Washington, March 30: Amid mounting concerns about the West’s military operations in Libya, US President Barack Obama defines the objective of the joint US-NATO war as toppling of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
The US chief executive said he was confident that the Libyan leader would “ultimately” step down and that the “noose” was tightening around beleaguered Gaddafi.
In interviews with NBC, ABC and CBS, Obama explained why he ordered military action against Libya, arguing that the airstrikes and international sanctions have left Gaddafi “greatly weakened” and paralyzed his government.
Obama further pointed out that his strategy of military action and sanctions pressure will see Gaddafi go sooner or later and did not rule out providing Libyan revolutionaries with military weapons.
“All that’s necessary for evil to triumph is that good people and responsible nations stand by and do nothing. There are times … moments such as now in the situation in Libya, where our conscience and our common interests compel us to act,” he said.
“And so our expectation is that as we continue to apply steady pressure, not only militarily but also through these other means, that Gaddafi will ultimately step down,” he told NBC.
The US president is now being blamed for waging a new war on another Muslim country while his country is already enmeshed in two prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Many US lawmakers accuse Obama of launching military strikes on war-hit Libya without having any clear end in sight.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner has taken a swipe at Obama’s Libya policy, saying that hoping for Gaddafi to leave is not an adequate policy.
“I just don’t think that that is a strategy and when you listen to all of what is going on and all the words, it really is nothing more than hope,” Boehner, who has repeatedly raised concerns about Obama’s Libya policy, told a news conference.
“If Gaddafi doesn’t leave, how long will NATO be there to enforce a no-fly zone? That is a very troubling question.”
Libyan government launched a military crackdown on Libyans who took to the streets around mid-February and demanded the ouster of their old-time ruler Gaddafi.
Western coalition forces have been bombarding strategic cities across the crisis-hit country to push government forces back.
The Libyan regime says over a hundred civilians have already been killed in over 980 US-led air raids over troubled Libya, but the United States denies civilian casualties in the military operation so far.
——–Agencies