areas to make targeting difficult.

Curt Weldon, Former US Representative, In Libya For Talks With Gaddafi

Those are ******* horrible sunglasses.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Those are ******* horrible sunglasses.

Yeah, but they go with his skirt.

 

[High_Gravity]

Obama blasted this fool with cruise missiles and fighter jets, and now hes kissing Baracks ass.

Gadhafi, in letter, asks Obama to end air strikes

WASHINGTON — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has appealed directly to President Barack Obama to halt what the Libyan leader called "an unjust war," and wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year.

In a rambling, three-page letter to Obama obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Gadhafi implored Obama to stop the NATO-led air campaign, which the Libyan called an "unjust war against a small people of a developing country."

"You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action," Gadhafi wrote in the letter that was sent to the State Department and forwarded immediately to the White House, according to a U.S. official who has seen the letter. "I am sure that you are able to shoulder the responsibility for that."

"To serving world peace ... Friendship between our peoples ... and for the sake of economic, and security cooperation against terror, you are in a position to keep Nato (NATO) off the Libyan affair for good," Gadhafi wrote.

White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed that the White House received a letter from Gadhafi.

As for Gadhafi's call for a ceasefire, Carney appeared to dismiss it for now.

"The conditions the president laid out are clear," Carney told reporters traveling with Obama to New York Wednesday afternoon.


In the letter, received earlier Wednesday, Gadhafi says his country had been hurt more morally than physically by the NATO campaign and that a democratic society could not be built through missiles and aircraft. He also repeated his claim that his foes are members of the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Addressing Obama as "our son" and "excellency," Gadhafi said that his country had been hurt more "morally" than "physically" by the NATO campaign. He

The letter, composed in formal but stilted English, includes numerous spelling and grammatical errors.

"Our dear son, Excellency, Baraka Hussein Abu oumama, your intervention is the name of the U.S.A. is a must, so that Nato (NATO) would withdraw finally from the Libyan affair," Gadhafi wrote. "Libya should be left to Libyans within the African union frame."

Gadhafi, in letter, asks Obama to end air strikes

 

[tigerbob]

Those are ******* horrible sunglasses.

Yeah, but they go with his skirt.

Inspired, no doubt, by Sex and the City 2 being set in Abu Dhabi.

 

[High_Gravity]

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

BRUSSELS — NATO acknowledged Friday that its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks to fight government forces in eastern Libya, saying no one told them the rebels used tanks.

British Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said in the past, only forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles.

Harding says the rebels and government troops are engaged in a series of advances and retreats between the eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish between them.

NATO jets attacked a rebel convoy between these two towns Thursday, killing at least five fighters and destroying or damaging a number of armored vehicles.

"It would appear that two of our strikes yesterday may have resulted in (rebel) deaths," Harding told reporters in Naples, where the alliance's operational center is located.

"I am not apologizing," he said. "The situation on the ground was and remains extremely fluid, and until yesterday we did not have information that (rebel) forces are using tanks."

The strikes, including an attack earlier this week, provoked angry denunciations of NATO by the rebels. At the same time, NATO officials have expressed frustration with the Libyan insurgents, who now view the alliance, whose mandate is limited to protecting civilians in Libya, as their proxy air force.

NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, expressed regret over the loss of life, saying alliance forces were doing everything possible to avoid harming civilians.

NATO last week took control over the international airstrikes that began March 19 as a U.S.-led mission. The airstrikes thwarted Gadhafi's efforts to crush the rebellion in the North African nation he has ruled for more than four decades, but the rebels remain outnumbered and outgunned and have had difficulty pushing into government-held territory even with air support.

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

 

[tigerbob]

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

BRUSSELS — NATO acknowledged Friday that its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks to fight government forces in eastern Libya, saying no one told them the rebels used tanks.

British Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said in the past, only forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles.

Harding says the rebels and government troops are engaged in a series of advances and retreats between the eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish between them.

NATO jets attacked a rebel convoy between these two towns Thursday, killing at least five fighters and destroying or damaging a number of armored vehicles.

"It would appear that two of our strikes yesterday may have resulted in (rebel) deaths," Harding told reporters in Naples, where the alliance's operational center is located.

