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February 28, 2011
U.S. Readies Military Options on Libya
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department has begun repositioning Navy warships to support possible action against Libya, as it accelerates planning on a range of options if asked by President Obama to intervene in the conflict there, officials said.
The Navy currently has an aircraft carrier strike group and an amphibious landing vessel, with Marines and helicopters, in the Red Sea.
Military planners are working on a wide range of options, said to include everything from imposing a “no-fly zone” over Libya to halt warplanes from attacking civilians to evacuation of wounded and innocents at risk to a more benign show of force off Libya’s shores, officials said.
While any American military action would be described as humanitarian assistance, it no doubt would indirectly apply even more pressure to a regime already fighting rebels from its own military who are supporting a popular revolt against the authoritarian rule.
Pentagon officials said the United States certainly would seek an international consensus for action -- most likely from the United Nations but also within NATO. And there is no appetite for assigning American ground troops to any mission.But the scope and pacing of planning underway is a substantial increase from just a week ago, when officials in Washington said that the most likely military action would come from regional states, such as Italy or France.
Officials said that the Obama administration had realized that only the American military could lead across a full range of options to halt the violence. And, since last week, the number of casualties has risen into the thousands, increasing the need for review of American options across the board from military to diplomatic to economic.
“This has been a fast-moving scenario, with the violence really accelerating over recent days,” one official said.
The United States was concerned about speaking publicly about military options while a large number of Americans remained in Libya.Most have now left.
The United States has carried out a range of interventions short of invasion over past decades, from the “no-fly zones” enforced over northern and southern Iraq to the air campaign over Kosovo to relief missions in Africa. The American military has a large force of warships and combat and cargo aircraft available across Europe.
source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/world/africa/01military.html
U.S. Readies Military Options on Libya
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department has begun repositioning Navy warships to support possible action against Libya, as it accelerates planning on a range of options if asked by President Obama to intervene in the conflict there, officials said.
The Navy currently has an aircraft carrier strike group and an amphibious landing vessel, with Marines and helicopters, in the Red Sea.
Military planners are working on a wide range of options, said to include everything from imposing a “no-fly zone” over Libya to halt warplanes from attacking civilians to evacuation of wounded and innocents at risk to a more benign show of force off Libya’s shores, officials said.
While any American military action would be described as humanitarian assistance, it no doubt would indirectly apply even more pressure to a regime already fighting rebels from its own military who are supporting a popular revolt against the authoritarian rule.
Pentagon officials said the United States certainly would seek an international consensus for action -- most likely from the United Nations but also within NATO. And there is no appetite for assigning American ground troops to any mission.But the scope and pacing of planning underway is a substantial increase from just a week ago, when officials in Washington said that the most likely military action would come from regional states, such as Italy or France.
Officials said that the Obama administration had realized that only the American military could lead across a full range of options to halt the violence. And, since last week, the number of casualties has risen into the thousands, increasing the need for review of American options across the board from military to diplomatic to economic.
“This has been a fast-moving scenario, with the violence really accelerating over recent days,” one official said.
The United States was concerned about speaking publicly about military options while a large number of Americans remained in Libya.Most have now left.
The United States has carried out a range of interventions short of invasion over past decades, from the “no-fly zones” enforced over northern and southern Iraq to the air campaign over Kosovo to relief missions in Africa. The American military has a large force of warships and combat and cargo aircraft available across Europe.
source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/world/africa/01military.html
