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| Gates plays down idea of US force |
| Gates plays down idea of US force in Libya
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 2-March-2011
2:10:53 AM |
| US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Tuesday played down the possibility of American military intervention in Libya, saying that there was no agreement within NATO about the use of force and that now was not the time for the United States to be entering into another war in the Middle East.
Nonetheless, in a Pentagon news conference with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mr. Gates said he had ordered an amphibious assault ship, the Kearsarge, and an amphibious transport dock ship, the Ponce, to the Mediterranean. He said about 400 Marines were en route to the Mediterranean "in support of the Kearsarge," although it was unclear whether they would be aboard the ship or stationed elsewhere in the region.
"We're obviously looking at a lot of options and contingencies," Mr. Gates said.
But both Mr. Gates and Admiral Mullen appeared to pull back from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's blunt comments on Monday and Tuesday that imposing a no-flight zone over Libya was under "active consideration" among the United States and its allies. Such a zone -- in which Libyan air force aircraft would be denied permission to operate, or be shot down -- would effectively keep the government led by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi from strafing and dropping bombs on protesters seeking to overthrow his rule.
Admiral Mullen said that a no-flight zone was "an extraordinarily complex operation to set up," an assessment shared by Gen. James N. Mattis, who oversees American military operations in the Middle East as the head of United States Central Command. General Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that setting up a no-flight zone would be "challenging" and would first require disabling Libya's air defense system, presumably with airstrikes.
"So no illusions here," General Mattis told the committee. "It would be a military operation. It wouldn't be just telling people not to fly airplanes."
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