"I am not apologizing," he said. "The situation on the ground was and remains extremely fluid, and until yesterday we did not have information that (rebel) forces are using tanks."

The strikes, including an attack earlier this week, provoked angry denunciations of NATO by the rebels. At the same time, NATO officials have expressed frustration with the Libyan insurgents, who now view the alliance, whose mandate is limited to protecting civilians in Libya, as their proxy air force.

NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, expressed regret over the loss of life, saying alliance forces were doing everything possible to avoid harming civilians.

NATO last week took control over the international airstrikes that began March 19 as a U.S.-led mission. The airstrikes thwarted Gadhafi's efforts to crush the rebellion in the North African nation he has ruled for more than four decades, but the rebels remain outnumbered and outgunned and have had difficulty pushing into government-held territory even with air support.

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

Hmmmmm. I'll bet the denunciations stopped short of calling for an end to the airstrikes.

I'll also bet they didn't cover an admission that perhaps the rebels should keep NATO more informed.

This is where it starts to get tricky, but when NATO is tasked with taking out ground armor, why should anyone expect an apology when it does what it says on the tin?

 

[High_Gravity]

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

BRUSSELS — NATO acknowledged Friday that its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks to fight government forces in eastern Libya, saying no one told them the rebels used tanks.

British Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said in the past, only forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles.

Harding says the rebels and government troops are engaged in a series of advances and retreats between the eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish between them.

NATO jets attacked a rebel convoy between these two towns Thursday, killing at least five fighters and destroying or damaging a number of armored vehicles.

"It would appear that two of our strikes yesterday may have resulted in (rebel) deaths," Harding told reporters in Naples, where the alliance's operational center is located.

"I am not apologizing," he said. "The situation on the ground was and remains extremely fluid, and until yesterday we did not have information that (rebel) forces are using tanks."

The strikes, including an attack earlier this week, provoked angry denunciations of NATO by the rebels. At the same time, NATO officials have expressed frustration with the Libyan insurgents, who now view the alliance, whose mandate is limited to protecting civilians in Libya, as their proxy air force.

NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, expressed regret over the loss of life, saying alliance forces were doing everything possible to avoid harming civilians.

NATO last week took control over the international airstrikes that began March 19 as a U.S.-led mission. The airstrikes thwarted Gadhafi's efforts to crush the rebellion in the North African nation he has ruled for more than four decades, but the rebels remain outnumbered and outgunned and have had difficulty pushing into government-held territory even with air support.

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

Hmmmmm. I'll bet the denunciations stopped short of calling for an end to the airstrikes.

I'll also bet they didn't cover an admission that perhaps the rebels should keep NATO more informed.

This is where it starts to get tricky, but when NATO is tasked with taking out ground armor, why should anyone expect an apology when it does what it says on the tin?

Well things like this were bound to happen, there is no war in the history of mankind where innocent people weren't killed.

 

[tigerbob]

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

NATO: Libya Rebel Deaths Don't Require Apology

Hmmmmm. I'll bet the denunciations stopped short of calling for an end to the airstrikes.

I'll also bet they didn't cover an admission that perhaps the rebels should keep NATO more informed.

This is where it starts to get tricky, but when NATO is tasked with taking out ground armor, why should anyone expect an apology when it does what it says on the tin?

Well things like this were bound to happen, there is no war in the history of mankind where innocent people weren't killed.

I wouldn't say those driving the tanks were innocents. They were combatants. But, with that distinction, I take your point.

 

[High_Gravity]

Hmmmmm. I'll bet the denunciations stopped short of calling for an end to the airstrikes.

I'll also bet they didn't cover an admission that perhaps the rebels should keep NATO more informed.

This is where it starts to get tricky, but when NATO is tasked with taking out ground armor, why should anyone expect an apology when it does what it says on the tin?

Well things like this were bound to happen, there is no war in the history of mankind where innocent people weren't killed.

I wouldn't say those driving the tanks were innocents. They were combatants. But, with that distinction, I take your point.

Well we were supposed to be on their side but than again I thought the rebels were lightly armed, where did they get tanks from?

 

[tigerbob]

Well things like this were bound to happen, there is no war in the history of mankind where innocent people weren't killed.

