Washington, March 29: “We hit Gaddafi’s troops in neighboring Ajdabiya, allowing the opposition to drive them out. We hit his air defences, which paved the way for a No Fly Zone.
We targeted tanks and military assets that had been choking off towns and cities and we cut off much of their source of supply. And tonight, I can report that we have stopped Gaddafi’s deadly advance,” Obama said.
America has an important strategic interest in preventing Gaddafi from overrunning those who oppose him, he said. A massacre would have driven thousands of additional refugees across Libya’s borders, putting enormous strains on the peaceful — yet fragile — transitions in Egypt and Tunisia, he remarked. The democratic impulses that are dawning across the region would be eclipsed by the darkest form of dictatorship, as repressive leaders concluded that violence is the best strategy to cling to power, Obama said. “The writ of the UN Security Council would have been shown to be little more than empty words, crippling its future credibility to uphold global peace and security,” he added.
——–PTI