http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/24684881
WASHINGTON – Defending the first war launched on his watch, President Barack
Obama declared Monday night that the United States intervened in Libya to
prevent a slaughter of civilians that would have stained the world's conscience
and "been a betrayal of who we are." Yet he ruled out targeting Moammar Gadhafi,
warning that trying to oust him militarily would be a costly mistake.
Obama announced that NATO would take command over the entire Libya operation on
Wednesday, keeping his pledge to get the U.S. out of the lead — but offering no
estimate on when the conflict might end.
He never described the U.S.-led military campaign as a "war" and gave no details
on its costs, but he offered an expansive case for why he believed it was in the
national interest of the United States and allies to act.
In blunt terms, Obama said the U.S.-led response had stopped Gadhafi's advances
and halted a slaughter he warned could have shaken the stability of an entire
region.
"To brush aside America's responsibility as a leader and — more profoundly — our
responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have
been a betrayal of who we are," Obama said. "Some nations may be able to turn a
blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is
different. And as president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and
mass graves before taking action."
Obama spoke to a respectful military audience at the National Defense University
after, in Libya, rebel forces bore down Monday on Gadhafi with the help of
airstrikes by the U.S.-led forces. The address to the nation was the president's
most aggressive attempt to answer the questions mounting from Republican
critics, his own party and war-weary Americans — chiefly, why the U.S. was
immersed in war in another Muslim nation.
Amid protests and crackdowns across the Middle East and North Africa, Obama
stated his case that Libya stands alone. "In this particular country, at this
particular moment, we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific
scale," he said.
He also warned of the broader implications for the region, without naming the
other countries undergoing violent upheaval.
Citing a failure to act in Libya, he said: "The democratic impulses that are
dawning across the region would be eclipsed by the darkest form of dictatorship,
as repressive leaders concluded that violence is the best strategy to cling to
power. The writ of the U.N. Security Council would have been shown to be little
more than empty words, crippling its future credibility to uphold global peace
and security."
Obama took pains to say why he chose to intervene in Libya even while
acknowledging that America's military cannot be used to stamp out every instance
of repression.
"There will be times when our safety is not directly threatened, but our
interests and values are," the president said.
"Sometimes, the course of history poses challenges that threaten our common
humanity and common security. ... These may not be America's problems alone, but
they are important to us, and they are problems worth solving," Obama said. "And
in these circumstances, we know that the United States, as the world's most
powerful nation, will often be called upon to help."
The president also sought to address critics who have said the U.S. mission
remains muddled. Indeed, he reiterated the White House position that Gadhafi
should not remain in power but the U.N. resolution that authorized power does
not go that far.
That gap in directives has left the White House to deal with the prospect that
Gadhafi will remain indefinitely. Obama said the U.S. would try to isolate him
other ways.
"Broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake,"
Obama said. "If we tried to overthrow Gadhafi by force, our coalition would
splinter. We would likely have to put U.S. troops on the ground or risk killing
many civilians from the air. The dangers faced by our men and women in uniform
would be far greater. So would the costs and our share of the responsibility for
what comes next."
And then he raised the issue of Iraq, a war that deeply divided the nation and
defined the presidency of George W. Bush. "Regime change there took eight years,
thousands of American and Iraqi lives and nearly a trillion dollars," Obama
said. "That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya."
"We must always measure our interests against the need for action. But that
cannot be an argument for never acting on behalf of what's right," the president
said. "In this particular country — Libya — at this particular moment, we were
faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale."
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