I wouldn't say those driving the tanks were innocents. They were combatants. But, with that distinction, I take your point.

Well we were supposed to be on their side but than again I thought the rebels were lightly armed, where did they get tanks from?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[High_Gravity]

Former Rep. Weldon Leaves Libya, Spurned By Gaddafi

NEW YORK -- Former Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Penn.), who arrived in Tripoli this week on a "private mission" to ask Muammar Gaddafi to step aside, left Libya today after failing to meet privately with the strongman.

The lawmaker, who has traveled to Libya more than any other Congressman and has established close ties to the Gaddafi family, expressed his disappointment in a statement sent to The Huffington Post by Weldon's daughter, Kristin Weldon Peri.

"I am disappointed that I did not get to sit down face to face with Col. Qadaffi as promised, but I may have been able to get something even more significant -- a path to a resolution of this conflict. Anytime you are asked to play a part in advancing the cause of peace there is a moral obligation to say yes."

Weldon, who says he was invited to Libya by Gaddafi's chief of staff, Dr. Bashir Saleh, said that his message to government officials he met in Tripoli "was in direct support of the state public positions of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

Weldon said that Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mamoudi gave him a sealed private letter to be hand-delivered to Clinton, which Weldon plans to do upon his return. The letter does not include any proposal for Gaddafi to step down although it is said to contain a list of concessions agreed to by the Libyan government and a call for a special envoy regarding further negotiations, reports WPIX.

Yesterday, Weldon denied reports that he is in Libya to push his own business interests and even to "get the United States to lift its arms embargo to Libya," reports Politico. Referring to reports that Defense Solutions, a company Weldon joined after leaving Congress, once proposed selling weapons to Libya under Gaddafi, Weldon said: “Never did I ever offer to sell any weapons to Libya,” he said. “I worked to try to normalize relations. I put together a comprehensive series of initiatives that could bring our people together in health care and education, in housing and environment and energy.”

The former Congressman also claims he worked with Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) and Angelina Jolie's publicist to free Benghazi citizen Eman al-Obeidy, the woman who alleges she was brutally beaten and raped by Gaddafi's military forces, and to arrange for her to get back to Benghazi through Tunis and Cairo. She remains in Tripoli, according to most recent reports.

In the statement, Weldon says he also met with Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of the Libyan strongman, to urge the release of American journalist Clare Morgana Gillis, who writes for TheAtlantic.com, and three others. Also in custody are James Foley, a U.S. journalist with GlobalPost.com; Manu Brabo, a Spanish photographer; and Anton Hammerl, a South African photographer.

Weldon's flight to Libya was paid for by Houston attorney Brian Ettinger and former Bush aide Steve Payne, who accompanied him on the trip. Payne came along to assist in the effort because of his past friendship with Saadi Gaddafi, according to the statement.

Former Rep. Weldon Leaves Libya, Spurned By Gaddafi

 

[tigerbob]

So, ask rebel supporters in Benghazi, amid the confusion, why did Nato pilots elect to launch rockets against targets they could not positively identify?

But Nato is caught between a rock and a hard place.

Only two days ago, rebel leaders were urging the alliance to significantly increase its air strikes, not only against Col Gaddafi's tanks and offensive weapons, but against his supply-lines and positions around towns like Brega, Ajdabiya and Misrata.

Sometimes, Nato and the sophisticated bombers flying high above the desert get it horribly wrong.

But it is a mistake for which rebel commanders in Benghazi and on the ground must share the blame.

BBC News - Libya: Rebels must share blame for Nato air strike

 

[High_Gravity]

Libya Cease-Fire: South Africa Says Gaddafi Has Accepted African Union 'Road Map'

TRIPOLI, Libya — A delegation of African leaders said Sunday that their Libyan counterpart, Moammar Gadhafi, accepted their "road map" for a cease-fire with rebels, whom they will meet Monday. They met hours after NATO airstrikes battered Gadhafi's tanks, helping Libyan rebels push back government troops who had been advancing quickly toward the opposition's eastern stronghold.

The African Union's road map calls for an immediate cease-fire, cooperation in opening channels for humanitarian aid and starting a dialogue between the rebels and the government. AU officials, however, made no mention of any requirement for Gadhafi to pull his troops out of cities as rebels have demanded.

