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| US reducing naval firepower aimed at Gadhafi | |
| 2011-03-28 | |
| WASHINGTON - In a sign of U.S. confidence that the weeklong assault on Libya has tamed Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses, the Pentagon has reduced the amount of naval firepower arrayed against him, officials said Sunday. The move, not yet publicly announced, reinforces the White House message of a diminishing U.S. role -- a central point in President Barack Obama's national address Monday night on Libya. The White House booked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on three Sunday television news shows to promote the administration's case ahead of the speech. Yet Gates, asked whether the military operation might be over by year's end, said, "I don't think anybody knows the answer to that."
That still leaves what officials believe is sufficient naval firepower off Libya's coast, and it coincides with NATO's decision Sunday to take over command and control of the entire Libya operation. The shrinking of the naval presence adds substance to Obama's expected reassurance to the American people that after kicking off the Libyan mission, the U.S. is now handing off to partner countries in Europe and elsewhere the bulk of the responsibility for suppressing Gadhafi's forces. NATO's governing body, meeting in Brussels, accepted a plan for the transfer of command. That is expected to mean that U.S. Army Gen. Carter Ham, who has been the top commander of the Libya operation, will switch to a support role. Even as naval firepower was reduced, Pentagon officials said they were considering adding air power. Vice Adm. William Gortney told reporters on Friday that low-flying Air Force AC-130 gunships, armed drones and helicopters were among weaponry that might be deployed to provide more precise air power against Libyan ground forces battling in urban areas. High-flying fighter jets run a high risk of causing civilian casualties if they attack inside cities. It is unclear how long the U.S. will keep a Navy command ship, the USS Mount Whitney, in its role as overall coordinator of the sea and air campaign, once NATO assumes full command. NATO could run the full operation out of its Allied Joint Forces Command headquarters in Naples, Italy. The Navy has had three submarines in the Mediterranean -- the USS Providence, the USS Scranton and the USS Florida -- plus two destroyers, the USS Barry and the USS Stout. All five are equipped with Tomahawks, the cruise missile that can fly long distances and maneuver to hit fixed targets like surface-to-air missile batteries and other air defense elements that posed a threat to coalition air patrols. It was not clear Sunday which of the five had been ordered out of the area. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 ION CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > WESTERN DOUBLE-STANDARDS ON LIBYA WILL HELP ISLAMISTS | MANY IN THE REGION SEE A DOUBLE-STANDARD ON WESTERN [military = NFZ] INTERVENTION IN LIBYA. ARTIC = Local, Regional Muslims ponder why the US-Allies had set up a NFZ for OIL-RICH LIBYUH = MAJOR/LARGE ENERGY-PRODUC MUSLIM STATES, INCLUD THOSE THAT AT ONE TIME FOUGHT OR SERVED AGZ AMER INTERESTS BUT NOT FOR TROUBLED, STRATEGIC, LT ALLIES BAHRAIN OR YEMEN??? Or even ally Egypt = Mubarak??? and * NEWS KERALA > RUSSIA:INTERVENTION IN LIBYA AT ODDS WID UN RESOLUTION, as per Russian FM Sergei Lavrov. * FREEREPUBLIC > LIMBAUGH ON LIBYA: ITS NOT A "HUMANITARIAN MISSION", ITS ABOUT EUROPEAN OIL, i.e. saving + empowering EURO ENERGY??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-03-28 22:41 |