SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday the United States favors the ouster of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi 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.
Obama said the United States 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," 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 Gadhafi forces from taking to the air over parts of Libya. The United
States 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
Gadhafi and his family live.
The destruction within the compound has generated
questions about the objective of the military campaign, and Obama described how
the United States 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. Gadhafi 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 U.S. policy
that Gadhafi has to go," he added, noting that the United States 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.
The president also said he had not had second
thoughts about beginning the air offensive while he was traveling outside the
United States.
"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
Gadhafi 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" Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others to implement plans
already drawn up, Obama said.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
