Gates Hints At Bombing Risk To Gadhafi

[tekisui]

Source: NPR

(snip)

The Obama administration eased its sanctions on Libya, a move that will allow the opposition forces to sell the oil it controls and use the income to buy weapons and other supplies. The White House also ordered the expenditure of up to $25 million in surplus, nonlethal goods and commodities to support and protect the rebels.

At a joint news conference with British Defense Minister Liam Fox, Gates said that NATO planes are not targeting Gadhafi specifically but will continue to take aim at his command centers. That distinction is exceedingly thin, given that Gadhafi is commander in chief of government forces using brute force against civilians seeking to overthrow him.

(snip)

Gates and Fox, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon after a meeting that included Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated that facilities from which Libyan leaders command their forces will remain at risk.

"We consider them legitimate targets," Gates said. "We are not targeting him specifically, but we do consider command and control targets to be legitimate targets wherever we find them."

more: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/26/135752487/gates-hints-at-bombing-risk-to-gadhafi

[Distant Observer]

1. Sadly, it is the usual case of "White man speaks with forked tongue."