Obama trying to limit military involvement in Libya

[TomCADem]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is trying to limit the United States' role in enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya to support aircraft only and is very reluctant to commit any offensive U.S. firepower, a senior U.S. official familiar with the military planning discussions said Friday.

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A spokesman for GOP Sen. Richard Lugar -- who as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was briefed along with other congressional leaders by the president Friday afternoon at the White House -- said Obama focused on how the U.S. will mostly support enforcement of no-fly zone diplomatically rather than the U.S. enforcing it.

Lugar stands by his statement that for the U.S. to use military assets, Congress needs to act, but the administration is saying it is stopping short of that for now, his spokesman Mark Helmke said.

Separately, a senior Democratic source said the president emphasized the strong feeling that the U.S. should play a supporting role only and that the U.S. has assets that should be brought to bear in this situation.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/18/obama.no.fly/?hpt=T1

[Lasher]

1. This is somewhat encouraging.

We'll see how this 'supporting role' plays out.

[David__77]

2. That would be encouraging.

Regardless of the wisdom of the UN resolution and its implications, the US pulling back from a hegemonistic role is a positive thing. We will see what happens. I suspect that UK and France may not wish to actually be senior partners in anything. It's been so comfortable for them to hide behind the US.