"We have completed our mission with the brother leader, and the brother leader's delegation has accepted the road map as presented by us," said South African President Jacob Zuma. He traveled to Tripoli with the heads of Mali and Mauritania to meet with Gadhafi, whose more than 40-year rule has been threatened by the uprising that began nearly two months ago.

"We will be proceeding tomorrow to meet the other party to talk to everybody and present a political solution," Zuma said, speaking at Gadhafi's private Tripoli compound, Bab al-Aziziya. He called on NATO to end airstrikes to "give the cease-fire a chance."

Gadhafi has ignored the cease-fire he announced after international airstrikes were authorized last month, and he rejects demands from the rebels, the U.S. and its European allies that he relinquish power immediately.

Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria, the head of the AU's Peace and Security Council, said the demand to give up power was brought up in Sunday's talks with the Libyan leader.

"There was some discussion on this but I cannot report on this. It has to remain confidential. It's up to the Libyan people to chose their leaders democratically," he told reporters in Tripoli.

Gadhafi enjoys substantial support from countries of the AU, an organization that he chaired two years ago and helped transform using Libya's oil wealth. So it is not clear whether rebels would accept the AU as a fair broker.

Though the AU has condemned attacks on civilians, last week its current leader, Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, decried foreign intervention in Libya's nearly two-month-old uprising, which he declared to be an internal problem.

Libya Cease-Fire: South Africa Says Gaddafi Has Accepted African Union 'Road Map'

 

[High_Gravity]

Libya Rebels Protest Against Ceasefire Negotiations

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libyan government forces battered the rebel-held city of Misrata with artillery fire on Monday despite an announcement by African mediators hours earlier that Moammar Gadhafi had accepted their cease-fire proposal. The shelling killed six people, one of them a 3-year-old girl, a doctor said.

The African Union delegation took its proposal to the rebels' eastern stronghold and was met with protests by crowds opposed to any peace until the country's longtime leader gives up power.

More than 1,000 people waved the pre-Gadhafi flags that have come to symbolize the rebel movement and chanted slogans against Gadhafi outside a Benghazi hotel. They said they had little faith in the visiting African Union mediators, most of them allies of Gadhafi who are preaching democracy for Libya but don't practice it at home.

The African negotiators met with Gadhafi late Sunday in the capital, Tripoli, and said he accepted their proposal for a cease-fire with the rebels that would also include a halt to the three-week-old international campaign of airstrikes. However, an Algerian representative of the delegation was vague on whether the proposal includes a demand for Gadhafi to give up power and would only say that the option was discussed.

The protesters in Benghazi and the opposition leadership based in the city are demanding that Gadhafi step down immediately.

"On the issue of Gadhafi and his sons, there is no negotiation," said Ahmed al-Adbor, a member of the opposition's transitional ruling council.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini supported that position.

"The sons and the family of Gadhafi cannot participate in the political future of Libya," he said Monday on France's Europe-1 radio. He said Gadhafi's departure would have to happen "in parallel" with any cease-fire.

He said he was lobbying allies to arm the rebels but that he was against expanding the international operation to include ground forces.

Libya Rebels Protest Against Ceasefire Negotiations

 

[High_Gravity]

U.S: Libya Role To Remain Limited Despite Setbacks

WASHINGTON — Despite rebel setbacks and an increasingly public rift with NATO allies, the U.S. will stick to its plan to remain in the back seat of the Libya air campaign, the Obama administration insisted Tuesday after three weeks of air missions that have failed to turn the tide against Moammar Gadhafi.

France's defense minister declared that without full American participation, the West probably would not be able to stop attacks by Gadhafi loyalists on besieged rebel cities.

U.S. officials said they were comfortable with their role and had no plans to step up involvement, even as British and French officials said Washington's military might was needed to ensure the mission's success. The Americans said NATO could carry out the operation without a resumption of the heavy U.S. efforts that kicked it off last month.

"The president and this administration believes that NATO, and the coalition of which we remain a partner, is capable of fulfilling that mission of enforcing the no-fly zone, enforcing the arms embargo and providing civilian protection," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

"The U.S. has not abandoned this operation by any means," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We still are offering support where we can. I don't think it's correct to say that there's somehow discord in the alliance."

