West Hits Libya Forces, NATO Sees 90-day Campaign

[tekisui]

Source: Reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Western warplanes bombed Muammar Gaddafi's armour in eastern Libya on Friday to try to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels take the strategic town of Ajdabiyah.

The African Union said it was planning to facilitate talks to help end war in the oil producing country. But NATO said its no-fly zone operation could last three months, and France cautioned the conflict would not end soon.

In Washington, a U.S. military spokeswoman said the coalition fired 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles and flew 153 air sorties in the past 24 hours targeting Gaddafi's artillery, mechanized forces and command and control infrastructure.

Western governments hope the raids, launched on Saturday with the aim of protecting civilians, will shift the balance of power in favour of the Arab world's most violent popular revolt.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110325/ts_nm/us_libya

[xchrom]

1. 'and France cautioned the conflict would not end soon.' nt

[tekisui]

2. Strange how quickly the predicted duration changed once it got rolling.

[Baclava]

5. Yep - we'll be in it till the bloody end

US Likely to Keep Combat Role After Libya Shift

Pentagon says US combat role likely to continue after allies take command of Libya mission

U.S. warplanes will keep flying strike missions over Libya even after the U.S. relinquishes the lead command role to NATO as early as this weekend in the fight against Moammar Gadhafi's forces, the Pentagon indicated Thursday.

At the Pentagon, Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney, staff director for the military Joint Chiefs, told reporters that the American role will mainly be in support missions such as refueling allied planes and providing aerial surveillance of Libya. But the U.S. will still fly combat missions as needed, Gortney said.

"And I would anticipate that we would continue to provide some of the interdiction strike packages as well, should that be needed by the coalition," he added, referring to combat missions such as attacks on Libyan mobile air defenses, ammunition depots, air fields and other assets that support Libyan ground forces.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=13208807

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Looks like another one of those quick in-and-outs.

Like Iraq 2003.

[arcane1]

4. or Iraq 1991 to 2011 n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Uh…

Yeah. That.

[piratefish08]

7. in the last week it has changed from days to weeks, and now less than 2 weeks in

they are saying months...... how long before we are measuring the "campaign" in years?

USA USA USA USA USA!!!!

[Baclava]

8. but, but, but...it's just a 'no-fly' zone - we'll smack em around and be out in a jiffy

suckered in again

NO MORE WAR!!!

[David__77]

9. So this is a PC version of Iraq?

It's "regime change," but from afar?