Obama administration struggles to define American mission in Libya
By Sam Youngman, John T. Bennett and Russell Berman - 03/22/11 08:07 PM ET
The Obama administration scrambled to define the U.S. mission in Libya on Tuesday amid congressional criticism that it has not clearly explained its endgame for the war-torn country.
The White House strongly denied that regime change is part of its mission after a statement earlier in the day characterized the goal there as “installing a democratic system.”
Separately, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struggled to respond to questions from ABC’s Diane Sawyer over whether the U.S. operation would be a success if Col. Moammar Gadhafi remains in power.
Clinton said the United Nations resolution authorizing force against Gadhafi was broad, but included nothing “about getting rid of anybody.”
At the same time, Clinton said it is “highly unlikely” a stable and peaceful Libya can be established with Gadhafi in power. She also said the U.S. mission was intended to give insurgents fighting Gadhafi a “level playing field” and a “much better chance” at toppling the dictator.
Since the U.S.-led operation started on Saturday, lawmakers from across the political spectrum have raised concerns on the grounds that President Obama went to war with undefined goals and, according to some critics, in violation of his constitutional authority.
Strikes against Gadhafi’s compound have raised questions about whether regime change is a part of the multinational mission, as have conflicting statements from different foreign leaders.
The clarification issued Tuesday by Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, came after a White House-issued readout of a phone call between Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that installing a democratic system in Libya was a goal of the two leaders.
In the later statement, Rhodes acknowledged that Obama would like to see a democratic government in Libya, but explaining that the aim of the U.S. military’s intervention there is not to enact regime change.
“We're clarifying, as we’ve said repeatedly, that the effort of our military operation is not regime change, that as we actually say in this readout, it’s the Libyan people who are going to make their determinations about the future,” Rhodes said. “We support their aspirations, their democratic aspirations, and have stated that Gadhafi should go because he’s lost their confidence.”
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Obama defended the mission in comments in El Salvador on Tuesday, saying it was limited in time and scope and had a well-defined purpose. He also said the operation had already saved lives.
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House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) has been “unsatisfied” with the administration before and during the Libyan operation, said a senior GOP panel aide.
McKeon participated in the Friday briefing via telephone, and received a Saturday telephone call from Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of Defense for policy, a few hours before U.S. and coalition warships and aircraft began bombing Libyan targets.
During the conversation with Flournoy, the aide said McKeon asked several pointed questions. “He said she didn’t have good answers,” the aide said.
McKeon also spoke last week by telephone with the new U.S. Africa Command chief, Gen. Carter Ham, in an introductory phone conversation.
That’s basically been the extent of the official consultation,” the senior aide said, describing those sessions as administration officials “just saying, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’”
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“I am very concerned that the president committed America's military to operations in the region without true consultation with the Congress,” the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. John Larson (Conn.), wrote in a CNN.com column.
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