The public complaints of Britain and France, however, contradicted that position, and U.S. officials contended privately that some in Europe appeared to be backing down on pledges to take the lead in the operation once the opening phase was over. The administration had not wanted to keep a primary role after that point and had made its participation in the NATO mission contingent on having only a supporting function afterward.

With the disagreement out in the open, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to hear loud calls for the U.S. to resume heavier fighting when she travels to Germany for meetings of NATO foreign ministers on Thursday and Friday. Those talks are expected to be dominated by the situation in Libya, where rebels fighting forces loyal to Gadhafi are facing increasing challenges and appealing for additional assistance.

At the State Department, spokesman Toner said President Barack Obama had been clear from the beginning that the U.S. "role would diminish as NATO stepped up and took command and control of the operation."

He added, "The U.S., of course, as needed, would help out if requested in other capacities, in other capabilities, but really our role has receded in this mission."

U.S: Libya Role To Remain Limited Despite Setbacks

 

[High_Gravity]

NATO General: 'We're Doing A Great Job' In Libya

BRUSSELS — A NATO general sharply rejected French criticism Tuesday of the operation in Libya, saying the North Atlantic military alliance is performing well and protecting civilians effectively.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe had said NATO should be doing more to take out strongman Moammar Gadhafi's heavy weaponry that is targeting civilians in Libya.

Juppe said NATO's actions were "not enough" and insisted the alliance should be firing on the weapons being used by Gadhafi's forces to target civilians in the rebel-held city of Misrata. Juppe spoke on France-Info radio the day after Libyan rebels rejected a cease-fire proposal by African mediators because it did not insist that Gadhafi relinquish power.

"NATO has to play its role in full. NATO wanted to take the military command of the operations," Juppe said.

France's frustration with the stalemate on the ground, where Libyan rebels have struggled to capitalize on Western air attacks, has been echoed across Western capitals.

But at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Dutch Brig. Gen. Mark Van Uhm responded that the alliance was successfully enforcing an arms embargo against Libya, patrolling a no-fly zone and protecting civilians in the North African nation.

"I think with the assets we have, we're doing a great job," Van Uhm told reporters.

However, he repeatedly declined to comment on reports that some alliance members were limiting their planes to patrolling the no-fly zone and prohibiting them from dropping bombs, saying that was a matter on for governments to comment on.

France and Britain, meanwhile, sent out conflicting signals about the need to provide succor to Misrata, which has been subjected to weeks of bombardment by Gadhafi forces. Juppe said in his interview that the EU had to do more to get humanitarian aid to Misrata, but British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters that aid was still getting through.

NATO General: 'We're Doing A Great Job' In Libya

 

[High_Gravity]

NATO Ministers: No Gaddafi In Libya's Future

BERLIN — NATO nations stressed Thursday that their common aim in Libya is to bring an end to Moammar Gadhafi's regime, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the world must increase its support for the Libyan opposition.

The effort to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya topped the agenda at a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from NATO's 28 member countries. Three weeks of airstrikes haven't routed Gadhafi's forces, causing tensions in the alliance.

France has said NATO isn't doing enough, and they and the British say Washington's military strength is needed to ensure the mission's success. The Obama administration insists, however, that the U.S. will stick to its plan to remain in a supporting role. The Pentagon also noted that Americans have flown 35 percent of all air missions over the last 10 days.

Clinton stressed that NATO members are "sharing the same goal, which is to see the end of the Gadhafi regime in Libya."

"For our part, the U.S. is committed to our shared mission," she told fellow ministers. "We will strongly support the coalition until our work is completed."

She also said "we must also intensify our political, diplomatic and economic mission to pressure and isolate Gadhafi and bring about his departure."

The world must "deepen our engagement with and increase our support for" the Libyan opposition, she added.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance and its partners "are fully engaged in operations to safeguard the people of Libya, taking every measure possible to prevent Gadhafi's brutal and systematic attacks on his own people."

The alliance is keeping up "a high operational tempo," he added.

NATO Ministers: No Gaddafi In Libya's Future